Democratic Party of the 49th Ward elaborates on opposition to County Party "loyalty pledge"

This would be more newsworthy if the 49th Ward Committeeperson, St. Rep. Kelly Cassidy, were not already a signatory on this letter denouncing the attempt, by Executive Committee of the Cook County Democratic Party, to require a "loyalty pledge" of all candidates seeking slating.

But I saw that the Democratic Party of the 49th Ward had posted a link to this statement on Facebook and I thought it might be of interest to some readers.

An excerpt:

The 49th Ward, and our ward party organization, has a long history of independence. Unlike at the county party level, we have never told candidates seeking our endorsement that if they run in spite of not being endorsed, they’ll forfeit potential future endorsements. We make clear to candidates that if they choose to run anyway, we will still consider them for endorsement because we feel strongly about the importance of fielding the strongest candidates regardless of who sent them or to whom they’re related. As an organization, and as individuals associated with it, we can not abide by the use of retrograde loyalty oaths in the endorsement process. Running for office and voting are among the most sacred forms of free speech protected by our constitution and we categorically condemn the use of intimidation and unenforceable “oaths” to exert control over candidates.

As a result, our Ward Organization feels it important to convey to all candidates seeking our endorsement that they need not feel compelled to sign this oath or any other to seek our support and we urge the leadership of our county party to rethink this misguided and ham-handed attempt to move us back to the days of the old school machine politics we’ve worked so hard to relegate to the history books.