No Funny Business At National League of Women Voters Convention

I just got back from attending a convention and no apologies are necessary. 

It was not like the federal General Services Administration (GSA) retreat with lots of booze, funny hats and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

It wasn’t in Las Vegas or any other “resort” that lends itself to fulfilling life’s fantasies.

It was a National League of Women Voters convention in Washington D.C. and it was 90 percent hard work attending caucuses, workshops and plenary sessions and 10 percent eating or standing in line waiting to eat. Other than a few verbal battles over parliamentary procedure, it was very civilized and productive, unlike congressional sessions nearby.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder dropped in to praise the League for the valuable work it has been doing all over the country in fighting voter suppression, fraudulent election processes and for redistricting neutrality. 

He said that recently in Wisconsin, there was a Robo call telling people that if they had signed a petition to recall their governor, they didn’t have to go to the polls and vote again for that issue.

He praised the state league in Florida for suing to stop the voter-roll purging which was eliminating eligible and qualified voters. He said that “in person, fraud at polling places was not common,” but deceptive voter suppression was common and he was glad that the league was assisting his efforts to make sure that every eligible voter has the chance to cast a ballot.

The banquet speaker was John Zogby, founder of the Zogby Poll, an internationally respected pollster, opinion leader and best-selling author. He discussed his firm’s recent polling results for the presidential race and indicated what both candidates needed to do in order to win. He also indicated that the 18- to 29-year-old voters are the most volatile group—they can vote or decide to stay home on election day — a game changer.

At the League plenary sessions, more than 750 delegates voted to continue the fight for voting rights, campaign finance reform and clean air.  

League delegates voted to continue opposing the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision granting corporations “personhood” when it came to making campaign contributions for candidate elections. The League will continue to support the DISCLOSE Act of 2012 which will bring sunshine and disclosure to the flood of money in elections.

In 2014, the national league will hold its convention in Dallas. I’m told you can still get a lot of business done even if you are wearing a funny cowboy hat.