Tag: NAACP

NAACP President Derrick Johnson reacts to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's vow to serve the remainder of his term after he admitted to appearing in a yearbook photo of figures in blackface and a KKK hood. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc…

Then the chairman of the New Britain delegation, Bill Shortell, stepped forward to announce vote switches in his delegation, an integral part of every convention that allows, even encourages deal-making before the vote closes. Now, five days later as the Democrats open their two-day convention, a political debut that could have been a feel-good moment for Democrats, no matter who ultimately wins the nomination in a primary in August, has turned into something else, with angry questions from the NAACP about the motives for the vote-switching away from a black woman, resentment from some Glassman delegates about Murphy’s involvement — and just a whiff of a voting irregularity. Shortell had announced three vote switches Monday night. On Monday night, other delegations announced vote switches at the 5th District convention, a practice allowed by the rules and common to Democratic and Republican conventions in Connecticut, a state with a hybrid nominating system of conventions dominated by insiders and relatively open primaries. Winning enough votes to primary on that ballot, he released his delegates on the second. The voting system is simple: Each delegation chair has a form with the name of every delegate from their community. On Shortell’s paperwork, he identifies only one delegate, Peter Kochol, who switched from Hayes to Glassman. His explanation about how the vote switches came about was succinct: “The switchers made up their own mind.” Robert Berriault, who says he also switched his vote, said, “When it comes to close votes like that, you have to do what’s best for New Britain.” Glassman got the edge as a New Britain native. The problem is votes being switched with nobody’s name on that,” Esdaile said. “I’m a teacher.” Outside the state convention on Friday, Murphy wondered if the time had come to forgo conventions.