Brown calls party platform a ‘powerful document’

DENVER - Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D-Prince George's County) says the final outcome of the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform met his expectations and effectively tackled the issues

Brown is a member of the Democratic Party’s platform drafting committee: a sub-committee of the platform committee, which is in charge of drafting the text for the Democratic Party’s platform.

“It was a pleasant surprise to see how much compromise and collegiality went into the drafting and the redrafting and the editing of the document and by that meaning having to merge the diverse voices in the Democratic Party around common themes, common principles and common values and it’s a real collaborative effort on the part of so many,” said Brown in an interview with PolitickerMD.com.

Brown called veterans issues one of his primary focuses.

“One of the several issues that was of considerable importance to me was veterans and military families,” he said. “It was important to me that the platform speak strongly and clearly and reflected the commitment that Senator Obama has that Senator Clinton has and that Democrats have to supporting veterans.”

Brown said he was “puzzled and disturbed by John McCain’s position to the GI Bill.”

Sen. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has opposed expansion of the GI Bill, arguing that it would cause military personnel to terminate their service. Brown says Democrats are “firmly for it.”

Brown noted that he had no issue with having two registered lobbyists on the platform drafting committee. Instead, he pointed to the importance of what the document reflects.

“I think that the more important question is: was it a fair, open and transparent process? And the answer’s yes. Did it provide an opportunity for the diversity of interests and perspectives and aspirations and dreams to come to bare on the process? The answer’s yes,” said Brown.

According to CQ Politics, Thea Lee of the AFL-CIO and Donna Harris-Aiken of the National Education Association are both registered lobbyists who served on the drafting committee.

Brown said the final party platform met his expectations: “I expected greatness and we got greatness. I expected a powerful document and we got a powerful document.”

Brown was asked to join the platform drafting committee by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who he is an ad-on delegate for. Both the Democratic and Republican parties approve new platforms every for years. The 2008 Democratic platform was presented to the delegates on Monday.