Why Is Joel Ferguson Calling for a 73-0 Split Again?

by: emptywheel

Thu May 29, 2008 at 16:21:18 PM EDT

And does Mark Brewer still plan on having Ferguson represent us on Saturday?

Update: No. Via Liz Kerr, Brewer will present the challenge and Senator Levin will speak as well. 

According to the AP, Ferguson sent a letter out to the RBC members, stating that he thinks the MDP's proposal (which Ferguson himself signed) is fatally flawed.

A top Clinton supporter in Michigan said Thursday the state Democratic Party's plan to split the convention delegates between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama is "fatally flawed."

Democratic National Committee member Joel Ferguson sent a letter Thursday to the co-chairs of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee seeking to seat all of Michigan's delegates based on the results of the disputed Jan. 15 election.

[snip]

His letter puts him at odds with the Michigan Democratic Party's chairman and executive committee, which support a proposed 69-59 split.

"I am convinced that neither the RBC nor the DNC have the authority to take pledged delegates allocated to Hillary Clinton by virtue of the popular vote and assign them to either Uncommitted or to Barack Obama as the challenge seeks," Ferguson wrote in his letter.

But Ferguson appears to be ignoring the DNC's evident inclination to give the uncommitted delegates to the four candidates who weren't on the ballot (Obama and three of his now-supporters) to divvy up accordingly. From Mark Ambinder:

Joel Ferguson, a DNC member who will argue the case on behalf of Michigan, wants to award Clinton her entiire delegate slate (73); award Obama zero delegates because he chose not to be on the ballot (0), and, failing that, give all the superdelegates like himself a full vote and the pledged delegates a half of a vote. [my emphasis]

(Sadly, the RBC materials also seem to lend support Ferguson's outrageous plan of halving elected delegates' vote while keeping his at full stregnth--though that requirement extends only to DNC members, not to elected official super-delegates.) 

What appears to be going on is the MDP and Ferguson are sending dueling letters to RBC members. From Ambinder again:

The Michigan Democratic Party's leading lights, in a letter to members of the rules and bylaws comission today, reiterate their position: the Clinton campaign wanted 73 delegates to Obama's 55; the Obama campaign wanted them split equally; the party split the difference, proposing a 69 to 59 split.

Uh, guys? Is anyone planning on representing the actual voters of Michigan on Saturday? Ferguson, certainly, doesn't seem to have his heart on defending the plan approved by the Executive Committee.