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Party leaders seek solution to inclusion

Sunday, May 04, 2003

By James O'Toole, Post-Gazette Politics Editor

In the bad old days, local Democratic leaders would repair to a proverbial smoke-filled room to cobble together a slate of candidates. Out of enlightened self-interest -- with the emphasis on the self-interest -- they typically emerged with a political roster balanced by ethnicity, and at least nominally, by race -- although women, to be sure, were few and far between.

Now the Allegheny County Democratic Party presides over a process that is much more democratic, with a small 'd,' but frequently less diverse -- a situation that has sparked concern and division among party leaders.

That concern is highlighted in the current primary campaign by the Democratic committee's collective decision not to back James Simms, the former County Council president who is among the most prominent African-American politicians in the county, in the race for county controller. In a vote that wasn't even close, the Democratic committee members elected from each of the county's voting districts gave their imprimatur instead to Mark Flaherty, a political neophyte who is the son of former county commissioner Jim Flaherty.

At the same endorsement meeting, committee members spurned an African-American incumbent, Brenda Frazier, for renomination in County Council's District 13, in favor of Richard Stahl.

In each case, defenders of the party process note, there were factors unrelated to race that might have estranged Democratic regulars from those two candidates. Some party members viewed Frazier as too close to Republican Chief Executive Jim Roddey. Others remain irate with Simms for helping to scuttle a living-wage proposal before County Council. In addition, Flaherty, an articulate lawyer with a proven political name, pursued what was generally viewed as the more aggressive effort in the arduous process of face-to-face courting of the roughly 2,500 Democratic committee members.

But whatever the particular circumstances of those candidacies, they are part of a pattern of rejection for African-American candidates, particularly candidates running countywide, in endorsement votes.

In elections for Common Pleas Court, for example, the kind of low-profile contests in which the endorsement is seen as most influential, the Democratic committee members have not voted to endorse an African-American candidate for an open seat since the early 1990s.

Judge Kim Clark, the last African-American to join the local bench, was elected in 1999 with the Democratic nomination and considerable support from Democratic officials. Her victories in the primary and general elections, however, came despite the fact that she had failed to capture a party endorsement in an election in which six seats were at stake.

A group of black community activists last week formed an independent organization to increase political power among blacks in Allegheny County. Members of the new Western Pennsylvania Black Political Assembly said Democrats' failure to endorse black candidates provoked creation of the organization.

City Controller Tom Flaherty, the county Democratic chairman, defends the ticket his members produced this spring but acknowledges the need for change. While Flaherty (who is not related to the controller candidate) is a strong defender of the direct choice committee members have had since 1970, he cites the need for more consultation among senior Democrats with an eye to influencing the committee balloting.

"There needs to be some fine-tuning to promote more diversity, not just racial, but gender," Flaherty said. "There is a great deal of concern out there, not just over Simms, but with the idea of having more African-American judges."

Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, parted with Flaherty in his support for the current slate -- he is one of a handful of Democratic officeholders who have endorsed Simms -- but he offered a similar assessment of the need for senior Democrats to consult and identify more African-American and female candidates.

"The party has been woefully negligent in promoting diversity," Frankel said. "This party will be in trouble unless the leadership of the party becomes a little more proactive; you can't take for granted constituencies that have always been there for you."

Those seeking to alter the trend in committee votes face a dilemma, however, in seeking to steer the process without conjuring a whiff of bossism.

"Political leaders in the Democratic Party shouldn't necessarily be anointing someone; I don't think that would be accepted," Frankel said. "There's something condescending about going back to the idea of identifying a black seat, a Jewish seat and so on."

"I understand that the African-American vote is the most loyal the party has," Flaherty said. "There has to be a mechanism to support or recommend African-American candidates to the entire committee."

Despite his concerns about the party's trend on diversity issues, Flaherty is adamant in defending the notion that good Democrats back the slate from top to bottom.

He is sharply critical of figures such as Frankel and Pittsburgh City Council President Gene Ricciardi who have given their public support to Simms over candidate Flaherty.

The chairman suggested that their primary motivation was the desire for black support in their own future elections, rather than support for Simms in this one.

"It kills me to see these white politicians belatedly coming out to support Simms," he said. "These are the kinds of endorsements made for the sake of the endorser, not the endorsee .... Where were these guys back in January or February when they could have done him some good."

Flaherty also insisted that the focus on Democratic shortcomings should not obscure what he sees as a record far superior to the Republican one in promoting minorities in office.

Simms maintained that the issue shouldn't await some structural change in a new election cycle.

"At the end of the day, leaders lead," he said last week. "The leadership had an opportunity to build a ticket; they still have three weeks to show some leadership on this issue.

"I go to a lot of meetings and hear a lot of talk about how the party has never been so unified," Simms continued. "Well, there is a large segment out there that doesn't feel that unity."

Concern over racial balance, or potential lack thereof, was the chief reason that senior Allegheny County Democrats decided not to conduct an endorsement vote this year for the Supreme Court seat on the primary ballot, while they did issue endorsements in the other appellate court races. Common Pleas Court Judge Cheryl Allen, an African-American, is seeking the Democratic nomination along with her colleague on the local bench, Judge Max Baer, and three Democrats from Philadelphia.

"I don't know what would have happened if we voted; I don't know who would have won," Flaherty said. "But the reason we didn't is we wanted to ensure that Cheryl Allen had a level playing field in Allegheny County."

Valerie McDonald Roberts, the recorder of deeds and the only African-American endorsed by her party for a countywide office in recent years, said she was dismayed by the lack of local progress on African-American representation but didn't think that it would translate to widespread defections from the candidacies of Democrats, such as Dan Onorato, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination to challenge Roddey.

"I don't think the African-American voter is going to cut off the nose to spite the face," she said. "I am concerned not that people in the [black] community will vote against someone, but that they will stay at home."

Roberts said black voters could do more to ensure that their interests were not ignored. With the significant exception of the 2000 presidential election, black voter turnout among Democrats has traditionally lagged behind white turnout.

"What grieves me more than having an all-white ticket is the record of voting participation in the community," she said.

"We continue to have all-white slates and some of it has to do with the abysmal voting record in the community."

Correction/Clarification (Published May 5, 2003): The Region. Valerie McDonald Roberts is the Allegheny County recorder of deeds. Her office was incorrect in a story published May 4, 2003 on Allegheny County Democratic endorsements.