Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

State Democrats preparing to handle the county delegates convention (UPDATED)

Following the debacle that was the Clark County Democratic Convention Saturday, the campaigns and the state party are stepping in to ensure the do-over is done right.

(Quick summary of Saturday: the county party, led by chairman John Hunt, booked a room at Bally's with a capacity of 5,000, even though there were 7,000 elected delegates and at least 10,000 showed up because the campaigns called supporters and urged them to attend. The county party also didn't have enough volunteers and lacked a clean process for seating delegates and alternates to replace the no-shows. Oh, and the ballot boxes weren't secure.)

A Democratic operative with knowledge of the conversations said a representative from each campaign and a state party luminary would form a committee to oversee the convention.

As for party luminaries, the source said, just for example, a former state party chair.

Tom Collins?

That brought a laugh, so apparently not the Clark County Commissioner and former party chair.

So the receivership plan seems eminently reasonable. The problem with the plan, however, is John Hunt. As a separate Democratic operative told me, Hunt loves the spotlight, meaning he loves even bad press. (And, oh boy, is he getting it.)

So will Hunt accept some help from the campaigns and the state party? Or will he continue to blame others for his failures and turn the convention planning into a circus?

The source with knowledge of the negotiations said there's a recognition that Hunt needs to be handled carefully for just that reason.

Ultimately, however, the Democratic National Committee can tell Hunt that if he doesn't play along, the DNC will punish Clark County Democrats by not seating all of their delegates.

I'm awaiting a return call from Hunt, and read tomorrow's Sun for a broader discussion of what's at stake.

UPDATE

John Hunt called back and said there's no talk of a committee running oroverseeing convention. "There's nothing negative. It's all positive," he said.

A source with knowledge of the conversations said the Democratic operative I spoke to earlier is half right. The committee will merely offer input and won't oversee or run the convention. "(Hunt's) going to be involved." The source said it's the county party's convention and they have to be involved and ultimately run the process.

I pointed out that the Democratic National Committee can ultimately step in and tell Hunt to play along or Clark County will lose seats at the national convention.

That's true, the person said, but a big blow-up helps no one.

Why so many unnamed sources? No one wants to be named because they're all walking on eggshells around

Hunt.

This is certainly counter-intuitive. One would think he would be the one walking on eggshells, or maybe in hiding, after Saturday's fiasco.

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