February 06, 2008 09:42 pm
—
By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
FRANKLIN, Kan. — “Pandemonium” is how caucus-goer Rick Fulton, of Pittsburg, described conditions Tuesday at the 13th Kansas Senate District Democratic Caucus at the Franklin Community Center.
Other caucus-goers had different descriptive terms.
William Sollner, of Arma: “It was a monumental screw-up” and “a fiasco.”
George Jackson, of Galena: “It was a mess, really.”
Tony Carpino, of Scammon: “It was absolutely disastrous.”
They described how around 700 people arrived at a caucus location that could accommodate around 150. The Senate district takes in all of Crawford and Bourbon counties, and part of Cherokee County. People stood outside in the cold for up to 90 minutes before they could get inside. Some parked a quarter-mile or farther away from the building. Some cars drove by without stopping. Other people left without participating.
Sollner was one of those who left. He said he didn’t want to deal with the crowd.
The situation prompted many of those involved to call for a return to a presidential primary in Kansas.
Jackson and his wife, Veva, said the building for the caucus should have been three or four times as big as the community center.
‘Like sardines’
“Everybody was stacked in there just like sardines,” George Jackson said. “We were just stacked in there standing shoulder to shoulder. It was getting hard to breathe.”
Eventually, supporters of Barack Obama were directed to an exit door on one side of the building, and supporters of Hillary Clinton were directed to an exit door on the other side. They were counted as they filtered through. There were no speeches.
Obama had the support of 347 participants at the location, and Clinton had 299 supporters.
Fulton had written a letter to the editor published Jan. 31 in The Collegio, the Pittsburg State University student newspaper, expressing concern about the caucus location. He said a Franklin community leader responded with a letter saying Fulton had slighted the community building, but that was not his intent.
“It’s a very nice community center,” Fulton said. “It’s proper for Franklin. I just felt it was inappropriate for the caucus event.”
Fulton said he didn’t personally alert any party officials about his concern, but he shared his letter with others and thinks it made its way to state party officials.
“I was just trying to give people a heads-up that there would be problems,” he said.
Fulton also said many elderly people were at the caucus, including those on oxygen and using powered wheelchairs, and some young mothers with small children.
Fulton and Carpino praised Steve Langerot, the caucus chairman from Scammon, who they said made the best of a bad situation.
“They did their dead-level best,” Fulton said of Langerot and other local party leaders. “They were just stuck with an impossible situation.”
Fulton said he holds Kansas Democratic Party officials responsible for the situation.
“I think there should have been better planning” by the state party, he said. “They should have realized this election was going to draw a lot of interest.”
Langerot on Wednesday said not everyone was as understanding as Fulton and Carpino. He said he was the target of many harsh words because he was the person in charge.
He said he thinks the state party chose the Franklin Community Center as a location because it could be used at no cost. He said that regardless of the cost, the building was too small.
Langerot also said he didn’t agree with those who described the problem as “a fiasco,” “a monumental screw-up” or “a mess.” He said he didn’t necessarily disagree with “pandemonium,” though.
‘Democracy’
“It was democracy,” Langerot said. “Democracy is never a mess. It was inconvenient.”
Participants said everyone at the caucus was friendly and well-behaved, despite the circumstances.
“Everybody was really enjoying themselves, up to a point,” George Jackson said.
The Kansas Democratic Party issued a statement Wednesday saying that the 37,089 people who turned out statewide for caucuses shattered expectations by party officials. Initial projections were for 10,000 to 11,000 people.
At one Lawrence site, a large restaurant, organizers shunted several hundred people into a nearby theater because the crowd was so large. In Wichita, the line outside the Sedgwick County Courthouse stretched more than two blocks, and a few voters stood in line for two hours in rain and blowing snow.
Organizers of a caucus at a Topeka middle school set up chairs for about 350 people, only to see 900 show up.
Past caucuses hadn’t been competitive, taking place after one candidate had sewn up the nomination. In 2004, only 1,300 people participated.
Jenny Davidson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Democratic Party, said the Franklin Community Center was chosen based on its availability and its central location in the district. She said the turnout was much larger than expected.
“This truly highlights that a statewide primary is needed,” Davidson said. “The best thing we could have done would be for the state to fund a primary. I think this situation emphasizes that.”
Fulton said he agreed.
“It’s time to end the caucus in our state,” he said. “We should have a regular primary election.”
Davidson said she hopes the enthusiasm of Tuesday’s caucus-goers in Kansas extends to the November election. Langerot said he hopes county election officials are prepared.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
GOP plan
The Kansas Republican Party holds its presidential caucuses at 10 a.m. Saturday. The location for area participants recently was changed to the Parsons Municipal Building because it is feared that the Parsons Recreation Center may not be large enough.
Corrie Kangas, political director for the state party, said that if attendance is high, party officials have the authority to conduct more than one shift of the caucus. Kansas Republicans cast ballots, unlike Democrats. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.