Donald Fowler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald L. Fowler served as national chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1995 to 1997.

Fowler is a white, moderate Democrat from South Carolina. ^[1] Prior to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, he was appointed by party chairman Paul Kirk to chair the "Fairness Commission," one of many Democratic commissions created to reform the presidential nomination process. Fowler's Fairness Commission banned winner-take-all districts in primaries and caucuses, expanded the reach of the 15% threshold rule, and increased the number of convention superdelgates from 568 in 1980 to 650 in 1988.

Fowler's term as National Chairman included the 1996 presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. As national chairman, Fowler ran the party's day-to-day operations, but Christopher Dodd, the general chairman, served as the party's public face. The two separate chair positions have since been merged into one. After Fowler's term as chair, he was accused of contacting the CIA to protect a fugitive businessman, Roger Tamraz, who had donated money to the Democratic party.

Fowler remains active in Democratic politics as a member of the DNC. In 2006, he opposed adding multiple presidential primaries or cauceses between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, despite the support of most DNC members. Following the 2006 midterm elections, in response to James Carville's efforts to remove Howard Dean as chair, Fowler e-mailed his fellow DNC members, saying, "Some ill-advised voices have suggested that, because of his 50-state strategy, Governor Dean should be replaced as Chair of the DNC. This is nonsense. The 50-state strategy is exactly what the Democratic Party needed and continues to need.... Democrats won a great victory on November 7--control of the United States House of Representatives, control of the United States Senate, majority of Governors, and majority of state legislative bodies. Why should anyone want to mess with the team that won these remarkable results? Governor Dean deserves to continue as DNC Chair."^[2]

Fowler served as a delegate from South Carolina to the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions. He is a political science professor at the University of South Carolina.

Fowler's son, Donnie Fowler, ran unsuccessfully for DNC chair in 2005.