Karen Marchioro will be missed by many

From WSDCC

STATEMENT ON THE PASSING OF

KAREN MARCHIORO

SEATTLE – Washington State Democrats were deeply saddened today by the passing of Karen Marchioro.

Upon hearing the news of Karen’s passing, Washington State Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz issued the following statement:

“All of us involved in Democratic politics in Washington State are deeply saddened by the passing of one of our dearest friends, Karen Marchioro. The Washington State Democratic Party would not exist as it does today were it not for Karen’s 30 plus years of service. Her wisdom, cool demeanor and loyalty have been integral parts to both our state party, as well as our lives. Karen was a dear friend and she will be greatly missed. We send sincere condolences to Karen’s entire family.”

Karen Marchioro first became involved in Democratic politics in the 1970’s in East King County’s 48^th Legislative District. She later became chair of the King County Democrats and in 1981, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party where she remained until 1993.

As Chair of the Washington State Democrats, Karen was instrumental in drafting the charter of the state party. Without Karen’s leadership, the party would never have attained the technological and financial security it maintains today. She was currently serving as an elected member to the Democratic National Committee, and was the former DNC Western Regional Chair.

Karen’s lifetime achievements are best summarized by King County Democratic Chair Susan Sheary, who once said of Karen, “Before Washington State had Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell and Christine Gregoire, Washington State had Karen Marchioro.”

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3 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

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A truly good hearted person and a wise soul.

[Reply]

1. Above comment written by bushtool on August 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
For those who maybe don’t get the import of this passing, there’s a great write up done by Joel Connelly of the Seattle P-I a few weeks back:

Marchioro kicked the Democrats into shape

A key section:

She came into politics at a time when Sens. Magnuson and Jackson ran things using personal networks. The Democratic “headquarters” was a musty Arctic Building office, populated by musty people.

For a while in the late 1970s, there were two Democratic parties in the state — a liberal party under Marchioro, and a rump faction aligned with Gov. Dixy Lee Ray.

After years of mutual loathing, Jackson’s forces and party peaceniks made peace: Marchioro was a key player.

As you can see, these fights between the DINO’s and the progressives aren’t a new fight, and Karen was there at the barricades. A true loss to the Democrats and progressives state-wide.

The P-I also has an very informative obituary:

Even before 1981, when the suburban mother of seven and one-time anti-Vietnam war activist began a 12-year tenure as the party’s chairwoman, she had started transforming it from a relatively conservative, lopsidedly rural-dominated organization into a liberal one and the state’s dominant party.

She did so by suing and then out-organizing the Democrats’ old-guard leadership.

And an informative piece of history that I didn’t know about:

She became party chairwoman of the Eastside’s heavily Republican 48th District two years later and then King County chairwoman. The county organization became the liberal counterweight to the more conservative state party, dominated by Jackson forces and the rural counties.

Marchioro and her allies sued the state party to try to overturn a state law that gave each county two members of the state Democratic central committee. It led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave the state party convention the power to ignore state law in choosing the composition of the central committee.

The party then added two members from each legislative district, breaking the smaller counties’ lock on state party control. After a protracted parliamentary battle with the party’s old guard, Marchioro was elected state chairwoman.

Today, one can argue that the legislative district organizations have much more influence than the county organizations based simply on having state party delegates. In many ways, the county organization’s focus is now solely limited to local races.

[Reply]

2. Above comment written by Aneurin on August 31st, 2007 at 11:38 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
Thanks for posting this Aneurin. I knew her to be someone that I instantly admired upon meeting her in 2004.

She also provided me with some sage advice while I was a party official.

[Reply]

3. Above comment written by bushtool on August 31st, 2007 at 10:55 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).

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