*301 The State Democratic Committee membership shall be organized according to state law: however, in addition to having two (2) delegates per county as voting members, each legislative district shall elect one voting member. Each district representative shall be allowed to vote on all matters or issues, policies and goals which would reasonably fall within the function of the state convention and as allowed by state law. Legislative district representatives shall be elected by the Legislative district organization at their organization meeting, or by the county chairpersons and the state committee persons of the counties within the district with their votes being weighted on the same basis as the last previous state convention in those districts with more than one county.
Equality of rights and responsibility under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.
Const. art. 31, provided the latest expression of the constitutional law of the state, dealing with sex discrimination, as adopted by the people themselves. Presumably the people in adopting Const. art. 31 intended to do more than repeat what was already contained in the otherwise governing constitutional provisions, federal and state, by which discrimination based on sex was permissible under the rational relationship and strict scrutiny tests. Any *305 other view would mean the people intended to accomplish no change in the existing constitutional law governing sex discrimination, except possibly to make the validity of a classification based on sex come within the suspect class under Const. art. 1, s 12. See footnote 7, Supra. Had such a limited purpose been intended, there would have been no necessity to resort to the broad, sweeping, mandatory language of the Equal Rights Amendment. See Comment, Sex Discrimination in Interscholastic High School Athletics, 25 Syracuse L.Rev. 535, 570-74 (1974).
(I)t is clear under general law that on a statewide basis the state convention of a major political party is the ultimate repository of statewide party authority. As is generally true with the deliberative bodies of voluntary associations, the state political party convention possesses the intrinsic power to determine the number, manner of selection, and the qualifications of its members. And, subject to the intervention of applicable statutory or constitutional provisions, the state convention is implicitly empowered to establish the permanent state organization of the party, create committees, delegate authority, and promulgate, adopt, ratify, amend, repeal or enforce intraparty statewide rules and regulations. 25 Am.Jur.2d Elections ss 120, 121 (1966); 29 C.J.S. Elections ss 83, 84 (1965).
That the State Convention of the Washington State Democratic Party is the ultimate repository of statewide party authority, that the Washington State Democratic Committee is subject to the overriding authority of State Convention, that the Charter of the Washington State Democratic Party was duly adopted by the Washington State Democratic Convention on June 12, 1976, that the Charter is binding on the State Democratic Committee.
What is important for our purposes is that a party's choice, as among various ways of governing itself, of the *320 one which seems best calculated to strengthen the party and advance its interest, deserves the Protection of the Constitution as much if not more than its condemnation. The express constitutional rights of speech and assembly are of slight value indeed if they do not carry with them a concomitant right of political association. Speeches and assemblies are after all not ends in themselves but means to effect change through the political process. If that is so, there must be a right not only to form political associations but to organize and direct them in the way that will make them most effective.
3. Administer the party organization in accordance with rules and standards which will facilitate achieving the goals of the party.
End of Document | © 2024 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. |