As many of you know, I’ve served eight years on State Central, and four on the State Central Rules & Bylaws Committee. While on the RBC I helped re-write the Party rules during the “line-by-line” review we completed and adopted in 2018 [links: 1, 2]. These are the rules now posted on the MDP website. I’ve served in many other positions in County, Congressional District, and State Caucus units of the Party. In 2018 I ran the Dana Nessel campaign for the Party endorsement/nomination; during that campaign I organized the largest membership drive in State Party history, increasing membership from around 10,000 to around 20,000, and tripling turnout at the State Convention from the typical ~2,000 convention attendance to 6,700. Nessel won both the raw count and the weighted count, by double digits.
During my first term on the DNC I have been active on the Poverty Council, the Midwest Caucus, and the Small Business Council, where I advocated policies to support worker cooperatives, for workers’ right to organize, to ensure fair and affordable housing, and for proportional representation, among other important policies. I have organized with other DNC delegates to promote institutional and cultural change in the Party, such as this proposed resolution for a culture of democracy in the Democratic Party, and the resolutions brought to the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee to ban corporate/big donor money in our Party primaries.
Where I have seen rules broken or democratic principles violated, I have not been silent. In 2021 when DNC Chair Harrison appointed people to high positions in the Party without regard for fair geographic or proportional representation, I called it out. In 2022 when Chair Harrison explicitly told me his job is to “protect the president,” rather than to run the national Party fairly and democratically – with the 2024 primary on the horizon – I called it out.
I call out anyone who breaks the rules, or violates the fundamental principle of democracy: rule by all the people equally.
That includes Bernie Sanders, even though he’s the most significant national leader of the progressive movement, where I’m at best a very minor leader in a single state. I’ve written and spoken extensively on the issues in the Michigan Democratic Party [links: 1, 2, 3], with big campaigns [links: 1, 2, 3], and at the DNC. I am proud to be one of the three National Committee delegates to stand up for universal human rights on the floor of the 2024 National Convention, as covered on MLive, Democracy Now!, and the Real News Network.
If re-elected I will continue to actively, clearly, and forcefully advocate for inclusion, fairness, transparency, and democracy in the Democratic Party, for the fair and consistent application of our rules, and against the influence of wealth and corporate power in our Party, and our politics, at every level.
Here’s my article on Why I’m Running for DNC Delegate, including some of the specific reforms I support. More details can be found in my 2023 DNC Report. If re-elected to the DNC, the MDP rules will also put me on the MDP SCC and the SCC Executive Committee, therefore the MDP reform platform I continue to support is also relevant.
Anyone who would like to contact me directly and discuss any of the issues in our Party, please feel free to call or email me using my details below. You can also book a meeting with me. You can join my substack here (entirely free).
Thank you for your time and I hope to have your support, and your vote, at the December 7th election.
Sincerely,
Liano Sharon
248-730-5665
liano.sharon@gmail.com
Member, MDP SCC Executive Committee
Delegate, Democratic National Committee (Elected-MI)
Chair, MDP Progressive Caucus Rules & Bylaws Committee
Member, Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) State Central Committee (SCC)