Ok, we are Getting Started whether youre sitting or not. Thank you for a much. We are going to be moving to the amendments that were tabled yesterday. We are going to start basically in the order they are in the document. The first ones we will discuss are in the unpledged section, specifically in reference to number five, recommendation number five. I first ask if there are no objections, i would like to take this off the table, the discussion. I see no objections. Can we please put this up on the screen . Focused one recommendation number five, under the unpledged section, because of some of the work that is done, there are some adjustments to recommendations number four, which was passed yesterday. Sk that we consider number i ask that as we consider number consider adjustments to number four and we will vote on a combination of the two. We will move forward and highlight the adjustments here. All right. Ok. I will just read through this quickly. You can paraphrase, you dont have to read. We read every other one, so we are going to read. Can you give me a little to the left on the screen . Ok. Im going to read this. I know these are long, this is the protocol we have used for every other one, so we are going to do that. We are at number four, if you want to refer to your hardcopies , number on page four four starts on page four and moves to page five. We will be focused on page five. Language,ment to the i will read it in total with the amendment that is in there. You can see the original version if you are looking at your hard copy. This is the full . Ok. Members, dnc dnc members elected as a state chair, vice chair, state Committee Man or woman who are not part of category 1 remain automatic delegates, however on the first element of the president ial vocal vote, their votes would be proportionately allocated based on the outcome of the primary or caucus of the state that elected them. Subject to the same threshold that apply for the awarding of at large pledged delegates. That is the new language. , officers at large and affiliated members not part of category 2 or three would remain automatic delegates, however on the first ballot of the president ial will call vote, vote would be reportedly allocated based on the National Outcome of the primaries and caucuses as measured by the National Allocation of print pledged delegates, subject to the same thresholds that apply for the awarding of at large pledged delegates. To whatnot new language was in number five, is which to number four but not something the commission has not seen before, it is just been moved. Im going to take us up of water of what appeared number five, with respect to the actual mechanism of how these new automatic but bound categories will be allocated, we provide two provisions. Pursuant to the mandate of the 2016 Democratic National convention, if the rbc adopts a different mechanism, the commission will review it to determine whether it constitutes a substantial adoption of the commissions recommendation. The commission anticipates that the deliberations of the rbc in this regard will be consultative in nature with the commission to ensure the joint goals of unity and perform and reform our chief. In drafting the two options, the commission considered it did not that alternate mechanisms while less complicated was substantially increase the number of delegates. For all of the purposes, the use of the word state shall include the states, the district of columbia, the territories and democrats abroad. The commission therefore provides the following mechanisms for first ballot voting for the president ial nomination to the rbc to review and adopt. 5a. Pooled vote option. The votes in category 2 and category 3 delegates would be allocated as defined above, the state parties shall announce these allocations for category 2 delegates no later than when the state party certifies their pledged delegates to the dnc secretary. The dnc fell shall announce 3. Candidates for category at the National Convention, the votes from category 2 and three delegates shall be automatically reported by the secretary of the convention at the time of the president ial roll call vote, entered into the state tally sheet and voted in the normal order without ascribing the vote to any specific delegate. Alternate voting options. No later than five days after the states primary or caucus, sell hold of the states category 2 delegates and each category 2 delegate must make his or her binding preference known to the state party chair within 24 hours. Proportion of category 2 delegates supporting each candidate matches the allocation to which it candidate is entitled, the state chair s hall collect the preferences and submit them to the dnc. If the proportion of category 2 delegates for each candidate does not match the allocation to which each candidate is entitled, the state chair shall pull category 2 delegates currently supporting a candidate who has too many delegates and determine who is willing to change his or her binding president ial preference to another candidate who has fewer category 2 delegates to that which he or she is entitled. If enough of these agreed to change preference to provide a match to the number needed, the shall party chair submit the changes to the dnc. If the state chair determines there is still an insufficient number of category 2 delegates supporting candidates proportionally, the state chair shall by law determine which category 2 delegate supporting a andidate or candidates with excess of delegates shall pass their vote at the National Convention to a credentialed alternate delegate willing to support the candidate and deficit on the first run of developing in the president ial nomination. Chosen by aelegates lot in this manner shall retain all their voting rights, including the right to vote on all their matters other than the first round of balloting for the president ial nomination. Following this determination, the state party chair shall collect and transmit to the dnc the written, binding president ial allocation of all category 2 delegates and alternates if applicable to the dnc. Shall make public of any alternate and convince applicable and the candidate from which they have written binding allocation. Those delegates in category 3 would be allocated and lonely to those in category 2 as follows. The dnc would announce category 3 delegates to president ial candidates no later than five days after the last nominating contest. If there are insufficient category 3 delegates to fill a president ial candidates position, alternate delegates would be elevated to provide the president ial preferences. Once the dnc h achievedas the requisite number of supporters to match the allocation to which each candidate is entitled,the dnc shall collect the written binding president ial preference from each category three delegates and alternate. Public the the dnc h shall make identity of any category 3 candidate and a candidate for which they have submitted a written binding preferential preference. If the state chair or dnc determines there is still an insufficient number of category 2 or 3 delegates respectively, supporting candidates proportionally after attempting allocate alternate allocate al, the state chair dnc shall determine by lot which category aor 3 delegates supporting candidate in excess shall pass their vote at the convention. However, instead of passing of all to the alternate, the delegates by lot would vote abstain on the tally sheet and during the roll call of the stat es. The secretary of the convention would announce a report a requisite number of additional zones to achieve the proportions required to achieve the president ial allocation of category 2 and 3 delegates. And that is it. Thank god i read to my kids every night so i can do that out loud. [laughter] [applause] madam chair . I feel almost as if when i sign up for something on my phone, and that little tiny print that goes on for pages and pages, there ought to be an agree button in the corner. That was amazing. We wanted to make sure that was not tiny print, but loudly spoken print. That is the amended language before us. Is there any discussion . Seeing no discussion, we are going to vote. Favor, raisein your hands. We are unanimous with an abstention. That passes. Thank you. We are now moving to our next table amendment on the ombudsman council, which is on page 14. Section. Party reform b in ourhe old document, and it is the new c. Are there any objections to taking it off the table . See no objections, i will read this updated version. Addition this is in substitution of the current b, which is now c. Okay. Is that correct . Okay. The Commission Recommends the rbc develop a process to address violations of the charter and bylaws. Any member of the dnc can bring a complaint alleging that dnc officers and staff are not adhering to the provisions of the charter and bylaws. Consists of complaints that are managerial in nature will not be not be heard, nor should challenges to a state delegates election plan. Of of thelegates 3. 4 regulation rules and bylaws, and challenges to the credentials to a dnc member. Article 2, section 10b of the charter and bylaws. We support the creation of an ombudsman counsel to partially review and address any complaints or improvements. The council should include the designee of the chair, the cochair of the rules and Bylaws Committee, the chairs of the regional caucuses or their representatives, with other selected as needed to ensure diversity. [chatter] chair dillon oh, recommended improvements. In the second paragraph. Thank you. So this is a replacement. Any discussion on this amendment . No discussion, we are going to move to the vote. [laughter] holdings in favor all those in favor please raise your hand. [laughter]in favor chair dillon so we are unanimous with an [laughter] chair dillon so we are unanimous with an abstention of jim roosevelt. Thank you. That is passed. We are now moving to the amendment that was tabled around the Budget Transparency and financial oversight council. On . Page is eight it is it on . And itstill on page 14, is the old 3c. So this is a replacement amendment for 3c, which is now e. Partye 14, section 3 of reform. So this is a replacement amendment. The commission was informed of consent about the level of transparency with the budgetary process of the dnc. As currently described in the bylaws, the budget and finance committee is charged with reviewing the budget, assisting in developing priorities, revealing major contracts and evaluating the performance of consultants senior staff. In addition to ex officio ,embers, ceo and coo of the dnc the composition of the finance and Budget Committee should be by election of qualified members, allowing for adequate representation of the partiess caucuses and counsel. No contract with the dnc or any Democratic Party affiliation should serve on a budget and finance committee. As call for in the bylaws, the budget and finance committee should provide the executive committee for discussion in a closed session its annual reports, and purposes and expenditures and results of expenditures and staff. The results of the report and the executive Committee Discussion should be sent to the full dnc membership. We specifically recommend that each election cycle, a published report on the focus of the dncs finances, including all major expenditures and vendors, be made available. So no discussion, i voteso thist amendment. Any discussion . Weng move to vote. All those in favor, please raise your hand. With anke unanimous abstention of jim roosevelt. We are going to stick in this section, adnd move to a new amendment on f in the party reform section, 3, operating in a manner that is open and transparent. And i am taking this off the table whatever i am supposed to say about that without objection, thank you. Recommend that the dnc prepare an annual budget that must be approved by the budget and finance committee and presented to the full Democratic National committee at each regularly scheduled meeting. The dnc officers shall be ex officio members of the budget and finance committee. Im just going to go and read g, and we can vote separately. G says any and all contracts expenditures exceeding 100,000 annually must receive prior approval from the dnc chair and officers, or their designees. As part of any proposal, all vendors shall be required to disclose the composition of leadership and diversity of their organization. We will go to discussion. I would like to thank assange forve working the representative for working with this on me. It is something that the dnc members have been discussing for a long time. If this moves forward, it will be a strong message to the dnc members and chairs that we are serious about the dnc finances, so thank you. Chair dillon any additional discussion on f or g . Seeing no discussion, we will go to the vote. Well vote first on f. Fl those in favor of the new as amended, please raise your hands. Unanimous with one abstention of jim roosevelt. [laughter] i know. Sorry. The small things that are funny should not be funny to the rest of the world. We will move to the vote on g. All those in favor, please raise your hands. We are unanimous, with an abstention. It is unclear who that is from. [laughter] just kidding. For the record, it is jim roosevelt. J,are now going to go to which is in the same section, 3, on page 15. Ormer 3g objection, i will move this off the table. This yesterday as we were working on the new amendments. J reads, any and all joint fundraising agreements or understanding shall be transparent and available to all official campaigns and used for the general election. To ensure the party has the resources to conduct an collection effort, the dnc is encouraged to take steps to ensure all Democratic Candidates take place in Fund Raising Events and solicit their own supporters to assist in fundraising efforts. The respective president ial campaigns will Work Together to determine the best ways to use resources raised under these agreements. The dnc will also take steps to ensure that state parties fully understand the financial terms of any agreements they enter into. Is there any discussion on j . Seeing no discussion, we will move to the front. All those in favor of j, please raise your hands. We are unanimous, with an abstention of jim roosevelt. Appropriately so, mr. Roosevelt. Not joking about it. Okay. Without abjection, the amendment dealing with services taken off the table. This is 6a on page 17. It is still on party reform, connecting oure values and actions section. This is a replacement for a that is in the current draft. This is a full replacement amendment. A reads, the Commission Recommends dnc develop a series oriented programming for the national and state parties that connects our values and actions. This can include trainings and events that demonstrate a commitment to serving our communities. We therefore propose working with the state chairs, dnc former committee to assess ways to evaluate voter Contact Programs in targeted areas, and then assess after a two year p eriod the impact on electoral growth and party performance. Based on this assessment, we can decide whether to fund and expand to other areas. Any discussion on this replacement amendment . Seeing no discussion, we will move to vote. All those in favor, please raise your hands. We are unanimous in support, with one abstention. Mine, as weree of communication, and the ombudsman. Yesterday when we had the table reading, i felt today a sense of relief that we were able to come to an agreement on the language. I appreciate congresswoman fudge and elaine, and you madam chair, who having come up with for having come up with language. I think, far from being intrusive, these are committees that become empowering of dnc and leadership to make real decisions to make this a governing body. I am glad we were able to come to language. I believe it will make a difference in the future of this organization. Chair dillon thank you so much, jim. Thank you for all the work. I think this highlights where we can together. There going to move to final section tabled from yesterday, which will take us to page 13 of your draft, section 2 , supporting and growing state parties and encouraging grassroots participation. We are making an addition, an amendment that will add to what you are seeing as formally b, no w currently c. ,he new c would read as follows the Commission Recommends the increased investment in state parties be maintained and possibly expanded over the cycle. The Commission Recommends the dnc maintain the 50 state strategy with financial goals by the leaders and members of asdc. Is there any discussion on this edition . Seeing no discussion, we will to a vote. All those in favor, please raise your hands. We are unanimous. No abstentions. [applause] chair dillon that is the last tabled amendment from yesterday. We have completed our consideration of the recommendations of the Committee Reform commission. We should all clap. [applause] chair dillon okay, we obviously still have some business to do. I want to thank everyone for their work. We are going to move right now to talk about the rbc process, and the next steps of the unity reform process, and make sure we have questions for Commission Members to take. The process we go through from here is we will both myself and vice chair and staff will go through the report as amended, make any grammatical changes consistent with the rest of the report. We will and in the rest of the sections add in the rest of the sections that will include the process that we came to here over the course of the next week. We will transmit that to Commission Members, then we will is we will bothtransmit thay january 1, 2019. That finishes the work of the report that we are required as a commission. Are expected to e for aloose formation period of 6 months while the rbc takes up the recommendations of our report. Roosevelt as the chair of the rbc will go through the process. They will go through their deliberations. We will stay as a roosevelt as f the rbc will go through the commission, invested in seeing this moving forward, invested in paying attention to when it is being discussed. Asks chairs, and we will Commission Members as needed, to speak on behalf of the report and elaborate context as needed. While we will not be formally goodness hank everyone should expect to be called on in order to ensure that the work we have done over the past year is the work that is goodness implemented throughc and forward. With that, i want to turn the floor over to jim roosevelt, who has been one of the cochairs of the dnc rules and Bylaws Committee to go over the process with everyone. Then we will open it up to Committee Members for questions. Larryant to thank you and for your very strong and sustained leadership of this committee. I want to thank all of the Commission Members. [applause] has been an honor for me to serve on this commission. Working together, we have made some excellent recommendations. I had to abstain from them because we will be having a full discussion in the rules and Bylaws Committee, and i do not want to have prejudged the outcome of that discussion. I believe we have taken the opportunity to learn from each other. It is a long way from where we begin in this discussion. Since these recommendations will be translated to the rules and Bylaws Committee, and eventually the full dnc. On behalf of myself and my cochair, lorraine miller, i want to assure you we take this work seriously. We plan to ask on this swiftly, to begin the incorporation of inse edits where applicable the convention, in the regulation come in the charter, and in the bylaws. These are the documents that govern the process these recommendations impact. In terms of the specific process, ive asked staff to schedule a meeting next year to start this work. Dates in late at january and early february. We will make sure Commission Members are dates notified whene meeting is set. There will be a public announcement as well, as with all rules and Bylaws Committee attends, the public can whether personally or electronically. Meet at the rules and Bylaws Committee, and the process will be similar to the process we have gone through yesterday and today, not aiming for another 12 hour meeting, but a similar process. All of our meetings are open. I encourage all of you to attend. My plan is to have jan and larry and bylawsules committee and informed the rbc. On eachlso be calling of you hear the commission to engage with the rbc as they process recommendations. Drafting, involved in onrafting, proposing, and so , we will ask you to participate in this process. We do often have presentations by representatives by state parties, experts and so on. This will be a little more so, because there will be more discussion as to where we got to where we did. The rules and Bylaws Committee will not just read in the report. We will rely on each of u. S. To share yourbers perspective how we formulate these recommendations. After theafter the consideratioe report will be forwarded to the full dnc for raffle approval no meeting inthe summer 2018. Meeting in 2018. It is possible some elements may go to the full dnc at the march meeting. Sortdepends on, as we these out, what would be the most coherent way to present them, and also the most persuasive way to present them. If there is ultimately a recommendation from the rules and Bylaws Committee that differs from this condition, the rbc recommendation would be referred back to that commission for agreement, endorsement, comment, disagreement, wherever it comes out. And if there is disagreement, as i understand the mandate, which sets up a sixmonth period for the report to be processed by the rbc and reported to the full dnc, both the recommendations of the rbc and this commission as well as the original mandate will be presented to the full dnc. Process of the that is the outline of the process. I would be happy to take any questions. Chair dillon we will open it up for questions. Zogby thank you jim roosevelt. Thanks to all of our colleagues. We have made more progress than some of us have assumed early on. Zogby thanki do want to bringe that i raised before about the potential for a conflict of interest. Some of the issues we found consensus. Clearly on issues we find consensus, we would expect the rules and Bylaws Committee to adopt as we recommend. On issues where there was a division in the house, i think it is important to ask those members of this body that are sitting on the rules and Bylaws Committee to simply agree to recuse themselves from consideration of those issues. It is a question of fairness. It is a question of optics. It is a question of democracy. It simply doesnt work when there are issues we are divided on, that you get another bite of the apple when you go before the rules and Bylaws Committee. Here correctlyir abstained from issues he knew he would be considering. I think the same goes correctly abstained from issues he the rus when rules come beforecommittee. I am not asking for a mandate, thathat members consider would be the more appropriate measure to take. I put that forward for. Onsideration. As dr. Zogby pointed out, i did abstain issues that i thought would be subject to active discussion. That is because i am cochairing that meeting. I am going to respectfully whether rules and Bylaws Committee members, other than the cochair, need to recuse themselves. Yes, as you say, they are getting into fights of the apple, but they have two the apples, but they have two roles in the organization. I disagree they are compelled to do that. Chair dillon any other questions or comments . Okay. Saw the event first yvtte first. When you asked me to recuse myself, the assumption is i am going to do something that would be questionable. That is the way i am taking it. That may not have been your intention, because you and i work extremely well together. That is the perception that would be out there, that we would not be able to be objective. My vote on this commission was to move this out of this body to the next step, that is it. As jim indicated, there may be changes that could alter. I have not made a final decision, because we dont have all the pieces in place yet. To penalize us who have Institutional Knowledge as to how this process works seems a bit unfair. I would respectfully like to ask that we be given a chance to see what the final is going to be before we are asked to silence our voices, before we will have our voices suppressed, which always bothers me when i think that is happening. I dont think anyone on this commission, even though we walked in with the severest of agreements, has been operating in bad faith. I think everyone has been passionate about what they believe in, and has advocated for those passions. I think there was a fair vote up and down the board of people advocating for those positions. There is not one person in this room that i would feel uncomfortable with in terms of the relationships we have developed over these past few months. I would ask you afford us that same consideration, and trust we will try to operate in good faith and do the very best that we can. Lets see what the final product will be before you judge what our outcome will be. That is all i will say. Chair dillon we have jeff weaver next. Member weaver i have i want to say everybody on this commission worked in good faith. We have had some arguments, and in some cases very bitter arguments. Representingere both the clinton campaign, sanders campaign, and a few of you representing the institutional party. What is that . Omalley campaign. [laughter] but we all came here with a pledge to make reforms to the party. Everyone at this table has a document we to can reach consensus on. If i was writing it myself, it would be different, but in its present form represents a huge step forward for the Democratic Party. Have folks on the rbc all voted in support of the provisions of this document. If they were to repass it, i would be elated. Folkst see any reason why should have to recuse themself. They have all voted in support of everyone of the reforms in this document, including the unpledged delegate system, reforming the primaries, caucuses. Jim, you and i would write a different document than what is here. Continue to support what is in this document. I will take them at their word. I look forward to consulting sure therbc to make interest of those that supported senator sanders are heard. Member flores one clarification how many members there are. And i have a followup after that. 35. Memberflores so if 3 recused themselves, that would represent a voting issue. Two, i thought it was interesting the comments he made made to thishanges document, that they would come back for comment or consideration. Interesting if you have folks sustained on those committees, you will have folks voting here, folding there, and voting here again. I agree with jeff. Ultimately for me it is important i asked about the membership about the rules and bylaws is just for information services, so people understand the context. I agree with jeff if someone feels that the perception, even if it is not about what you are allowed to do. It is what the perception is about what is the right thing to do. Members feels they are conflicted and feel the appropriate thing is to recuse themselves, i want to move forward with full faith and confidence that they will. I want to thank jeff and lindsay for their comments. Great processa for so many of us. I couldnt think of an instance when someone acted not in good faith. I would ask for that feeling to be reciprocated of us. Rules and Bylaws Committee i know on the premium wearing both i know that on the rules and Bylaws Committee i am wearing both hats. Advocating for the final passage of that document. We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to strengthen the Democratic Party. I think there will be plenty of Accountability Measures along the way to hold our feet to the fire. Making sure everyone knows these meetings are occurring. Not just those in thismaking sut those that cannot be with us members current, members curret ure, and beyond. Yvette,ogby number one not a question of your integrity. And the same, emmy. I do agree with what jeff and what have lucy has said, in that we passed the document for the most part unanimously. I would hope that same sense of unanimity goes to that body representing all of us, not just representing yourself. Basically what you just said is win,if there were a time then i hope you will decide to recuse. You are not just representing a point of view, the work we have done but the work we have done collectively together. I just wanted to put that on the record, not to question integrity, but to question the optics if the document is modified in ways that become record, not to question recognizable from what we agreed to. Un recognizable from what we agreed to. I hope you will fight for the document we agreed to, and i believe you will. Chair dillon thanks jim. Memebner konst jim and i have been talking about this since recommendations were made by secretary perez for the rules and bylaws. I definitely agree with the intent, the principle of what d r. Zogby has put forward. Believe,od faith, i having gotten to know many of you on this commission, that we will have fair representation on the commission. With that being said, i will add one little point just to reinstate in the charter, section seven, article one, at the end of section seven, there ction that it is a that the person in this office shall refrain from acting in their official capacities when their independence of judgment would be personally affected by their duties. Protects what is closest to a conflict of interest. Wediscussed we have not discussed conflicts within the charters and bylaws. I think this ensures whoever is on the rules and Bylaws Committee and also this commission will be acting out of good faith, and it will not be out of any other conflict. I dont know what that agenda could be, booked whatever concerns that could be put forward. Principal whynd dr. Zogby put this forward, and that we principal why should be uniform across the future. Unfortunately it has happened. The people that i have gone to know on the rules and Bylaws Committee should be uniform acrs the future. Unfortunately it has happened. The people that i have gone to know on the rules and Bylaws Committee, keep in mind we should be acting out of good faith. And i think that we will. I would like to offer a suggestion should be uniform acs in conversation with chair perez, the afc incident was not appointed to the rules committee. Tore is a fixed in process make sure he is to make sure he is on, as well as secretary wray. I am not sure that is happening in time for the january or february meeting of the rules comedic rules committee. My suggestion is we make that happen. Comedic rulesthere are a lote afcments that note the president will be on committees. His role on rules and Bylaws Committee is critical. Perhaps chairman perez moves that position up. In order to gender balance, i would like to suggest two f emales get added alongside to show we are concretely building the bridge of unity. Thank you. The appointment of additional members to the rules and Bylaws Committee, which is a recommendation made by the committee or full dnc may not be theen in full sequence of rules and Bylaws Committee. I have spoken to both individuals about participating in those meetings, even though they have not been officially appointed. That does not solve the gender balance problem. We can do that when we get to the official acts. Chair dillon i will move to final remarks for Commission Members. Than wea bit longer were hoping today, with good reason. We should feel good about that. I would like everyone to give two minutes. Lets not go on until the end of time. We will have to call you if you are going to lung. But we would like to hear your remkars for the record. We will start with jan. Several months ago i introduced myself as being from ames, iowa. I think it is safe to say i have been advocating on behalf of caucuses too much. I think they are worthy of the effort. They are certainly quirky, much like myself, but they are critical to this party and building its base. Hope you will continue to the presence of caucuses in the party structure. The most important feature of caucuses is the communication angle. That was the beauty of this commission. Everybody had an opportunity to communicate, to build consensus, and hopefully in the end result, we will build our party. We have not always gone everything we wanted out of the process, but we were able to be heard. I want to thank you for the privilege of allowing me to serve with you. It has been a real pleasure. I look forward to seeing you sometime real soon. My thanks to all of you. Unlike most of you, i had to fight to get into this party. There was a time when arabamericans could not get in the front door. It was ron brown that led us in, and i appreciate that. I have grown to be deeply attached to the party, and those and understand after years on the committee, i understand its flaws, but also its meaning. I grew up as a democrat. It was always important to me. Privilege of being able to serve on that body has meant a great deal, to break down the barriers and to be the arab american that represented my community was important to me. Ton senator sanders asked me participate on this body, i was thrilled. A chance to address some of the important issues we have to address to make our party stronger. I believe unity and reform go to cancer. We need to reform to be unified. Unity and reform go to gather. How we operate as a party, how we operate in the politics of america. I believe that the challenge that we faced was serious. I also believe what we accomplished in reforming the electoral process, reducing the impact of superdelegates, making caucuses stronger, opening up primaries. But in party reform, creating bodies that will oversee how we do our work, fulfilling the bylaws on Budget Transparency, and creating an ombudsman, so that if we have issues like this year, we have a place to go. This is important. I believe we have done good work. I appreciate your support for it. I want to thank you senator sanders for giving me the opportunity, ron brown from having brought me into this body a heck of a long time ago, and all of you for making this work despite our differences, making it an enjoyable and collegiate exercise. I have made my remarks already. [laughter] i would like to thank the Commission Members. It was great getting to know you. Sent, we have had some battles, but the work we came up with was important. I am excited sent, we have had some about the changes this can bring to the Democratic Party. It was importantit was importane were focusing on diversity. That is something i try to champion on this commission. I am glad we were able to come up with a product that will ultimately get voted on, and provide the change that we need. Hope to see you guys around. Thank you. Ditto to what my fellow commissioners have said to this point. It was a robust debate. I want the public to know there were moments you did not see that i wish you could have seen, us really go at it on the issues that we believe in. Im certainly glad cspan is here. I wish they could have been here from the beginning, because i think there are a lot of misconceptions from the public with what is going on with this commission. I want folks to know that we fought for issues that we believe in. This is consensus. In consensus, you dont get everything that you want. But we must continue. I am more concerned about what happens after this. My message is to the public, that i want the folks that really care about rebuilding this Democratic Party to be a place where all are included, no matter their backgrounds. Zogbyouched by what dr. Had to say, because i am sure there are many that still feel like they are being left out of the Democratic Party, and we only accept the voices of those that agree with us instead of understanding the beauty of said,t, as James Baldwin i love this country more than any other, and because of that love, i deserve the right to critique it. I am paraphrasing him. That goes for the Democratic Party as well. That is unfortunate in this environment, that if you dont go along to get along, people vilify you, when in fact the people in history that have gone against the status quo have made it a better place. I would argue that same sentiment holds for this party as well. I am proud of this exercise, even though my Blood Pressure went up many times. Had flores, my dear sister, to talk me off of all kinds of ledges. It is important that we say we do not have unity without reform. It takes reform to have unity. I want the people that came here , that you are respected, even though the process makes those on the inside feel as if they are not respected. We do respect you. Folks will have to get engaged. It is a long time between now and march. I would like to see those that care about strengthening this party to be engaged. This change will not happen without you. Having these words are one thing. Execution is another. We have one of the most progressive platforms, but execution is important. What the Community Reform has done is about execution. Titles are good, but purpose is better. I hope we will push the purpose of making sure that the Democratic Party is inclusive. I wanted to superdelegates eliminated all the way. I want that on the record. I dont think there are some Whose Authority is more important than others. We significantly reduced them. We have more work to do in the Democratic Party to win over those folks. Broughtit was nomi who up the point of how important it is to be strong not only in our words, but our deeds. In this unity reform commission, we worked incredibly hard. People can be proud of what we have accomplished thus far, but we still have so many miles to go. [applause] i would like to echo the thoughts of my fellow commissioners. Thank you for the cooperation and good faith you have shown here. I did not get everything i wanted. I would have liked to see no reduction in superdelegates. [laughter] just to point that out. I did not get everything i wanted, but i will go forward and support the work of this commission in the rules committee. I just want to make a point. I think we have a great progressive platform. If we cant get anything done we cant get anything done on the progressive platform if we dont take back the house in 2018. I think everyone here has to work in thehat we spirit of unity because we are facing a really big deal. We are facing the most dangerous american president we have ever had. And in order to check that president , we need a Democratic House of representatives. It is also not a democratic work in the spirit ofsenate. Compromises we have made here will continue into the fall, and that we can be together to interact a amocratic to elect Democratic House, maybe a democratic senate, because we must check this president. [applause] i want to thank everyone on the commission for allowing me to serve with you. It has been a great honor. I honestly believe that the Democratic Party remains the most Inclusive Party in the world. There are of course a lot of people still feeling like they are left behind in the party, and there is work left to do. I believe the report we will recommend to the rbc begins to make the party more inclusive. Think we have done a really good job making sure we reform these buckets, and sticking within the confines of the mandate. Thank you for serving with me. Mine is a little bit more personal. Earlier this year, both of my grandparents passed away four months within each other. They were 92 years old. They both escaped a fascist communist dictatorship. All of those things combined, in albania. Loved ones died along the way. And savedinto greece their pennies during the depression to get onto the last boat on ellis island. My grandfather, who was 92, became an american citizen right away. He studied very hard. Then he immediately joined his local Democratic Party club. And he became a Democratic Party activist, as well as my grandmother. My grandfather campaigned for dukakis. He gave money to the party. He organized. He got all of his greeks in his greek clubs to support democrats. Mother to be a democrat. He raised me to be a democrat. The last person he was able to vote for was Bernie Sanders. I should say hillary clinton, too. Mother to be a democrat. He raised me to be aboth in unid Bernie Sanders. My grandfather told me, Bernie Sanders reminded me of fdr, who he couldnt vote for and wanted to vote for. When we think before fdr, the Democratic Party was at its weakest point it is at its weakest point since 1929. We know that going in here. Ht before my grandmother grandfather died, he was fully cognizant. We had conversations about republicans controlling the state legislature. He knew i was appointed to this commission. He reinstilled how important it was that we on this commission are what stands between fascism right now. He told me many stories about what it meant. And what we did here i am not the only one who has stories like this. Americans everywhere have stories like this. We see everyone standing up every day to donald trump. Daca, andant ban, republicans as well. What we did today was historic, incredibly profound. We have listened to complaints and issues raised from the Democratic Party members, state chairs, and we spent the last nine months hashing out where the democratic its way. T we are what stands in the way of fascism. If all of these things are executed, and i really hope they are, its way. I want to commend everybodyy here, including the chairs, for leading this effort. I hope the report that we publish will hopefully reinstill faith in those that we lost along the way so we can strengthen this party, bring members back into this party, make it easier for them to register and vote i want to comy democratic and give to the Democratic Party so that we become the institution we deserve to be, knowing exactly where this country stands on issues. We should be the institution that is there to protect them. Thank you to everybody. Thank you to the public. You spent friday and saturday here. You have been watching on camera. These things can be long and tedious. We are appreciative of you being here, as well as all of my commissioners. I want to thank jan and larry for your strong leadership of this commission, which i know firsthand is not an easy thing to do. You kept us jan focused on whate were trying to achieve, and helped us get to that higher ground. I want to thank you much for that. I am proud to have served with you, my fellow commissioners, and to have gotten to know some of you better than when i started. I and particularly appreciative for the last 48 hours, and how we really pushed ourselves and challenged ourselves to listen carefully to each other and understand where people were coming from, and to just put the rigor to our conversations that allowed us to achieve more consensus. I think that was really important. At the end of the day, that has at least for me to be glad after the months of debating and intensity of the last 48 hours, to come out of this process with so many concrete recommendations that really will strengthen the Democratic Party. Process, andthe all of you fellow commissioners. Thank you. Well now go to the other side of the table. I was going to say the aisle but that would not be what i mean. Kick us off. Maybe, maybe not. Ill keep my remarks short. Because, fine. Whatever. It is said the sign of a good compromise is when no one is 100 happy and based on everyones remarks that is certainly true. Am 100 happy that in this case i am not normally known as the voice of reason but i have been singled out as the voice of reason. So that is cause for celebration for me. I actually do want to reiterate two things. One, of course working with everyone has been truly remarkable. Again were not 100 happy but certainly 100 happy with where e have arrived as a group. I also want to reiterate the chairs, both jen and larry i did not know initially what we were walking into and certainly we all had a reason to be skeptical. I think one of the things we can agree on is your leadership has been critical and fair. I guess ill be honest and say im kind of surprised because sometimes you expect the worst. But ive been very pleasantly surprised and very grateful for your leadership and the work of everyone around the table. Thank you. That was a minute 25 so im 30 seconds. I want to go on the record stating i, too, am surprised that lucy has been the voice of reason. [laughter] you know, its been incredible serving with every person here. Im honored and grateful that secretary clinton appointed me and so many of us in good faith to lead this commission to continue the fight and all she has done for the Democratic Party. I learned a lot from everyone about the passions that you carried, adopted most of them, and am really committed to taking that fight on to the rules and by laws committee. Above all i think this year has been really difficult for so many of us especially our communities. One of the upsides for me working on the campaign, being part of this commission, going into being a dnc member, is really getting to know so many of the democratic organizers and activists that are truly doing this work on the ground. So i hope that in addition to this report weve produced that i think we can all feel really proud about the progress that weve made, i hope we can also leave here with a real commitment to ensuring that in 2018 were doing everything we can to elect every candidate with a d by their name. That is truly how we begin to help our communities and our people and our voters and ensure we are building a strong Democratic Party. I look forward to doing that work alongside each and every one of you. 45 seconds to spare. Let me begin by saying, one, im pleased to be on the commission and having been appointed by secretary clinton. Two, as i shared with jane, my positions over time have changed since the first time i ran for office as a 29 running for the legislature. I love caucuses. We got 8 l the first time i ran 88 the first time i ran for our caucus. I ran unopposed as a freshman. The longer ive stayed in politics ive always questioned the degree to how strong our party is going to be. Given the fact we dont have 21 shrinking violets sitting around this table i feel very good about the future of the Democratic Party. We have all come together from different backgrounds, different interests, different passions, and weve come together to put a document together that goes before the entire dnc. And i think that my hope for the future is that we will all affirm the document that we worked on. Share with the public that no one received everything they wanted but there was compromise in it and the party as an institution is better off because of our service than they would be if the Unity Commission had not been appointed and i think we need to really take that into account. I would also want to, in closing, focus in, i wont do my normal closing because im baptist and it takes three times. I want to concur with elaine that my concerns are really at this point for the future of our country. What we can do for 2018 and what we can do for 2020 with that individual that sits in he white house thats going to mississippi today. And so i think that as we move forward, if we can Work Together for the benefit of the party as weve come together and worked here on this Unity Commission, that the party will be even stronger. I also want to thank jan and larry for their leadership. Theyve cut it right down the middle and adjusted on some and pushed on others, which is what cochairs are supposed to do. I think its been a pleasure serving with each of you and getting to know you a little etter. Good afternoon. I, too, appreciate and applaud both jen and larry for the role theyve played, having had to rocess myself in many kinds of organizations in the area of berkeley, california, where everybody thinks they can run their full blown dissertation at a public hearing. [laughter] i was extremely pleased when larry called me and said that senator bernie had asked if i would serve on this. I wasnt expecting anything like that although i campaigned for him. Danny glover and i campaigned and other for him places. I consider bernie one of the best people ive ever known. He and Dennis Kucinich and i used to be called on to talk at many of the eastern universities. D i remember when he was running for governor of vermont he invited me out to campaign with him and representatives of the upi and the ap were in his office the first morning that we were going out to campaign. And the question was, bernie, why would you, a jew from brooklyn who is a socialist invite gus newport, a former black nationalist and socialist from berkeley to campaign in a 97 white state . Bernie said because were going to talk about the issues. They had no more questions to ask. Thats what its about. If we could get past our own egos and look atish at the issues and the state of our people even though we talk about the great things the Democratic Party has done we are 37th in the world in education. Black america is at its lowest economic edge since the jim crowe era. I was fortunate enough when i have my inauguration to James Baldwin sitting in the front row, who is a senior fellow we have spent many times together. I assisted malcolm x as he left the muslims to create the organization of after roe american unity as he became afro american unity as he became involved in the civil rights movement. I still dont feel lake weve accomplished what we should. My mother was a practicing democrat. My father was an abe lincoln republican. My great grandmother was a slave. My grandmother started taking me to see paul rose and Marion Anderson at the age of a years old. The Democrat Party still has a long way to go. I appreciate what we accomplished but dont go out here bragging too soon when you look at the status of the American People and whatever else. This didnt just happen with trump. Trump has only been there for a year. So i say i feel very pleased. Ive been pressed forever to write a book and im going to do that. The other thing, history is not recorded in the United States of america. Its propaganda. Thats why young people are asking us to tell them what happened in the jim crowe era and other kinds of things. Dont go out here feeling too proud because i love that ive been part of this and i will con tony stay involved with the dnc. I think this may be the avenue but a lot of my constituency, gus, if you dont come back with the answers we want, no matter how difficult it is were going to start a third party. You got to think of the realities. The millennials said they had enough. Many of them know they wont be able to buy a house in their lifetime. They got to pay student loans, and other things. If we dont come together and look at it too many of us will get into the body politic, eventually just focus on ourselves. We got retirement for life. We got health care for life. But what about the people . And so i say, again, im really pleased to have been part of this. But im going out here with my head held high. Damn sure not going out with the accomplishments i had hoped. I love all of you all but dont think the job is done. Thank you. [applause] i love that. In your book dont forget to put the little footnote that malcolm x was born in omaha, nebraska. Always advocating for my state. I want to thank secretary clinton and senator sanders who did not have to form this commission. It was a very contentious election but secretary clinton with a tremendous amount of grace came to the table with senator sanders and i know both making sure this commission moved forward, knowing that our party had a lot of healing to do and that our party had major reforms we had to start to tackle. It breaks my little girls heart every day when she sees donald trump on the tv. I have three girls and maya, our middle, was Hillary Clintons biggest fan knowing i was a big bernie supporter, my husband was a big secretary clinton supporter. Maya, you know, sometimes just turns the tv off because she says she cant handle the lies or shell rightfully say that should be secretary clinton. We all know actually every vote mattered and counted secretary clinton would be in the oval office and we would not be facing the tremendous economic inequalities that continue to get worse under president trump. But my littlest, willa, she always said she wished that bernalee would have won. She was the person in our family that always brings people together. I do think that is what this commission really does represent. It is the best of both wings of the party really putting the party first and making sure that were putting forward reforms that lay the groundwork for any underdog candidate or establishment candidate that comes to the table with the best ideas to lead our party. Both at the state party level as well as the national level. So thank you. And thank you to patrice who does not get enough thanks. Yes [applause [ and when i was with Young Democrats of america i was on the staff side of things so i understand the work and the hours that you put in. So everybody has had their love fest. I dont like any of you just so you know. [laughter] just kidding. This has been such i know its mutual. This has been truly an honor and as jane said that even the formation of this did several things. It brought all of us of different views and opinions together but it also was an acknowledgment that something needed to be fixed. We need to give ourselves credit for recognizing that something needed to be fixed and taking the steps to fix it. As someone who grew up in the segregated south, i learned early on that compromise and assimilation sometimes depended on whether you lived or died. And i learned early on that it was not a bad thing because sometimes you can work from the inside out. I would not have been on the dnc for nine centuries. I just came on in 2011. Im relatively new. And so when i came in, i could see things that maybe people that had been there longer couldnt see. But more importantly i learned from people that had been there longer that i didnt know. And i think both perspectives needed to be honored. I think that for those that feel that everything didnt work out the way you wanted it, and im one of them, im not going to pretend that im not, i think we need to recognize the fact that you cannot plant seeds and reap a harvest in the same season. So what we did now and what weve begun to do is plant seeds. And we will reap a harvest from this. But this is not the end. This is just the beginning of a dialogue. This has shown us that we can come together with differing views and differing opinions and still walk out with a consensus document that all of us feel comfortable with. Is it perfect . Absolutely not. But compromise does not mean capitulation. And i dont think anyone should walk out of this room feeling like anybody capitulated in any way. What we said is, this is the beginning. Give us a chance to work forward and to make it better. Now that we know we can do this, there are no barriers for always coming back together to fix whatever needs to be fixed at the dnc. We have the tools to do it. We have the relationships to do it. And i think our party is only going to be stronger. To jen and larry, thank you so much for what youve done for us. Larry, in particular, thank you for talking me off the ledge that day, because i was ready to just blow it all up and my conversation with you touched me more than i can tell you because wei do come from different we did come from different perspectives. You truly did become one of my favorite people here. I do thank you for what you did for all of us. But most importantly, i want us to walk out of this room with a sense that we have a purpose, a mission, we have a message, we have a vehicle for delivering all of that. As long as we honor the past but not get paralyzed by the past, i think well be very, very successful. Thank you all very much. [applause] let me thank the chairs and thank all of you. It has been my privilege to have served with you. I think by any standard or measure, this has been successful. We are a stronger and better party. Because we did the work weve done over the last year. By any standard. It is incumbent upon leaders to bring people together. Baiting low the race hate person that we have in the white house to divide. He is a warmonger. He is an antiimmigrant lover. He is a person who believes in dysfunction. He believes that division wins. By any standard we are leaders in a party that wants to bring people together. Because we know that when we bring people together we win. So leaders make a difference. And i thank you for your leadership because you have made a difference. I thank you all. I want to also start by thanking the chairs. I know the amount of hours theyve put into this incredible amount of work and the staff and particularly patrice who has gotten me reams and reams of documents from the dnc and done research at 11 00 at night i really appreciate your support in all of this. I also wanted thank charlie baker, not here today, unfortunately, you and i were on opposite campaigns during the primary but we worked very closely throughout this process in the best of faith on both parts and i think our Work Together has really helped in some cases to smooth over some of the rough edges in this process. So i thank charlie very much. You know, when this process started in the aftermath of the 2016 primaries, two campaigns came together because they both understood. Secretary clinton understood and senator sanders understood that if we were going to come together to defeat trump and the longterm republicans, we were going to have to create the kind of unity that everybody around this table wants to create. And the only way that was going to happen was by reforming the party in a positive way. Clearly, there were divisions exposed. I dont believe they were created but exposed during 2016 primary in our party. There were clearly some structural issues that had to be remedied. And i think the message from the grass roots was pretty clear that people at the grass roots wanted a party which was much more reflective of people of rank and file democrats. And thats what this commission was all about and what it continues to be about. Our work in many ways is done although we will be, you know, together im sure one more time to look at the rbcs recommendations. But this is really just a first step in this reform process. It is one of the rbc. Well be going to the dnc. For people around the country who want reform in the party and make it stronger, who want to see the number of super delegates radically reduced, want to open up the primaries, who want to make the caucuses more open and transparent, who want the party to be more accountable, theres a long way to go and the people of the grass roots have to get involved and stay involved as we move through this process. There is going to have to be polite and respectful communication with dnc members about where people at the grass roots stand in terms of these reforms to ensure that these reforms get through. Particularly on the issue of super delegates we all understand that the dnc members themselves will be voting to bind themselves on the first ballot of president ial voting at the convention in the future and for many of them that will be a position that will be difficult or that they dont want to take. But that is what was mandated by the dnc, the convention in 2016, the highest authority in this party unanimously adopted, supported by secretary clinton, supported by Bernie Sanders, that the super delegate system be reformed. There was no provision in the mandate creating this commission that was more prescriptive than the one dealing with unpledged delegates. This commission has remained true despite the differences in personal opinion. I have joined senator turner favoring having no super delegates. Despite differing opinions on this commission about where we should go we all kept to the mandate. And it would be i think very bad for the Party Going Forward in terms of creating unity if the dnc were not to substantially adopt what we have passed here at this commission. So people out in the world be prepared. Youre going to be needed to move this forward. This process is not over. Weve done most of the work in terms of writing this report. But there is still a long way to go. Thank you all. [applause] thank you. I just want to say that democracy is always an on going effort and this commission i believe has certainly taken its responsibility well. We have a lot of provisions in the report to increase access and participation in the process, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our party as an institution for the American People. I think that theres a lot of credit to go around. First i want to thank secretary clinton for the opportunity to serve. I want to thank all of the sanders supporters on this commission. Each one of you for working together so well so that we could do the work before us. I want to thank the chairman of he party for his appointments. I think theyre very important. Hopefully we have delivered a product for him that will help his leadership going forward. Really, though, i think a lot of the credit for our work goes to the chair and the vice chair of this commission. Its been great working with both of you. Larry, as a clinton appointee i particularly want to thank you and commend you for keeping us together as a group so that we could do the work we needed to do. And we actually have a Little Something here for you. This is from all of the members of the commission. E want to thank you. [applause] they go shopping together . Just wrapping. [laughter] when you said jess you meant patrice. I was just giving you a little extra credit. Well, ill start there. Thank you, patrice, not for just whatever is in this box. I can only imagine. Please dont open it while were all in the room. Yeah, yeah. Patrice and there are at least eight or nine of your fellow staff here and the youngest, jacob, the only one who is happy every day at his job that ive met in years. [laughter] youve really been awesome. And everybody always says that in these things but, really. I mean, awesome. Ill get to you in a minute. Just want to say a few things. Lots of people still believe that with a monster president all we should be doing is fighting trump. Why are you working inside . We got a monster president. Or a horrible congress. Were the or the worst governor ever. Its because if we dont work inside, we wont be able to do the work or fight effectively, whichever word you want to use, outside. The process of working inside, about how we Work Together, at we stand for, how we do that work, i came to believe like it or not its about half the work. So i would say in our union where i spent as many of you know 39 years fulltime, 10 years as president , every training i did i would say to job stewart ungest our union, 10 hours a week, volunteers, they never got paid. Five hours of that is going to be working inside. Dont do it if thats going to frustrate you. If youre going to get angry at the people you work with. Just dont do it. Because unity doesnt fall like the rain from the sky. You got to work for it as the song said day and night. Dont worry about t i wont sing it. And i would say that to all of us. Because the only way we will be able to effectively fight trump , the only way well fight ryan and mcconnell, the only way well fight redistrict or any of the other horrible richt or any of the other horrible governors is do what i call Party Building and Party Building means inside to do better work outside. Jen and others here, you know, weve heard each other sort of grumble about the hundreds of hours this ended up being. Lots of grumbling. Ut i keep trying to say to myself and i say this going forward, half the work, whatever you have to commit as a volunteer, half the work is always going to be inside. Half the work is always going to be what does unity mean . Its not a five letter word. Youve got to work for it day and night. And i would say to my sister here, the chair, who will get the last word, youve made that a pleasure. You are a model. And carry it on. [applause [prenl thank you, everyone. You all have said what i had to say far better, so i just have a few things i want to say. First, i, too, want to say thank you to the staff, to jacob, to alicia, to julie, lisa, miles, sochi, maureen, and in particular to patrice. I have had the true pleasure of working with patrice not just in this commission but in my time as a dnc and invery few people that have as much grace as she does and how she has carried that. And for whatever we have accomplished, it is solely because patrice has led our path forward. So thank you. I want to thank helen, too. In particular because. Yay, helen. [applause] at every meeting and been part of this and i have never had to be a chair of anything or had to go through any voting or paid attention to any voting so i had very little clue of what i was doing and helen helped me not seem as bad as i was without her help. So thank you, helen. And thank you for helping us navigate. You know, ive had the luxury of having remarks at the beginning of every meeting and at each turn thanked all of the commission. I will say when i started this process i was apprehensive probably does not cover how i felt about this. In part because im not sure i exactly knew what i was signing up for to begin with. But in part because i have seen commissions and i have seen sides come together and i have seen, you know, people not being committed to the work in front of us. And i knew as someone who has spent my entire life working in this party how important our work was. And so if i was apprehensive it was because i was concerned we would not get to the work, to the business of what we had. And i am proud of but i commend every Single Member of this commission for getting to the work. This is not about grandstanding. This was not about having a fancy title. This was certainly not about showing up to the digs that the dnc has provided. It was about doing really hard work. And every Single Member of this commission committed to that, to the focus on the work, and did the work. And there is not one person around this table that didnt contribute and contribute in a real, significant way, and make this work better. And so for that i am thankful. For that i am certainly proud of what we have done. As i said, you know, ive spent my whole life in the party. When i was 10 my dad told me if i left the democratic partied be leaving my people. I have kind of stayed focused on that. Hopefully if he is watching he feels like ive really legitimately leaned into that one. But i am, you know, proud because of the work thats done. Improud because of how fair this process has been. The second thing my dad taught me was to be fair. That is a Guiding Light that i try to live by and i think everyone here did as part of this process. And certainly larry has led, you know, i am really proud about how respectful and collegial the process has been because it didnt have to be. And there were agreements and disagreements and hot moments and emotion but through it all everyone opened their ears as maya said and listened to each other and tried to work through that and knew there was potentially a path forward if we kept talking. That is something that i think shows the vibrancy and just depth of our party. And the depth of all of you which i am just so proud of. I will leave this process respecting all of you but having respect at a deep level of the leaders that you are and whether or not we agree or our paths cross again in the future i am certainly better for having worked with you but i am confident that the path youre moving forward on will help better the party. One of the things that ive said at the start of every single meeting is that we have had just awful, awful things that we could point to happening in this country against everything we believe in as a party and as a people. Stuff that to be honest with you for many, certainly for me, im not sure i envisioned being in 2017 and having whats happening around us happen. And so i am most proud that the work we are doing here, that we have done in this report, will actually help unify this party and will help reform that party so that we can stay focused on the most important elements we have in front of us. You have my commitment that i will do all that i can to fight for this report and what we have done here through any process the rbc and dnc has. You have my commitment that i will find ways to spend time in the future with larry coen because the first meeting that we had together he sat me in this big room because he wanted to get to know me and see if i was legit and he was way up close in my business asking me all sorts of questions and i was like, who is this guy . And then after taking a deep breath and having the opportunity to Work Together, i honestly have not met a more passionate or driven person. While, you know, we come from as we say different sides and we came from different places, theres almost no place larry and i didnt agree. I think if this process was fair, if we were focused and staying true to our north stars it is because larry helped guide us there every time. Thank you, larry. I hope that while the next time we get together we wont have microphones, not that you need one, we can still hang out. All right. So the last thing i want to say is just to focus us and some of you said this as well, we have to win in order for us to be able to do the work that we voted on. We have to make sure that we are staying in a place where people want to be part of this party. That they see the good. They see all of you and the grass roots and the activists and that they see the doors open and a voice for them. We will not stop anything. We will not unify anything and we will not reform anything that truly matters if we cannot win elections. Right now for our parting thoughts, for my focus for the future in making sure that every day i find a way to do this, this is no longer just about a strong party. It is truly about saving our country. I think all of you have had a role in helping strengthen our party in order to save our country. I know all of you here and certainly the folks that have been with us will go out there and continue to find ways to do that. For that i will be forever grateful and thankful. With that i do not believe we have any additional business so id like to take a motion to adjourn. So move. Second. All right. All in favor. We are adjourned. [applause] sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on book tv on cspan 2 former Senior Adviser to secretary of state Rex Tillerson discusses his book, Digital World war. Islamists, extremists, and the fight for cyber supremacy. Content is king. Distribution is queen. She wears the pants in the family. If you think about that, you know, the way i like to think about isis and others is that were in a content war. Then at 8 00 the former msnbc news anchor Greta Van Susteren with her book everything you need to know about social media without having to call a kid. In social media everybody can get together and everybody can join together and do incredible things. There are stories in the book about what others have done with social media. Social media is not really new. All thats new is sort of these delivery platforms. Think about it. We have smoke signals. Anybody can see the smoke signals. Thats social media. The party line. The telephone line. Thats social media. Everybody on the block can get on the phone. What is so different is that everything of course is amplified and within terms of how far you reach and of course the speed of the communication. With a full schedule go to book tv. Org. Sunday night on afterward gold star father recalls his immigration from pakistan to the United States in his book an american family, a memoir of hope and sacrifice. Hes interviewed by the california congressman jimmy panetta. This is a common trait. Two things that are really common among authoritarian mentalities and the audience can draw the conclusion. One is they dont like free press because free press criticizes them. Second thing is rule of law. They do not like judges. They do not like rule of law. Such a had given me perspective of not having any Civil Liberties to having all these dig knits. And as we dignityies and as we speak further ill tell you what a moment it was when i went to take the oath of citizenship. I wish every american would at least read the oath of citizenship. It means so very much. It speaks the hopefulness, the dignities enshrined in our constitution and our bill of rights. Watch afterward sunday night at 9 00 eastern on cspan 2s book tv. Now a discussion from washington journal. This is 25 minutes. Host we are back and joined from