Last Saturday, Courtney Daily was picked by the Democratic Party chairs of eight precincts in Bloomington city council’s District 5, to fill the vacancy left by Shruti Rana’s resignation.
That meant several bits of two-decade-old local civic history were essentially repeated.
In late January 2003, a Democratic Party caucus put Dave Rollo into the vacant seat left by the resignation of Jeffrey Willsey.
There are several differences, but also striking similarities, between the two caucuses, which were held 21 years apart.
Among the differences, the seat that Rollo was tapped to represent was for District 4 not District 5.
In 2003, the Monroe County Democratic Party chair who presided over the District 4 vacancy caucus was the late Frank McCloskey. In the intervening time, a half dozen others have served in that role. Last Saturday, it was David Henry who presided over Saturday’s proceedings as county chair.
Among the historical repeats: At both caucuses, there was a tie vote, which under state law had to be broken by the county party chair.
At both caucuses, it was a 4–4 tie that had to be broken, after two rounds of voting had left the eight precinct chairs deadlocked on two candidates. And at both caucuses, the first round of voting included three candidates.
Last Saturday, the starting field of three candidates was: Courtney Daily, Jenny Stevens, and Jason Moore. In 2003 the first round of voting included: Dave Rollo, Jim Sherman, and Buff Brown.
In a slight difference between the two caucuses, in the 2003 first round, Brown received just one vote, which meant that he dropped out automatically from the next round, which was between Rollo and Sherman.
Last Saturday, the first round left Moore and Daily with two votes apiece and it was a runoff between those two (Daily 5; Moore 3) that put Daily through for a two-up vote against Stevens.
In 2003, the eight precinct chairs who voted in the caucus apparently represented each of the precincts of District 4. (The Herald-Times coverage at the time did not indicate that there were any missing precincts.) Last Saturday, there were eight instead of nine precinct chairs participating in the vote, because one precinct chair had resigned after moving out of District 5.
Here’s the list of eight precinct chairs who voted in the vacancy caucus last Saturday: Jennifer Crossley, Patricia Williams, Manuel Diaz-Campos, Courtney Daily, Iris Kiesling, Sarah Bauerle, Edward Robertson, and Matt Flaherty.
Based on Herald-Times coverage, here’s the list of eight precinct chairs who voted in the 2003 District 4 vacancy caucus: Lois Sabo-Skelton, Timothy Mayer, Jack Davis, Trudy Marsischky, Iris Kiesling, Dave Toumey, Becky Wann and Jim Regester. (The Herald-Times archives are available through the Monroe County Public Library.)
One thing that both sets of precinct chairs have in common is that there’s one person on each roster who was serving on the Bloomington city council at the time of the caucus—which meant they had a hand in selecting their next new colleague. Last Saturday, it was Matt Flaherty. In 2003 that person was Timothy Mayer.
Flaherty was appointed to his precinct chairship by the county chair, not elected to the post— he does not live in the precinct. The B Square has not checked into the MCDP’s historical archives to see if Mayer was elected to his precinct chairship, or was appointed by the county chair at the time.
Another thing that both sets of precinct chairs have in common is Iris Kiesling. She was a part of the 4–4 tie vote in 2003 as well as the 4–4 tie vote last Saturday. Kiesling served on the Bloomington city council from 1988 to 1996 and as a county commissioner for 20 years after that.
Not evident from the Herald-Times coverage at the time, but confirmed by The B Square with then-MCDP vice chair, and former city clerk, Regina Moore, is one more point of similarity between the two caucuses. The 2003 caucus was held in city hall on Morton Street, in city council chambers, just like the one last Saturday.
Courtney Daily will be seated at the dais in city council chambers next Wednesday for her first city council meeting. Based on the assigned seating, if Daily takes Rana’s literal seat, then she will be at the far right (north) end, five spots away from Dave Rollo, who is the longest-serving member on the current city council.
Daily is associate director for admissions with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business direct online MBA program. She’s known through her activism with the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Are the votes of the various precinct chairs secret or public?
Under state law they are by secret ballot.
Thanks. Fun article