Our major parties are supposed to represent a broad cross section of the general public, but in Sullivan County at least one major party doesn’t work that way. The Sullivan County Democratic Committee operates according to rules and procedures that concentrate power in the hands of a few insiders and discourages pubic engagement.

The dysfunction is apparent at committee meetings, which are frequently convened without an agenda and conducted without adherence to any sort of regular parliamentary procedures, such as Robert’s Rules of Order. It should surprise no one that these meetings are generally overlong, argumentative and poorly attended. The current committee chair, Darryl Kaplan, insists that he and he alone has the authority to decide what topics are brought to the floor, and he’s repeatedly resisted calls for reforms that might limit his power. But this old style party boss behavior became obsolete decades ago; if the county Democrats want to build a vibrant and inclusive party for the future, the committee must adopt more professional bylaws, perhaps along the lines of the state Democratic Committee, or another similar organization.

In a few weeks county Democrats will pick new leadership, but will the committee actually become more democratic? Probably not. After all, many of the committee members who will elect the new leaders are themselves the product of a system that concentrates power in a very few hands.

By law, individuals who seek to serve on the county Democratic Committee are supposed to demonstrate that they have the support of their fellow Democrats by having them sign petitions on their behalf. This isn’t a lot to ask. In the smallest districts, prospective committee members need collect only two signatures; even in the largest districts, only 25 signatures are required.

Despite these modest requirements, when the committee next meets, nearly a third of all the seats will be occupied by individuals who did not complete the petition process. A dozen committee members, including the county chair, submitted petitions that fell short of the requirements. No petitions at all were submitted for another 28 seats.

But these seats won’t remain vacant; they’ll be filled by individuals handpicked by the chairs of the various town committees. The Fallsburg chair will name eight of the committee members in his town; the chair in Rockland will name seven of the town’s 12 committee members.

What is the likelihood that any of these appointed individuals take a stand that is not in line with that of the person who appointed them? And what incentive do the town chairs have to repair the broken petition process? After all, the less the public is involved, the more power they have themselves.

These are questions I’d like to see freely debated within the county committee, but I’m not optimistic. Rather than deal with substance, I think it’s more likely that I’ll be called disloyal and criticized for airing dirty linen in public. But fellow Democrats, please remember—some of us have repeatedly tried to raise these issues within the committee for a long time and have been utterly ignored. It’s time to focus on the message, not the messenger.

[Bruce Ferguson is Chair of the Town of Callicoon Democratic Committee.]