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Pelosi: Nominee Will Choose Whether To Seat Fla. Delegation
Posted Oct 9, 2007 by Marsha Mercer, Media General Washington Bureau
Updated Oct 9, 2007 at 03:38 PM
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today the ultimate decision about whether Florida’s delegates will be seated at the Democratic National Convention will be up to the party’s presidential nominee, and she hinted what most Floridians have been saying: No nominee would refuse to seat Florida’s delegates.
“Let’s just talk reality. That will be determined by the presidential nominee,” Pelosi told reporters at a luncheon sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
She recalled having the job of “compliance review” for the party in 1984, charged with making states adhere to party primary rules.
“I had to go to the states and say if you don’t come within the window, you won’t be seated, and they said, ‘Ha, ha, ha’ because there’s no presidential candidate who’s going to say, `We’re not seating New Hampshire’ and ‘We’re not seating Iowa.’ ”
Pelosi, who as Speaker will be honorary chairman of the convention, said the Democratic National Committee is the ruling authority now over choosing delegations, but the ultimate authority is the convention itself and the presidential nominee.
If the presidential race is contested at the convention, there will be a contest about seating the delegates, she said. Most people think the nominee will be known by early February.
Pelosi also said the imbroglio over the primary isn’t the fault of Florida Democrats, who are the ones being sanctioned.
“Let’s be clear about what happened in Florida. The Republican legislature changed the date of the election there and also put a tax issue on the ballot that the Democrats just could not walk away from,” she said. “It wasn’t Florida Democrats who said they wanted to push earlier.”
After the Legislature’s action, Florida Democrats faced the choice of choosing their delegates according to the primary outcome, thereby violating national Democratic Party rules, or spending millions to hold a separate election or caucus to choose the delegates.
Pelosi said the Florida Democrats deserve empathy—“I think they wanted to comply with the rules,” she said.
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