Palm Beach Democrats had better fix things now | Pat Beall

Imagine Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried white-knuckling her way down a mountain road, while in the backseat, Palm Beach County’s Democratic Executive Committee is going at it.

He started it! She hit me! Hey, leave me alone!

Fried could have hit the brakes and had a come-to-Jesus meeting. She might have ordered up the constructive mix of crackdown and marching orders needed for the quarreling local Dems to muscle through election day.

She might have warned them: Not one more word till we’re all off this mountain.

After all, Fried was in the driver’s seat.

But that’s not what happened.

Angry people stayed angry, and there’s an awful lot of anger in Palm Beach County right now.

On March 4, Fried suspended Mindy Koch, the local party chair and target of the most vociferous criticism.

On March 24, a committee of state party leaders reinstated her.

Days later, the state party’s judicial council voted to oust her.

On May 1, Koch resigned, citing a “subversive, cancerous element” tearing the party apart.

If this is anyone’s victory, it has come wrapped in a chaotic public scandal, a laundry list of what may be irreconcilable differences and an organization that risks careening into irrelevance six months from the November election.

To be fair, Fried is not responsible for driving one balky car down the mountain. She’s busy trying to shepherd a fast-moving caravan. It’s not her fault that some under the Democratic tent appeared willing to burn down the big top to save it.

Consider this thoughtful and constructive exchange involving an anti-Koch Democrat on the social media platform X:

“How about shutting your f***ing mouth!” and

“Go sit your stuttering ass down somewhere!”

It’s not as if those pushing to unseat Koch didn’t cite serious issues, including spending. Further, her critics say they represented a cross section of members: older and younger Democrats, local Democratic club presidents, committee chairs, community leaders.

Some accusations fade under scrutiny, though. Take the criticism that the party was spending roughly $7,100 a month on leases for two offices. That’s true. But Koch didn’t sign the leases. Her predecessor did.

And Koch was not the first local chair to fail to provide a formal budget; she was the latest.

Losing, however, generates scrutiny of what went wrong, and few local losses were more rattling than watching true blue Palm Beach turn a shocking shade of pink in 2022.

Any hope of statewide victories for Democrats would almost have to run right through Palm Beach County and its 1 million-plus voters; the political landscape has rarely been more high-profile or in such flux.

This, after all, is where Trump parks his jet and his congressional acolytes come on bended knee. And although registration for active GOP voters is up, almost as many active local voters have spurned affiliation with either major party.

It’s right and good that party members who have been underrepresented, poorly represented, or not represented at all seek to be part of the party’s leadership. Some fearless soul-searching in the wake of the 2020 loss is appropriate. But that does not absolve anyone from profanity-laden tirades or the kind of personal attacks more often seen in divorce court.

Both backers and critics of Koch say they welcome resolution. A search is on for a consensus candidate. Conflict resolution skills worthy of a saint should be prominent on their resume.

Of course, this is all inside political baseball. Local Democrats care because they’re Democrats. Local Republicans are likely enjoying a shot of schadenfreude in their morning coffee. And Palm Beach County voters will get their chance to weigh in. Koch is running for a school board seat.

As for the rest of us?

I confess, I don’t like dwelling in the weeds of internal political strife. If I have to think about politics at all, I would rather be musing on, say, why Warren Buffett’s fabulous tax reform plan isn’t getting traction (801 gazillionaire companies each write one big check and the rest of us are off the hook) or who will rush across state lines first in search of a brighter future: potential vice presidential pick Marco Rubio or the entire canine population of South Dakota.

But the fact is, those of us on the outside looking in have watched in horror as again and again, nationally and in states, coalitions within both major parties splinter and splinter again, divisions deepen into chasms and natural allies suit up to go to war — with each other.

And all the while, that rickety little car keeps gathering speed.

Pat Beall’s weekly column appears Saturday in the Sun Sentinel in place of Fred Grimm’s column. Write to Pat at pbeall1@gmail.com.