I sent an email to the Hamilton County Democratic Party asking about the charges that they were in violation of their charter and received this response back from Chairman Tim Burke:

In response to your request for information let me offer a bit of background first.

There is no such thing as a county party charter under Ohio Law. The party structure is established, in the first instance, in Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code. It begins with the creation of a Party Central Committee. The Central Committee is composed of all of the precinct executives in the county. Precinct executives are elected in their home precinct at the primary election held in each even numbered year. Candidates for precinct executive get on the ballot the same way candidates for other offices do, they circulate petitions and file them with the Board of Elections. Those who file the appropriate number of valid signatures by the filing deadline have their name on the ballot in the Primary election. It is also possible to run as a write-in candidate for precinct executive. In each precinct the candidate who receives the most votes is elected as the precinct executive for a two year term.

Ohio law requires that following the primary election all elected precinct executives be notified of a meeting of the Central Committee of the County Party. At that meeting the Central Committee does several things. 1) It adopts the Rules which will govern the Party for the next two years; 2) It elects the Party leaders, Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and so on; 3) It authorizes the Party executive committee to operate the party.

There are a total of 1012 precincts in Hamilton County. Neither major party fills all of the precincts. Ohio law authorizes the party to appoint people as precinct executives in the vacant precincts. Once people are appointed by the Executive Committee and the appointments are filed with the Board of Elections, appointed precinct executives have all the rights and power to vote as elected precinct executives. The Democratic Party currently has about 700 precinct executives.

The executive Committee is composed of approximately 175 members. It includes the elected officers of the party, the elected chairs of all 26 City of Cincinnati Wards and of each small city, village and township in the county and others appointed to the committee who are drawn from among party activists, labor leaders, groups allied with or supportive of party principles and selected in such a way as to achieve a diverse body reflective of the population of Hamilton County.

Executive Committee meetings of the Democratic Party are open to the public and the press...in contrast to how the Republican Party runs its meetings.

Now to the 2nd District. First, there is no restriction against the party endorsing in a Primary. While it is not done in every disputed primary it is done with some frequency. Just last year for example the Party endorse Greg Harris in a disputed primary in the 1st District. We also endorsed a candidate in a primary fight for County Commission.

Special Congressional races are unique because of the speed with which things happen. When we knew this was happening we invited all of the candidates known to be interested in running to address a meeting of the Executive Committee that was held on May 4th. 6 prospective candidates did, including all but one of the candidates currently running. The only candidate who did not address the Executive Committee at that time was Jim Parker who filed after that meeting.

On Sunday May 22 the Hamilton County Party, cosponsored a public forum on the second district race. The co-sponsors were the Progressive Alliance of Southwestern Ohio, Democracy for Cincinnati and the
Democratic Forum. Congressman Ted Strickland was the keynote speaker. Brewster Rhoads detailed how difficult the district is for a democrat but how it was possible to win it at a special election. Dave Lane the Chair of the Clermont Democratic Party spoke about the opportunity for intercounty cooperation. Then each of the candidates was given the
opportunity to address the 200-250 people in attendance and to answer questions.

Prior to that Forum, as Chair of the County Party I appointed a Nominating Committee and charged them with making a recommendation on the 2nd District race. I asked them to recommend if we should endorse and if so who. The members of the committee were required to attend the Forum so they had a chance to hear the candidates. I provided each of them with the biographical information that had been provided to me by the candidates. The committee, some of whom had heard the candidates at least twice, ultimately recommended that the party make and endorsement and that we endorse Paul Hackett. They also recommended that a meeting of the Executive Committee be called as soon as possible to consider that recommendation. On Monday we notified the Executive Committee
members of the meeting that was held last night. Notification was by mail, phone call and where possible by email. The meeting was public and the press did attend...at least the Cincinnati Post had a reporter there thru the entire meeting. A significant number of Executive committee members argued not to endorse any one and there was a motion to table the Hackett endorsement. That motion failed by a vote of approximately 2 to 1. The motion to endorse Hackett was adopted on a near unanimous vote with only a few dissenters.

I supported the endorsement of Hackett. I believe he is the only one of the candidates in the primary with a realistic shot, even if a long shot, of winning the race in August. He is articulate, good on his feet, and very personable. His service on Milford City Council and particularly his service as a Marine Major in Iraq will have unique appeal throughout the District.

So to those who say we violated "the Party Charter", all I can say is that they are wrong. What the party did was consistent with its rules and procedures and done very much in the public eye. If the goal is to win in August, and that is what it should be, we did exactly the right thing.

Tim Burke
Chair
Hamilton County Democratic Party.

P.S. I have no objection to you sharing this with anyone.