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Judge Rules DNC, Florida Clash Is 'Intra-Party Dispute'

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By BILLY HOUSE and WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

TAMPA - The first legal challenge to the Democratic National Committee's refusal to seat Florida's delegates to the party's national convention next year was thrown out of federal court Friday.

Calling the matter 'an intra-party dispute,' U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara concluded the arguments made by Tampa-based Democratic voter and political consultant Victor DiMaio contained no legal basis for challenging the national party.
Lazzara wrote, 'The Supreme Court has consistently recognized that national political parties have a constitutionally protected right to manage and conduct their own internal affairs, including the enforcement of delegate-selection rules and the decision as to which state delegates it will recognize ... .'

This is a case in which 'the party's national convention, and not a court, is the proper forum for determining this intra-party dispute with regard to the seating of the State of Florida's delegates,' Lazzara wrote.

The lawsuit was not connected with one filed Thursday by Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar, although some of the legal arguments were the same.

Lazzara, in a footnote within his 13-page decision, said he is aware of the Nelson-Hastings lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. He emphasized that his decision was framed entirely by the arguments in DiMaio's lawsuit.

In response, DiMaio said he and his lawyer are working on an appeal, which they plan to file with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

'I am obviously disappointed for the millions of Democratic voters here in Florida,' DiMaio said. 'But this is only the first inning and first bite of the apple ... .'

A statement released by the DNC said, 'We are certainly pleased by the federal District Court ruling today that strongly reaffirms the right of the national parties to enforce their own rules for selection of delegates to their national conventions.'

Kendall Coffey of Miami, the lawyer in the suit filed Nelson and Hastings that also seeks to overturn the sanctions, couldn't be reached Friday.

Coffey, however, said Thursday in announcing the Nelson-Hastings lawsuit that it differed from the DiMaio legal action.

'My assumption is that our case will be heard on its merits in Tallahassee, and if there were a ruling issued in the Tampa case, the Tallahassee judge may or may not find it relevant,' Coffey said at that time.

DiMaio's lawsuit named both the national and state Democratic parties as defendants, noting that the national party imposed the sanctions after the state party said it would choose its national convention delegates based on the state's Jan. 29 presidential primary, which the national party objects to.

The DiMaio lawsuit asked the judge to declare whether the national party's action was legal, then either order the sanctions lifted or order the state party to choose delegates some other way.

Coffey said the DiMaio lawsuit 'isn't taking a definitive position on the constitutional questions ... Our view is that there is a definitive constitutional issue and the rights of Florida voters are being violated on a massive scale.'

One of those issues raised in the Nelson-Hastings lawsuit is that the DNC's action could have discriminatory impact on African-American voters. In his decision Friday in the DiMaio action, however, Lazzara indicated that such a legal argument, in his view, would not hold up either.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@tampatrib .com or (202) 662-7673. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch @tampatrib.com.

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