SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
January 10, 2024
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/11/24
In this edition:
*MLK
*Iowa Caucuses
*My Caucus History
*Did You Know?
*MLK
Monday, January 15 marks the federal holiday celebrating the birthday of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. I am so pleased that our country has chosen to honor this great man, and I hope you enjoy the holiday in his name. As usual, the Board of Supervisors will do a proclamation in his honor.
We would like to think America has come a long way since the 60s. After the 2016 and 2020 elections, I’m not certain I feel that way any longer. Race was a HUGE issue in the 2016 election, and the team the racists supported won. In 2020 and since, overt racists have felt emboldened to do and say almost anything.
Look at America today. Black Lives Matter is a response to the epidemic of black men being killed by police. The US Supreme Court killed much of the Voting Rights Act, and they are likely to kill Affirmative Action. Black women die in childbirth at ridiculous rates. Black men are more likely to go to prison than college. The list goes on and on. Our society still has a deep racial divide.
We also need to recognize that King was a radical. America grudgingly accepted racial reforms because they were less dangerous to the status quo than the other issues King championed – namely economic justice. King took seriously the Biblical teachings that the love of money is a sin, and that rich men will not be welcomed into Heaven. (King was a Democratic Socialist!) He proposed seismic changes to the political and social structures that exist in America. In addition, King was adamantly anti-war. He was NOT beloved by all in his day; he was jailed 29 times! To the status quo, he was the most dangerous man in the world.
Take some time this week to read some of the great books that are out there on Dr. King. More importantly, take some time to read the things he wrote himself. I recently finished the new biography of MLK by Jonathon Eig titled King: A Life. I highly recommend it!
And if you are so inclined, there are several worthwhile local celebrations. The University of Iowa and the City of Iowa City both have a list of events.
One particular event is the community is invited to participate in a Unity March and Celebration in honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, January 15th, 2023. This community-wide unity event will begin with a march at 9:30am at the Eastdale Plaza located at 1700 S. 1st Avenue. The march will end at Mercer Park - 1317 Dover Street where the program will begin at 10:00a.m - 12:00 noon.
Community leaders and community members will pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the spirit of unity his life and legacy inspires. Service projects will be running concurrently.Lunch will be served!
We have SO much work to do. We cannot forget that. But we also need to take the time to celebrate our successes. Happy MLK Day!
*Iowa Caucuses
The Iowa Caucuses are Monday night, January 15. Reach out to your political party to find out where you caucus; although they have nothing to do with it, the Auditor’s Office can also answer questions.
*My Caucus History
I have a long caucus history. And the more I share it with people, the more I realize that I was witness to a great deal of history!
From the perspective of a political junkie, I was quite lucky. My father always attended the caucuses. He was the Business Agent for Laborer’s Local 43, and he was determined to have a labor voice at the table. Dad and I did a lot of “adult” things together when I was a kid, and thankfully, he let me tag along to caucuses three times before I was an adult. I am so lucky I went!
So here is my caucus history. It is a long read, but I hope you find it interesting:
1972: I grew up on a Heritage farm south of Lisbon. While the town of Lisbon was fairly Democratic in those days (a good density of union folks), our rural precinct was mostly Republicans. One BIG exception were our neighbors, the Ferguson family. My family and the Fergusons had been friends for literally over 100 years by this time. They were well-known Democrats; I may not have all my facts straight here, but I believe Gladys Ferguson was the first woman to run for the Iowa Legislature in something like 1920 or 1922. She was the matriarch of the family, and passed away in ’76 at 86 years old. Her husband Everett, a “piece of work” if ever there was one, lived until the mid-90s, passing away at 104 years of age! So any discussions including them had the benefit of a lot of experience!
The caucus was held at the home of Gladys and Everett’s son and daughter-in-law, Dave and Dorothy Ferguson. They are Democratic Party legends in their own right! Dave was a very dear friend, cut from the same cloth as his father; Dorothy taught kindergarten in Mechanicsville for 50 years!
There were probably 12 people there, half of them members of the Ferguson family. I don’t remember the outcome; I just remember that they all wanted the war to end. Dad caucused for George McGovern, and I think he won our little caucus.
1976: We were at Ferguson’s once again, again with about 12 people, but there were fireworks this time! The Fergusons were farmers, and loved Jimmy Carter. (So did my farmer-first, Republican-second grandfather!) I do not recall who Dad supported, but I know it wasn’t Carter. And I will never forget the fight they had! There was a lot of swearing and yelling, but in the end, everyone made up and headed home.
1980: Dad now lived in town, and I tagged along to caucus at a very familiar place – the lunchroom at Lisbon Community Schools. (It was a k-12 building with a single lunchroom.) There were many more people this time; my memory may be incorrect, but I will bet it was 30-40.
This year also had fireworks. Dad and many other union folks supported Ted Kennedy against the incumbent President Carter. I don’t recall who won our caucus, but it was quite contentious, and foreshadowed Carter’s loss in the general election.
I was a teenager at this point, and as you know, teenagers generally care too much about what others think. I found it uncomfortable. I remember thinking that the process was really stupid, the way it caused people to argue. You could tell LOTS of people in the room would have preferred to simply vote and leave!
1984: This was the first year I was eligible to caucus myself. And I hate to admit it, but this is also the only caucus I missed. I was out drinking beer, chasing a girl, and never even considered going. In retrospect, I should have caucused! I have a lousy success rate when it comes to getting my choice to be the nominee, but despite that I was still more successful at caucusing.
1988: This was a watershed year! I got very involved in the Jesse Jackson campaign, and met my longtime mentor Dave Leshtz. In many ways, this set the stage for the rest of my life in politics. Jackson did much better than expected in my precinct, in Johnson County, and in Iowa, and I was hooked!
1992: Like most Iowans, I caucused for Iowa’s own Senator Harkin. Man, I wish Tom had won that race! I lived on Broadway Street and caucused at Grant Wood Elementary. There was a good crowd, but it was pretty uneventful given Harkin’s dominance.
One funny thing I do recall is that there was a small group of Jerry Brown supporters who reeked of pot, and basically refused to follow any caucus rules. They constantly challenged the Chair, and stayed in their own group despite repeated explanations that they were not viable. In the end, we put away all the chairs and they were still sitting there protesting. I don’t recall who the caucus Chair was, but I know he was threatening to call the cops when I left.
1996: I lived in a tiny house in a great neighborhood just west of City High, and caucused at City. This year the fireworks came after the caucus! I was one of several Democrats in my precinct who disliked Bill Clinton. He was a liar, and likely a sex offender. Meanwhile, he had orchestrated huge cuts to social services programs. I was a frontline social worker at the time, and I saw firsthand what his policies were doing to our poorest residents. So I caucused against the incumbent President, for Undecided.
I was not alone! There were several LGBTQ folks in my neighborhood, and they were pretty united in their dislike of Clinton. (He had thrown the LGBTQ community under the bus a few times in his first term.) There weren’t too many African Americans at our site, but there were some, and most of them were also angry with the President. (Crime bill, welfare reform, Sister Souljah, etc.) There were a few labor stalwarts upset over NAFTA. Throw in the old-fashioned liberals, and we had several Undecided delegates. Don’t get me wrong; Clinton won handily, but the delegate count was something like 9-3.
I went to the after-caucus party, and heard similar stories from around Iowa City. Mann, Lincoln, and the IMU had voted similarly to my precinct. At Longfellow, Undecided had fared even better. There were similar reports from Polk, Linn, and Black Hawk Counties. Not lots – but some.
So imagine our surprise the next day when every paper in the state reported that Clinton had won all the delegates! It was a legitimate scandal, followed by a legitimate coverup! I don’t recall how it was resolved; I think it was simply swept under the table. At this point, I had grown pretty cynical about the Democratic Party. It didn’t seem anything like the party of FDR the Sullivan side of my family worshipped.
2000: I was still longing for the Democratic Party of FDR, so I went against the incumbent Vice President Al Gore and caucused for New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. Bradley actually did better in Johnson County than any other county in the country, so we had a powerful team! This also started a long tradition of Melissa and I caucusing for different candidates!
Honestly, I don’t have much memory of the caucus that year – I think it is overshadowed by the series of events that took place immediately before the caucus in 1999. First, longtime State Rep and local legend Minnette Doderer announced her retirement. My friend David Tingwald was serving as the Chair of the local Democratic Party, and he resigned to pursue running for her seat. David ended up not running; instead, Vicki Lensing defeated Cathy Kern for the seat. But because David had resigned, a vacancy existed. He urged me to run, and I was suddenly thrust into the role of Chair of the Johnson County Democratic Party.
The 2000 caucuses may not be memorable, but ask me some other time about the general election of 2000!
2004: This time it was my turn to resign. I had decided to run for the office of County Supervisor, and resigned as Chair. I supported Howard Dean for President, and participated in Dean for America (DFA) activities. You remember the Dean collapse – Gephardt going on a suicide mission to undermine Dean and prop up John Kerry. The caucuses were crowded; this is the first year I ever felt this way. They were also frenetic and frustrating.
I never did warm to John Kerry. I saw him at an event at the Iowa River Power Company, and I caught his off-the-cuff comments to his staff. It was NOT pretty! (Ask me privately if you want details.) He hated the caucuses, and he hated the process. The word gets overused, but he struck me as an elitist.
I did get the signatures I needed, and went on to get elected as a County Supervisor that year.
2008: What a year! I was one of the first elected officials in the country to support Barack Obama. Melissa and I were finally on the same team. For the first time in my life, my candidate won!
We caucused at Hoover Elementary, and the numbers were unbelievable! We were technically in the school gym, but we filled the whole first floor of the building. People registered to vote on napkins, pizza box lids, and notebook paper. I will never forget the crowd that night!
We pulled a classic caucus move; Obama was guaranteed 10 of our 13 delegates, but could not mathematically reach an 11th. So we sent our extra people to the Edwards camp, earning him a second delegate and leaving Clinton with only one. Obama won big in my precinct, big in Johnson County, and big in Iowa. The rest is history!
2012: This year was easy – Obama again!
2016: I was the first elected official in the country to endorse Bernie Sanders. The Caucus was HUGE (or as we Sanders supporters liked to say, “Yooge!”); about 900 people in the cafeteria at City High. It was also the closest ever; Hilary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders by one percentage point both in my precinct and in Iowa as a whole.
2020: I was the first elected official in Iowa to support Elizabeth Warren, and I was super proud that she won Johnson County!
I hope you found my caucus history interesting!
*DID YOU KNOW? This is the second time the caucuses have been held on MLK Day.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 3:24 PM
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