- Kelly O
- Noel Frame: Getting what she wants, exec board be damned.
At the outset of last night's packed meeting in Phinney Ridge, State Representative Reuven Carlyle called for members of the 36th District Democrats to bring "grace and dignity and respect" to the proceedings.
My sense was that he wasn't referring to the evening's hot race for newsletter editor, or to the vote on whether or not the 36th Dems should be endorsing the Obama-Biden ticket this cycle (don't want to be a spoiler, so I'll let you wait until the newsletter comes out for the answer to that cliffhanger). Carlyle was almost certainly referring to the contentious debate over whether the 36th Dems should endorse Gael Tarleton or Noel Frame.
People pretty much listened to Carlyle's plea, though Heather Weiner, the Teamsters political action director who has taken a very personal interest in defeating Tarleton, did maneuver her way to the microphone to accuse Tarleton of being someone who "says one thing and votes the other way." Whatever Tarleton did to get on Weiner and the Teamsters' bad side, it sure has motivated them to go to the ends of the earth—or at least to the community center basements of Phinney Ridge—in order to thwart her at every turn.
Back when the 36th Dems were trying to make a primary endorsement, Tarleton told me, Weiner did the same thing. "She has a way of showing up," Tarleton said. "That's all I have to say about that."
You can guarantee it's not the last Weiner has to say about that.
But! Back to the grace-filled proceedings.
The 36th Dems' executive board had recommended a Tarleton endorsement. However, after pushback from Weiner and others, only 33 members voted to approve the board's recommendation (with 43 members against). Absent a majority approving the board's recommended move, the next question became: Dual endorsement?
The answer was overwhelmingly yes, which represented a victory of Frame. She not only won over enough 36th District members to block her opponent from getting a sole endorsement, but also seemed to have come close to getting the 2/3 majority needed to overrule the board and give herself the sole endorsement. By not pushing for that outcome, Frame said, she was taking the high road.
"I didn't want to go down that path," Frame said, explaining that she felt a dual endorsement would allow 36th District members to focus on getting the word out about important ballot measures and other races.
Tarleton, for her part, said the result was "exactly what you expect at the 36th District—expect the unexpected."
