The young need to be listened to; this video.
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The above may be an oversimplificaton, and this too, but without links given an impression is that central planning DC consultancies are the driving force behind Tom Perez, and they suck all the money out in "research" and ad buy contracting, with all that run out of the beltway so that the hustings see everything sucked dry.
To the extent DNC raises funds it should be for grassroots effort in the hustings, precinct by precinct across the nation, to first learn who the key people are, what they think is most needed locally, and how they see goals are best to be met. The policy thinking locally, coupled with a platform of low wage worker help, income distribution fairness, higher education cost containment/availability, influence buying curtailed, superdelegate reform, prioritizing spending to maximize the multiplier effect as consumers buy locally thus boosting small private sector business vs. big pharma, big death merchants, so that healthcare reform moves positively and the overbearing reliance on force as a foreign policy is ended. In Econ 101 it is the guns and butter presentation, stripped to that level of simplicity, along with making a party responsive and not a club of insiders guarding the walls and gate. Ellison seems best for that task.
In a sense it is parallel to problems with the intelligence community being beltway centered with too many easy desk jobs while the need is to know wtf is the mood and needs in the field to win a conflict. And too many sandburs that attach. Think tanks of the lowest denominator are parking lots for the out party's spoils crowd; the Podesta brothers being the poster children. Also, what's the Perez job title now, while he runs after the spoils he foresees if atop the DNC?
Ellison represents and works to continue his party's health in a primarily urban Congressional district, attuned to local considerations.
Go to the Wikipedia page: Tom Perez. Lots of text about past roles. What does it say he's doing for a paycheck these days? If with a consultancy, the Wikipedia authors decline to identify which one? Is he with a think tank in the DC area? Given an academic post; some board position?
At the end, after describing the Labor Department stint under Obama, the Tom Perez Wikipedia entry states:
Democratic politics
During the 2016 presidential election, Perez was mentioned as a possible running mate on the Democratic ticket with Hillary Clinton,[157] but was ultimately not selected. Perez later campaigned for the Clinton-Kaine ticket.
Perez announced his candidacy for Chair of the Democratic National Committee on December 15, 2016.[158] He believes the party needs to go to the suburbs, the exburbs and rural America, and talk to people.[159]
Perez promised not to take money from federal lobbyists, foreign nationals, or current Labor Department employees on his webpage.[160]
Perez gave the keynote speech for the Maryland Democratic Party annual legislative luncheon on January 10, 2017, in Annapolis.[161]
If elected to the Chair, Perez would become the first Dominican-American to chair the Democratic National Committee.[162]
Personal life
Perez lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with his wife Ann Marie Staudenmaier, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and their three children.
Perez is Catholic, and recalls that his parents told him, “In order to get to heaven, you have to have letters of reference from poor people.”[163]
Awards
In 2014 Perez received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brown University.[164]
On May 21, 2014, Perez received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Drexel University School of Law.[165]
In May 2014, Perez was given an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Oberlin College.[166]
Staying in the beltway. Doing what? Besides seeking the stay-in-the-beltway with chums DNC role he appears to envision.
A websearch. So, after seeing the hits, what's his job?
On unemployment?
This is not to criticize as much as to point out Wasserman-Schultz was beltway anchored, and along with personality, she mismanaged. Somebody willing to put up with the airports and hustings visits, all that entails, is what the DNC leadership requires rather than familiarity with the DC area consultancies that have been expensed in the past from DNC funds.
De-centralization: The grassroots of Omaha are not within 50 miles of Langley, nor within 50 miles of the DNC headquarters site.
Less of the Podesta wing of the Democratic party would fulfill the adage, "Less is More."
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Fact-checking a few of those last Wikipedia footnoted links; in particular ## 159 and 160:
First: This link, this ending quote:
"Donald Trump and his billionaire boys club, you know, their vision of America is not our vision of America," Perez added. "And I don't think it's the vision of the majority of Americans."
That totally sidesteps the Clinton Wealth and the Goldman Sachs speeches for which Clinton took in-pocket cash; while also sidestepping the congruent super-heavy Goldman Sachs flavor of the Trump cabinet. What's that Perez quote really worth, in context?
Next, this Wikipedia linked item, headlined: "Perez won’t take lobbyists' money for DNC election" with this noted therein:
Ellison’s campaign website says he won’t accept contributions from federal contractors.
That Perez-focused item in The Hill links to the Perez Act Blue solicitation page; which does not forestall contributions from federal contractors; e.g., no bar on money from folks at consultancies that have had Justice Department or Labor Department dealings; and Perez likely would welcome contributions from people at consultancies that have previously been hired and paid by DNC under Wasserman-Schultz leadership, among others.
Last, Perez news page, https://www.tomperez.org/news/ has this lead item stating in opening:
Jaime Harrison Endorses Tom Perez for DNC Chair -- February 23, 2017
Today, ahead of the DNC vote in Atlanta, Jaime Harrison endorsed Tom Perez citing that Tom can bring progressive change and is committed to helping state parties. Tom issued the statement statement below following Jaime's letter to DNC members, which is included in full below.
"Every person who knows Jaime Harrison will say he is one of the smartest, most dedicated, and genuine leaders we know," said Tom Perez. "Simply put, he's one of a kind. [...]
Actually, having Podesta Group past employment ties, as Jamie Harrison has, is not all that "one of a kind" unique; but as a Podesta inner group associate, that does define "a kind" of which the current Democratic Party presently has too many.
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Ellison is not a slash and burn person. He knows how to build voting MAJORITIES. To energize and KEEP people who've been marginalized or not had sufficient real attention to needs and wants. He is not going to turn his back on the beltway. He simply is going to take the keys to the car away from them, for us, not for beltway funding special interests. There will be a place for Tom Perez in an Ellison DNC; but is it likely vice versa?
The House Democratic Progressive Caucus is not made up of dumb ideologues. It is made up of people who've grown tired of how the beltway runs; what Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton after his one Senate term called "a cesspool." More emphatic than "Drain the Swamp," perhaps a phrase, "Sewer the Cesspool." Flow that stuff to treatment, by making things better, more cordial to the actual needs of a nation.
But the beltway and the constituency the Clintons-Podesta brothers embody really has been the cess in the pool. That has to be realized.
Democrats are self-delusional if saying to themselves in the privacy of their homes, "Trump will prove to be so bad we could run a child molester against him after four years and win, we've no need for any real CHANGE." That would be thinking leading to eight years of Trump and colleagues managing the spoils, of which Perez has had his share. So Perez understands that level of risk too, but he's got that beltway anchor that he cares not to really cast away. It's troublesome. We are a nation, not an appendage to the greater DC metro area.
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Quintessential beltway think:
This Salon item, do the same word search I did = grassroots.
Or wordsearch = hustings.
It is nothing but beltway centric; we are atop opposition to Trump; look at how we've dragged feet the way Republicans in the beltway did during the Obama years. It is quite simply, at its best, at its worse, MORE OF THE SAME.
FURTHER: Does Howard Dean understand "Our way or the Beltway?" Yes, Howard Dean understands. Beyond giving lip-service to "gotta grassroot" he picks a non-lightning rod wannabe, FROM THE HUSTINGS, SUCCESSFUL IN THE HUSTINGS, UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT TAKES IN THE HUSTINGS. Not my first choice, surely, but Perez is not my second choice, Buttigieg would be. No lobbyist/consultancy taint. South Bend, Indiana; a college town, is NOT beltway-first-last-and-always. Buttigieg is okay. Ellison is better.