Brazile Corrects the Record
April 1, 2008— -- Following my appearance on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos, I was asked about the role and composition of the Democratic Party's credentials committee and wanted to correct an error.
There are three standing committees of the Democratic National Convention: rules, credentials and platform.
The credentials committee is charged with coordinating issues around the selection of delegates and alternates to the convention and will likely convene this summer.
Following its deliberations (let's hope the issue of Florida and Michigan is put to rest), the committee will issue a report that will become the first official item of business at the Democratic Convention, which will convene on August 25 in Denver.
Standing committee members are allocated differently among the states (for instance, California has 17 members per committee while the District of Columbia will receive one per committee) and even in cases where the state has one vote on each committee, votes are apportioned in proportion to the statewide vote in the same manner as at-large delegates, with the slots on particular committees being proportional by candidate and in some cases determined by lot.
For example, if there are 12 members in total, candidate A wins 7 slots. Candidate B wins 5 slots. Candidate A gets 2 slots per committee and a drawing is held for the 7th position to which candidate is entitled.
In January, DNC chairman Howard Dean announced his appointments of 25 PLEO (party leaders and elected officials) members to each committee. Go to www.demconvention.com and check out all the chairman's appointees.
In a statement released in January, Dean selected Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt, Jr. and Eliseo Roques-Arroyo to co-chair this important committee.
Alexis Herman served as U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1997 to 2001. She served as DNC chief of staff for chairman Ron Brown and later was named CEO of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Since 2005, she has served as a co-chair of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee and also served as a co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling.
Related Stories
ABC News Live