CNN
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Two union leaders and longtime Democratic National Committee members have resigned from the national party, marking the latest internal dispute of chairman Ken Martin’s tenure.
The departures of American Federation of Teachers leader Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, comes as the party has tried to establish itself as a counterweight to President Donald Trump.
Both Weingarten and Saunders had endorsed Martin’s top opponent for the DNC chairmanship, former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler. After Martin reshuffled top committee placements, Weingarten and Saunders were not nominated to the powerful rules and bylaws committee. Both were offered at-large positions but declined them.
“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities,” Weingarten said in a June 5 letter obtained by CNN.
In a statement, Saunders said his decision to leave the committee was not made lightly. “These are new times. They demand new strategies, new thinking, and a renewed way of fighting for the values we hold dear. We must evolve to meet the urgency of this moment,” Saunders said. “This is not a time to close ranks or turn inward.”
A DNC spokesperson pointed to a press release on Martin’s plan to “democratize” appointments to the party’s standing committees, which includes the rules and bylaws panel. Whereas past chairs have controlled nominations to the panels, Martin’s nominations will only fill some spots. The DNC’s caucuses and Youth Council will nominate the remaining committee members.
“I firmly believe that building these slates collaboratively will result in a stronger DNC,” Martin said at a May executive committee meeting. The DNC will finalize its committee appointments at its August meeting.
The New York Times first reported on the resignations.
Last week, outgoing DNC vice chair David Hogg announced he would not seek reelection to his position after the committee voted to redo his February election over a procedural error. Hogg’s brief tenure with the DNC was consumed by an ongoing fight over his pledge to spend part of a $20 million investment backing primary challenges to incumbent Democrats he deemed “asleep at the wheel.”
