Chairwoman Nancy Worley and Dr.

Joe Reed
Alabama Democratic Party
501 Adams Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104

Dear Nancy and Joe,

While I am grateful to you for your many years of service to our state and the Alabama
Democratic Party, I have become increasingly concerned about the state of our party and
the direction in which we are heading. To put it bluntly, the Alabama Democratic Party is
on life support, and the only hope we have of turning our situation around is if we make
immediate and significant changes, including changes in leadership.
When voters across Alabama go to vote on November 8th, in most counties they will find
few competitive elections on their ballots. While it is unrealistic to expect the Party to
recruit candidates in every race, it is astonishing that the Party could not recruit a single
candidate to run for any of the statewide offices other than U.S. Senate. Even most local
races this year will be uncontested. How can Democrats offer an alternative to
Republican leadership let alone win any elections if we dont have candidates on the
ballot?
It is also discouraging to see the declining state of so many of our local county
Democratic Parties. There are certainly some counties where the local party is strong, but
in many more the local Party is non-existent and maintains no public presence. As far as I
can tell, it looks like some counties may not even have a local party.
The inability to recruit candidates and the decline of local parties is a sign of a failing
party infrastructure one that is failing because of neglect and mismanagement.
Nearly a half-a-million voters in Alabama cast their ballots for a Democrat for statewide
office in 2014, but because our Partys leaders have failed to maintain a public presence,
many Democrats still feel alienated and alone.
When the former Speaker of the House in the Alabama House of Representatives was
convicted on 12 counts of felony corruption, you stayed silent.
When the highest-ranking judge in Alabama was removed from office for the second
time for refusing to uphold his oath of office and abide by a federal courts ruling, you
said nothing.
The Republican Partys presidential nominee has mocked a disabled person for his
disability, insulted a gold star family, admitted he hasnt paid income taxes in nearly

twenty years, refereed to women as dogs and fat pigs and even suggested he can get
away with sexually assaulting women because of his celebrity status, and I have still
heard nothing from you.
It is a sad state of affairs when Republicans are more willing to publicly condemn the
Republican presidential nominee than the leadership of the Democratic Party.
Where has our partys leadership been while Republican leaders in Alabama were cutting
educators, state employees and retirees pay?
Where was our party leadership while Democrats in the Legislature were fighting to pass
a lottery in the special legislative session earlier this summer?
Why has our party leadership stayed silent while Republican leaders waste millions of tax
dollars defending unconstitutional legislation they forced into law?
Where has our party leadership been while Republican leaders not only refused to expand
Medicaid, but cut reimbursements for doctors and services for patients? Or when
Republican leaders tried to close down state parks and drivers license offices?
The Democratic Party cannot afford to have leaders who continue to neglect the local
parties, miss opportunities to present voters with our alternative to the Republican
establishment and refuse to adapt to the changing world around them.
Democratic legislators and local elected leaders cannot carry the mantle for our party
alone. And over the years, it has become abundantly clear that you are far more
concerned with holding on to your own power within the party than you are with trying to
win back the offices Democrats have lost.
As I weigh my options for 2018 and beyond, I have chosen not to serve as House
Minority Leader for the next two years. My focus will be on the future of our state, and I
will let new leaders step forward to focus on the future of our party.
With that said, both of you have served our party for many years, and I am grateful to you
for your service. But now it is time for you to step aside, and I respectfully ask that you
resign your leadership positions in the Alabama Democratic Party.
Respectfully,
Rep. Craig Ford
House Minority Leader
House District 28