Members of the left wing of the Democratic Party are furious at Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez for removing party officials who backed Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellisons chairmanship bid from key party committees.

Its a slap in the face to the activists in the party that are working so hard to make the party more responsive to the grassroots, said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a digital grassroots group. The idea that youre going to purge Ellison supporters and bring the party together doesnt make any sense at all.

Becky Bond, founder of Knock Every Door and a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, argued that the decision to remove Ellison surrogates puts Ellison, whom Perez brought on as deputy DNC chairman, in a really hard place.

Ellison is someone who is the voice of the activists and grassroots of the Democratic Party , Bond said. If the grassroots feel Ellison is being ignored, thats going to read that our priorities are being ignored.

Ahead of the DNCs first meeting under Perezs leadership, which began Thursday in Las Vegas, Perez released his roster of 75 at-large DNC members as well as appointments to key DNC committees.

Activists immediately noticed that four Ellison supporters either lost their at-large posts or spots on influential committees. James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute and a top Sanders backer, was removed from the Executive Committee, which has major budgetary authority. Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman who earned praise for treating Sanders fairly, lost spots on both the DNC Executive Committee and the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which regulates the party presidential primary.(Buckley endorsed Ellison for chair after ending his own bid to lead the organization.)

Barbara Casbar Siperstein, the DNCs first transgender member, was removed from the Executive Committee and the DNC at-large roster. Alice Germond, who worked as a secretary for the DNC for decades, lost her at-large DNC spot as well.

Of the four, at least one regained a top post through other means. Buckley picked up a spot on the Executive Committee on Friday afternoon, after members of the DNCs Eastern Caucus elected him to represent them on the influential body. A bid by Zogby to do the same was unsuccessful.

For the broad camp of progressive Democrats (mainly Ellison or Sanders supporters) concerned about making the party more accountable to the grassroots and bringing in more independents, seats on the Rules Committee are especially prized.

Many activists felt that the DNC inappropriately put a finger on the scale for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary, and now worry that it will not adopt a fairer process in 2020. The Rules Committee is charged with considering the recommendations of the DNCs Unity and Reform Commission , a panel convened to reform the presidential nominating process that will present its slate of suggestions by the end of the year. (The commission consists of 10 Clinton appointees, eight Sanders appointees and three Perez picks.)

Reformers hope that the party will accept a dramatically reduced role for superdelegates the party officials who can vote in presidential primaries independent of the will of the primary voters in their state as well make it easier for independents to participate in primaries and other party functions.

I dont know what the Rules Committee is going to do, Bond said of their forthcoming assessment of the Unity Commissions recommendations. But I know that there are five Clinton-appointed Unity Commission members on the Rules Committee and no Bernie-appointed ones now that Perez has shaken it up.

Of course, the power of the Rules Committee is a matter of debate. Regardless of how the Rules Committee votes on the Unity and Reform Commission recommendations, the panels recommendations are subject to a vote among the entire voting DNC membership.