Todd, If Cedric is technically not a member of the party, yet both party Rules and State law require he be one in order to appear on the ballot as a Democrat, why would it be wrong that "the idea of preventing Gates from being allowed to run was at least considered by him, the Party or both"? 

Should Tim NOT have "considered" taking some sort of action? Within the local Party, I have been one of the strongest advocates for leaving these sorts of decisions up to the voters rather than to party officers. Even when we are "well-intended" (which is not always the case), it gets very complicated to try to figure out the most just solution, especially when our Rules are kinda scrambled. I supported leaving Thielen's election to the Democratic voters of the Senate district rather than to party insiders, many of whom had obvious conflicts of interest. I pushed through the elimination of the six month membership requirement for candidates.

I think Tim is striking the right balance here.