A Few Suggestions for Reforming DPVA: Non-Tech Edition

Fixing Badly Run Key Local Committees (4.00 / 1)

This is another Key function DPVA should be playing. Policing the  Loudoun and VA Beaches Dem Cmtes of the world when they break down in disarray and dissension and holding the leaders accountable -- to the point of forcing resignations if the committee wants to see state dollars spent in their jurisdiction if necessary. This would compel local committees which have been dysfunctional for years to find leaders who could work effectively both locally and with the state committee. And no one else but DPVA can police this regularly....  

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by: truthteller @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 20:36:34 PM UTC

Good one. (0.00 / 0)

Agreed.

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 21:00:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You can add Richmond to that list (0.00 / 0)

Richmond meets perhaps six times a year and is controlled by a clique of insiders.

The Richmonder

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by: The Richmonder @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 21:07:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There's a better way... (0.00 / 0)

It is impossible to fix a local committee from Richmond.  The only way that someone from the outside can fix a dysfunctional local committee is if you can find a local person who is willing to be the hero, and then you organize around that person.  For example, if you decide that the committee in your county needs to be shaken up, you find someone who is willing to be your organizing focus.  You then get a group like Organizing for America to mobilize their mailing lists and phone trees to turn out people to an organizing meeting.  And here is the important part -- you have to get people willing to be nominated and elected to the County Committee, and you have to make sure that your people who turn out know who to vote for.

So if you are upset about the Loudoun County Committee, you get a few hundred of your closest friends to turn out for the reorganizing meeting.  That's going to be happening in the next few weeks.

Now is the time, if people are serious about reorganizing local committees.  

Or you could whine for the next few years...

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by: jlsnook @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 23:04:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm on board... (0.00 / 0)

...with everything you said -- except the "why bother" part.  I can think of a lot of reasons to bother, including one that begins with "Cucci" and ends with "nelli".  We have to raise these points, and eventually they must prevail, or we'll all be stuck in a third-world state.

One more issue you didn't raise is the conflict between the more modern and more traditional areas of the state.  NOVA has a highly educated, highly diverse population with some very serious issues -- transportation, hello? -- that the downstate good ol' boy politicians are ignoring in most every way.  

We need to apply some of what's working for Democrats in Arlington and Fairfax to more of the state.  I've learned from some of the comments on BV how poor the state of organization and training is in many of the local committees.  How about some sort of peer matching program where we send leaders from some of the top performing committees to help train some of the poorly performing ones?

We have to stop writing so many districts off, as the Senate and House shamefully did this cycle, and spread our tendrils far and wide, with a vision of expansion and success, not one of contraction to just protect incumbents with no plan for the future.

Impeachinelli! Now on Twitter.

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by: kindler @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 20:59:43 PM UTC

Kindler, you hit on a very sore spot for me (and many others). (0.00 / 0)

You are absolutely spot-on with your "state of ORGANIZATION ..." comment (upper case added by me for emphasis. The Organization and Training aspects are in fact the top tier duties of the Vice Chair for ORGANIZATION ! Lowell was, likewise, spot on when he said the the problem could be summarized in just a few words, meaning the Central Committee failed to elect Susan Mariner Vice Chair for Organization. Sadly, I doubt anyone will be able to convince Gaylene to step down even if there are loud and persistent complaints during the SC and CC meetings about her complete failure to perform the most basic of her duties. But it's still worth voicing the complaints anyway so the Central Committee members don't make the same disastrous mistake when Gaylene's term expires.

                          T.C.

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by: Tom @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 21:12:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Something worth looking into.. (4.00 / 1)

is an expansion of past efforts to develop an aggressive precinct chair operation outside of Northern Virginia.  There was a time when precinct-level organizing served as the backbone of Democratic strength. From a purely structural point, the precinct is the level at which the Democratic Party can be closest to people's lives.

There was a great precinct level training developed by Maureen Markham, Kip Malinosky, and Peter Rousselot a while back and presented at JJ. Making that work downstate and for rural committees would be one mechanism to bring new blood into the party.

Some local committees have highly successful precinct operations, while other committees draw on their precinct-level contacts only  once a year to set up poll watchers on Election Day. A year-round sustained presence at the neighborhood/precinct level is needed.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 00:36:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great in theory. Very very hard to implement (0.00 / 0)

Or would but in another way...  In a perfect world there would be so many volunteers that each and every precinct has captains!

The hardest part is finding and retaining volunteers that will take on the precinct captain level of organizing.   You are correct in stating the first line of organizing is our neighborhoods but I can tell you from experience getting volunteers to do this work year in year out is really hard and in some cases local committees spend a great deal of time and energy just trying to find someone to fill the spot.  

That is a big challenge to large committees such as fcdc, can't even imagine the type of challenge it is for the rural committees.

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by: totallynext @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 01:08:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The interesting thing is... (0.00 / 0)

that when the 50 State Strategy was around, one of the many programs being pushed by it was to get people to sign up (using forms provided by the DNC) as volunteers to chair precincts. It is a significant, but not insurmountable hurdle, which takes a long-term infusion of resources to recruit and retain precinct captains as well as sustain the infrastructure from year-to-year.

In rural districts, organizing by magisterial district (like Fairfax County has) is actually one avenue that I've seen practiced with some success.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 04:20:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, but this was outside the established party (0.00 / 0)

But what we witness since the OFA in 2009 that they organize outside of the committes.  It has become campaign centric or one sided seeking volunteers, party members from the committees and then they recruit and operate a complete different precinct operation for the election and the two did not meet, especially in focusing on building a long term presence for every election cycle.

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by: totallynext @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 12:34:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It Depends (4.00 / 2)

In Arlington, under the leadership of Mike Lieberman and Kip Malinosky, our local Democratic committee has developed a great relationship with OFA, and Kip and Mike are moving forward completely to integrate ACDC's precinct operations with those of OFA.

However, OFA has discovered that in some other parts of the state, local Democratic committees have been unable or unwilling to work collaboratively with OFA. So, OFA has done just what I would have done in these circumstances--work around the local committee to develop its own precinct structure.

Because DPVA has refused to take the initiative to intervene to address local committees that are dysfunctional (because DPVA has incorrectly and improperly defined its mission too narrowly as not including a responsibility to intervene in these situations), DPVA has not helped OFA overcome these problems. Once again, it is not up to OFA to cure DPVA's own flaws.

Just as it did in 2008, the Obama for President campaign in 2012 will collaborate with local committees when it concludes that to be in its self interest to do so, and will not collaborate when it decides that would be futile.

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by: Peter Rousselot @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 13:52:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Exactly (4.00 / 1)

In my area of the state there was moaning and complaining because OFA did not turn over all its email addresses, contact lists, volunteer lists, etc., to the locals. To be honest, I wouldn't have, either. The very same locals didn't do anything to assist OFA, plus who knows how securely email addresses would have been treated?

I worked very well with OFA, but all my work was outside of my local committee, which did nothing.

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by: Elaine in Roanoke @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 14:50:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My point is... (0.00 / 0)

that while it would be challenging to develop such a precinct operation, you do so by raising the expectations on local committees to develop them. The 50 State Strategy and OFA are nice supplements to developing such programs, but they are not required to make it happen. As NJSM and Gretchen note, you have to make the ask... and in this case the ask is asking local party leadership to take ownership and responsibility to develop a precinct program. It's about expectations.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:59:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The issue with campaigns (4.00 / 2)

is that, a lot of times, they assume the local committee is useless, so they ignore it.  At most, they'll poach good committee members to get them to help that particular campaign and ignore whatever committee responsibilities they have.  While that's a decent assumption to make in a lot of areas, it's a tragic mistake in Fairfax.  We saw that in 2009 when we were out working for Deeds and team and OFA was out canvassing for health care reform.  A complete waste of effort, and it pissed off Dem voters too.

Next year, there will be so much money and so many volunteers rolling in, we won't notice the waste of time, money and resources so much.  But, we won't be left with much after the 2012 campaign rolls out.  I sincerely hope that every local committee in the state takes advantage of all of it, and signs up lots of new dues-paying Dems who will work to build the local committees up after 2012.  But I doubt if they will, since they clearly didn't after 2008.  

I would say that with the exception of Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Prince William, most local committees around the state have fallen back since 2008.  Not only did they not gain members, increase fundraising, and develop volunteers, they devolved into lazy, do-nothing cliques.  

Obama won't win by 7% this time.  Kaine won't win in a cakewalk like Warner did.  We most likely will not pick up three Congressional seats like last time.  So, it's doubly important for the local committee to get their collective heads out of their collective asses immediately and get set up to take advantage of the next campaign.  

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by: NotJohnSMosby @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 17:19:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well said. (0.00 / 0)

I hope people are listening!

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 17:29:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sadly, PWC also has had a major drop-off since 2008. (4.00 / 1)

What happened in my particular MD and where we the local committee failed is that not long after we had the Dec. 2009 re-org. our new chair started out with what I thought was a very good strategy plan that - wonder of wonders - placed recruitment of precinct captains in the top tier of priorities. BUT... the next time we discussed priorities at a committee meeting recruitment of precinct captains was basically abandoned in favor of - you may have guessed it - placing recruitment of new committee members at the top of our priority list. Why ? Because by spring we had lost a significant % of active committee members, and the majority of those still attending meeting more or less regularly simply were unwilling or unable to do much work.

The end result of this disastrous committee mistake was that we had so few members who were willing to serve as precinct captains that we didn't have the manpower to do even half the work necessary to help our candidates in 2010. This situation came close to causing Gerry Connolly to lose his re-election race last year because he wasn't informed until very late that our committee had failed to assign precinct captains for most of our precincts, nor had our committee recruited enough non-committee volunteers to even cover all the precincts on election day. Fortunately for Gerry, his great campaign manager learned of the lack of manpower a few days before the election and told our committee to skip covering precincts so he could re-deploy our/his very limited resources to calling the "good guys" known D's to make sure they voted, do door-to-canvassing and deploy people to give voters rides to/from their polling places.

During the 2011 election cycle, we didn't even have a precinct captain in my precinct which meant no one was a precinct team leader and the result was severely undermanned pre-election GOTV work, even limited participation in phone banking operations. With no precinct captains working as team leaders at the beginning of the campaigns, we were nearly totally dependent upon committee members for all the precinct operations, and with the drop-off of active committee membership we fell into a vicious cycle of not enough committee members left to even recruit non-member volunteers.

This failure to recruit and train precinct captains must not/will not continue into the 2012 campaigns, and to this end I will propose a standing Precinct Operations Committee. The FCDC has had a Precinct Operations Committee, which meets monthly, which is what I'll propose to both the PWCDC and my local MD.

This got to be much too long so I'll end it for now with the closing comment that I believe the DPVA should demand that the DNC restore the DNC partnership with the DPVA to help fund Regional Coordinators and to re-start the Neighbor-to-Neighbor(N2N) program. When the DNC paid for the NoVa Regional Coordinator (Joe Montano) and the legendary Hampton Roads Regional Coordinator (Susan Mariner), we had no problem finding/recruiting and training
precinct captains with that level of professional support.
That is my request to the DPVA. Re-start the Regional Coordinator/N2N and re-hire with DNC financial assistance the real pros. who can help the local committees do the work we are supposed to be doing once again. The "return on investment" will make you wonder why the DPVA ever abandoned this strategy.

                        T.C.

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by: Tom @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 18:47:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Any committee (4.00 / 1)

that covers more than a dozen or so individual precincts and doesn't have a formal Precinct Ops operation is doomed to fail as a committee.

I think the real big problem is that too many members of the various Dem committees forget why the committees even exist.  They exist to elect Democrats.  It's not a place to hang out, meet like-minded people, and bitch about politics.  Being on a committee should mean that you're #1 goal is to elect Democrats.  GoTV, fundraising and Election Day precinct operations are key functions of that.  If you're not doing that, then whatever else the committee does is pointless.

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by: NotJohnSMosby @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:14:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well Said (0.00 / 0)

I have a lot of friends in Dem circles, but that isn't the reason I'm a member of FCDC.  I also complain a lot about politics, but that isn't the reason I'm a member of FCDC.  I'm there to get Democrats elected -- and not just candidate X or Y.

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by: GretchenLaskas @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:19:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes - the main mission of any Dem Committee is to elect (0.00 / 0)

Democrats.  But that is not gonna retain volunteers nor help with recruitment of precicnt capatains.  Believe me - this is an issue that we have struggled with for over eight years since I first got involved in Democratic party activities.

Everyone has great intentions in recruiting and maintaining precinct captains - but when you come off of high level elections, like 2005, 2006, 2008 - they are exhausted and many had to get back to life as mothers, fathers, work, etc, that is why you saw a drop off in 2009 - 2010, etc.   I mean we came out of the 2008 election high on the hog - then trying to get volunteers people to engage in the 2009 special was like pulling teeth.  

The biggest way, in my humble opionin - is to break it down to sections / areas (we call them HUBs) where you can share resources, divide actions and come together to do like activities so that a single precinct captain does not feel overwhelmed and can get help from neighboring precincts and ares.

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by: totallynext @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 22:01:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Amazingly though Eastern PWC performed very well in 2011 (0.00 / 0)

Garces beat his GOP opponent pretty solidly in his PWC precincts, Toddy held Frederick to a 51-49 win in PWC in areas that Frederick had represented as a Delegate, Colgan won 55-45, and Barker actually beat his 2007 numbers, winning a number of his PWC precincts and not slipping below 40 anywhere. Turnout particularly in Barker and Toddy's PWC precincts was fairly high.

Countywide we may have been beaten in PWC, but it was mostly the Central and Western parts of the county, not the eastern precincts that were the culprits....

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by: truthteller @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:22:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I disagree with the statement that (0.00 / 0)

most committees didn't sign up new volunteers.  We work hand in hand with the Obama for American office in our district, one of our number one committee members was the volunteer coordinator and office manager.  After the election (which happens quite often) the volunteers fall off the face of the earth.  We tried to keep them engaged, etc - but they are not interested in the party apparaties.  can't plame them - the normal functions for the party are boring, meetings, give me money, blah blah.  The energy has got to be put back into the community, engagement on issues in their neighborhood, reason for them to stay engaged.

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by: totallynext @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 21:54:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

DPVA Needs To "Make The Ask" (4.00 / 1)

Isaac, I agree with you that you develop such precinct operations by "raising the expectations on local committees to develop them". I agree that this starts best at the local level, hoping that local activists can generate enough support to generate successful precinct operations locally. However, if local Dems don't "make the ask", or if they make the ask, and their words fall on deaf ears, then DPVA needs to step in. Right now, DPVA simply says that having such local precinct operations is desirable, but DPVA does not have a 134 local committee strategy to step in and do something when mere words prove ineffective.  

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by: Peter Rousselot @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 23:01:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

In short, DPVA needs to crank up its game (0.00 / 0)

big time, in pretty much every area, starting ASAP. So...???

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 23:04:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

OFA competes with FCDC (0.00 / 0)

We've had a million conversations with dozens of different OFA people over the last almost 4 years, and it's usually the same result - OFA will do what they want to do.  

As far as precinct captains, you don't want a volunteer for that, you want a committee member to be in charge.  So Step #1 is getting good volunteers to sign up with their local committee.  Step #2 is then to get the new members up to speed on procedures, how things work, who's who, etc.  Step #3 is then to get the new members plugged in as precinct captains, where they can manage volunteers.  Precinct captains don't need to do a lot of recruiting, but they do need to be good managers of the volunteers they have and the new ones who come around.

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by: NotJohnSMosby @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:10:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The power of "the ask" (4.00 / 1)

I still believe in it.  I still think it matters to people that you ask them to vote for you, even if there is every indication on paper that they would support you regardless.  I still think that asking someone if they would like to have their name/email/phone etc sent to local committees is a good idea.  In all of the years I worked on campaigns, I wasn't actually asked to serve on the local Dem committee until after the Obama primary.  A FCDC committee member who also worked extensively with the Obama campaign figured anyone who was willing to stand outside in an ice storm might be helpful.  So she asked me if I had any interest in joining.  So I'm someone for whom it went the other way -- I came from campaigns to committees.

And I'll tag on to NJM's comment about what we are doing in Northern VA, especially in Braddock, which is the district I know best.  We spent a LOT of time developing precinct captains (all of whom we try to have on the committee), and try our best to have co-captains when possible, so someone is always learning (a good idea, given how often people move in NoVa.)  We also have training sessions throughout the year, even for experienced Captains.  In the past few years, we've divided the district into sections and each one is overseen by five or six people who manage the precinct captains, who manage the volunteers.  It all sounds very time consuming (it is, actually) and rather top down, but you know what?  Braddock had full coverage at every single precinct this past election.  So it works.

I'd also add that what inevitably comes up are squabbles between individual committee members and individual candidates.  Person X just can't get along with person Y, even if we both want the same things.  A good chair can keep this in control, but it's the responsibility of every single committee member to keep that in check.  If person Y doesn't like person X, then don't have person X talk to that person.  Have another member who has stronger and more positive ties do the interaction.  It seems so basic, but you'd be surprised how difficult that can be, and how often such a simple thing is overlooked.

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by: GretchenLaskas @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:47:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What DPVA needs... (0.00 / 0)

...is innovative, entrepreneurial leadership, as opposed to the current crop of cobwebbed, unimaginative, old school antiques.  We need leaders who combine energy and vision, like Mike Signer, Greg Werkheiser and Peter Rouselot.  

It's not about having a "savior" but about finding someone with the skills and imagination to tap all the smarts and energy and enthusiasm in the netroots, grassroots, high tech community, etc., that DPVA right now is simply excluding and ignoring.

Impeachinelli! Now on Twitter.

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by: kindler @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 21:12:59 PM UTC

It's time for something new. (0.00 / 0)

Time to abandon the old. They won't change so leave them to history. Time to pressure our Delegates and State Senators to abandon DPVA or get abandoned by their volunteers and money supporters. I have told that to Marsden and Bulova. I have given my time and my money. Next round, I will abandon them if they continue to support an organization that is beyond life support.

DPVA will not change because of us. They will change because power wants and needs the money of, and the volunteers for their own campaigns.  This is where we pressure. Screw DPVA - Put the pressure on our Delegates and Senators. That I feel is where we can have a change.

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by: Mike1987 @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 22:36:33 PM UTC

A Possible Pressure Point (4.00 / 3)

According to the DPVA Party Plan, "Members of the Central Committee may form caucuses within the Central Committee. Such caucuses may provide an organizational focus for members of a constituency group who are members of the Central Committee; present issues and act as an advocate for members of the group within the Virginia Democratic Party."

Perhaps we need a progressive caucus of like-minded Central Committee members who will then aggressively "present issues and act as advocates for members of the group."

There are other requirement for a recognized caucus in Article 4 of the plan, but the very act of seeking to organize one might make some "fossils" sit up and take notice. I use the word "fossil" to mean those party leaders who are frozen in a past that no longer exists, i.e., the time when Democrats could be the state majority party simply by sticking a D after their name on the ballot.  

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by: Elaine in Roanoke @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 23:30:00 PM UTC

Here's the irony the steering committee votes (0.00 / 0)

On the approved caucus.  Ain't gonna get a progressive caucus with the current make up!

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by: totallynext @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 14:23:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

But there are far more votes on the Central Committee than on the SC. (4.00 / 1)

The Steering Committee, which manages the entire DPVA operation between quarterly Central Committee meetings, has the authority contained in the State Party Plan to make decisions on most matters and their decisions (by majority vote) are final UNLESS the Central Committee over-rules a bad decision made by the Steering Committee when the Central Committee wasn't in session.

The reverse isn't true. That is, the Steering Committee has no authority to reverse a decision made by the Central Committee, and it is the Central Committee that creates/approves caucuses per Sect. 4.9 of the party plan, not the Steering Committee. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Steering Committee is irrelevant with respect to creation of a caucus since some of the members do have considerable influence over how some Central Committee members might vote, but no CC voting member has any real obligation to vote the way any SC member tells them to vote, they just have to be willing to ignore undesirable pressure from high ranking officials and vote for changes that will help the party.

I believe we will see and hear a lot of Central Committee (and even Steering Committee) members making very public comments and proposals to make some fairly dramatic changes that will cause significant improvements in how the DPVA operates when the quarterly meetings convene next Friday and Saturday. I also believe that some of these changes will be implemented in the form of State Party Plan (de-facto by-laws) revision proposals to be voted on by the next quarterly meetings.

                          T.C.

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by: Tom @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 16:08:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Another Possible Route (4.00 / 1)

I have told person after person at the DPVA and elsewhere that I don't see how we can compete with the GOP in Viginia without answering the one question that voters have, whether they express it or not: "Why should I vote for the Democrat on the ballot?" That's the gist of any party's message.

It is crystal clear what the message of the GOP is: They are for cutting taxes and essential public services, ending regulation of business, weakening protection of the environment, while at the same time wanting to regulate your private sex lives, especially the behavior of women and what the GOP terms deviant sexual behavior between consenting adults.

Perhaps the DPVA is afraid of standing in opposition to those things and making that opposition its message: We are for everyone paying a fair share of taxes without loopholes that allow some to avoid that, strengthening essential public services, fair and necessary regulation of business, protection of the environmental commons we all inhabit, while ending government interference in the private lives of law-abiding citizens. We are opposed to discrimination that divides citizens, support workers' right to organize, and stand with the interests of the middle class that built the economic strength of the nation.

Actually, I know that the DPVA, as presently organized and controlled, would never promote such a message since the money funding it comes from many of the same people who fund the GOP, usually with much larger amounts going to the GOPers. (Sometimes I feel like the Dems are treated as street walkers by the funders who give money to buy them, while the GOPers are high-priced prostitutes, just check figures on VPAP).

A progressive message, coupled with candidates willing to strongly promote that message seems to me to be the only way the Democratic Party avoids being a permanent minority of backbenchers in the General Assembly. By the way, I firmly believe that in a time of corrupt governance as we have today, a progressive political stance is the winning one. All we need is a Teddy Roosevelt for our time.  

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by: Elaine in Roanoke @ Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 23:57:13 PM UTC

That last sentence made me think. (3.00 / 1)

Who is the Teddy Roosevelt - a strong progressive, conservationist, advocate for good government and American strength - for our time? It's hard to think of anyone who could even come close to TR, which is probably more a reflection of how bad things have gotten systemically than anything else. Anyway, it's not about one person, it's about having powerful forces pushing in the right direction. In the past, their was organized labor, the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, the GLBT rights movement, etc. Today, all of those movements, except for the GLBT rights movement, have been seriously diminished in relative strength.

In contrast, the right-wing noise machine, corporate lobbyists, etc., funded by the Murdochs, Kochs, ExxonMobils, etc. of the world, are stronger than ever. Faced with that power imbalance, what if anything is our advantage?  Clearly, it's the fact that their ideology benefits only 1% (or less) of the population, while ours benefits the 99% (or more). The question is, can the 99%+ defeat the extremely well-funded 1% (or less) of the population?  Can we at least fight them to a draw?  If you look at the history of the past 3 decades, the answer seems to be "no," but we absolutely cannot give up.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 00:47:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Peter Rousselot's comment from the (0.00 / 0)

tech thread deserves to be reposted here as well, IMHO.

No Message = No Media Need
DPVA, as an institution, doesn't have and has never developed a substantive political message because it doesn't believe that having such a message is part of DPVA's mission. Since  DPVA doesn't believe that having such a message is one of its appropriate functions, DPVA has no incentive at all to use any form of media--new, old, or middle-aged-- to disseminate a message.

Moreover, since DPVA has a governance structure of the insiders, by the insiders, and for the insiders, it has no need for a truly interactive website because DPVA has no interest in interactivity.  

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 13:33:59 PM UTC

Ouch! (0.00 / 0)

Impeachinelli! Now on Twitter.

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by: kindler @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 14:10:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

So I really should know this - but I am more confused than ever! (0.00 / 0)

Speaking with elected representatives, they state that it is the role of the house and senate caucus to recruit candidates, not DPVA.  DPVA mission is infrastructure and messaging.

Help - Why isn't this a collaborative process, if candidate recruitment is left to the caucuses, then we will always get what we just witness.  Entrenchment to protect the incumbents.  Money decisions will be for only a select few.  Incumbents in other bodies - deciding and black listing young candidates for no support because they are afraid of focus on a race that might bring out their opponents base.  And the lovely mindset of "Republican district" waste of time and money!

In order to expand and make inroads to many areas of the Commonwealth - the HD and SD caucus should only be part of the process, not dictate and choose where and when to run Democrats!

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by: totallynext @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:18:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agree 100% (0.00 / 0)

Totally Next,

I agree 100% with your vision of the way candidate recruitment ought to work. The responsibility for candidate recruitment ought to be shared among many individuals and groups, and DPVA--if it were being managed and operated properly--ought to have a central role in nurturing and recruiting new candidates.

The comments made to you by certain elected officials are faulty for several reasons. If those comments were meant to be a description of the way candidate recruitment ought to work, then the last election proved that way to be a dismal failure.

If those  elected officials believe that DPVA's proper role ought to be limited to message and infrastructure, then the last election proved that DPVA has no message and that its infrastructure is sorely in need of repair.

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by: Peter Rousselot @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:35:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Also.... (4.00 / 1)

The moment we abdicate the responsibility of recruitment to any given set of people, no matter how good those people may be in the present, we are sacrificing the future.  Sure, it's the houes and senate caucus' responsibility to recruit candidates.  But it's also DPVA, in my case, FCDC's (it says right on our form: are you interested in running for office) and the Braddock (again, my case)'s responsibility.  I'm also always pleased to see organizations such as the Farm Team or The Brigades, which can also provide needed skills.  But if ANY organization insists that it is their, and only their, responsibility and anyone else should simply stay out -- then we have a bigger problem on our hand than an ineffectual DPVA.

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by: GretchenLaskas @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 16:51:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Question for the political Veterans: (0.00 / 0)

Since many of you have been involved in VA politics for some time now, can you give me some idea of the involvement of young people in the process? How does it relate to different periods of time that you were involved in the political process in VA?
These questions also have direct and indirect links to at least one of the main themes of this post: the inability or unwillingness of the DPVA to "take up" the power of social media, etc. We all know how important these tools are for getting people active in the political process, but I'd also argue this is all the more true for the younger generations.
Point is: without the younger generations involved, the DPVA faces an even tougher uphill battle.  

Progressive86

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by: Progressive86 @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 18:47:43 PM UTC

I'll field this one... (4.00 / 1)

The official caucus of the party to get young people involved is the Virginia Young Democrats. Obviously, 2008 was a high point for activity among young people in the process, but I have seen activity steadily increase this year on many college campuses. We actually have 45 chapters at high schools, on college campuses, and at the city/county level at the moment. That trails, only slightly, the high point of 51 chapters that we reached at the end of 2008.

We actually added a number of great, strong new College Democrats chapters at Southern Virginia University and Sweet Briar College and I can attest that many of our college chapters have seen a significant uptick in activity this year. I would also point out (though this could belong in the tech blog post as well) that the VAYD have made use of social media on Twitter, through Facebook, and actually have incorporated a blog onto our website.

By the way, I would like to extend an invitation to you Progressive86. I'm not sure it was caught the last time you posted. The closest chapter of VAYD to you is the Metro Richmond Area Young Democrats. I would love to see what we can do to get you involved through their club if you would be interested. They are currently planning our state convention (set for March) with the Virginia Commonwealth University Young Democrats.  

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:11:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

2008 was a high point, followed by 2009.... (0.00 / 0)

...an absolute disaster in every way. Then, 2010, another really bad year in every way, including active involvement/engagement of young people. 2011? Not much better, if at all. 2012? Let's hope, or say hello President Romney and Senator Macacawitz!!!

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:21:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Also, 2006 was a great year... (0.00 / 0)

...as many young people were HIGHLY excited about Jim Webb. Note that none of that would have happened if the party establishment's selection, Harris Miller, had been the nominee (e.g., if we hadn't drafted Webb and pissed off a lot of the "old guard" in the process). Remember how Webb won in the primary, despite getting outspent something like 6:1 by Harris Miller? We had thousands of volunteers by the primary, many of whom were young people (although some of our best volunteers were folks like CW Dean and Tom Counts, who are a wee bit older...and wiser too! ha) while Miller had basically zero. What are the lessons here? Many, including that a real grassroots/netroots movement like Webb's is far more fun, exciting, and appealing to young people than an insider, top-down, dull, desultory, dismal candidate like corporate lobbyist Harris Miller. In stark contrast, Webb captured peoples' - including young peoples' - imaginations, and it turned into one of the most fun experiences I've ever had in my life (I think many who participated would agree). Of course, DPVA et al. completely didn't "get it," in fact they were largely hostile - or, at best, cool - to Webb's "ragtag army." What does that tell you?

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:26:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No doubt about it, (0.00 / 0)

money can't topple enthusiasm, enthusiasm shaped by an exciting and fun campaign.
This makes me think of Tom Perriello when it comes to a "sexy," "fun" potential political campaign. Who else is there in VA right now with "youth appeal" besides Perriello and Kaine on the Democratic side?

Progressive86

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by: Progressive86 @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 20:55:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank you for the invitation. (0.00 / 0)

I'm certainly interested. I am however graduating in a month and don't know where the job market will take me. That said, between then and now, I would like to get involved.

Progressive86

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by: Progressive86 @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 21:00:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great! (0.00 / 0)

If you'll shoot me an email at president@vayd.org, then I will put you in touch with the officers of Metro Richmond. They're a great chapter and I think you'll really enjoy it.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 21:43:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

When I started in 2005, the committees (3.00 / 1)

and other Democratic Party organizations in Virginia tended to be dominated by the older crowd. Today, I do see some younger faces taking leadership roles - people like Mike Lieberman and Kip Malinosky in Arlington, Clark Mercer in Alexandria, Frank Anderson in Fairfax, etc. - but overall, I'm not sure there's been a significant demographic shift in the average age of Democratic Party and committee participants. If so, from what I can determine, it's very slow and not nearly significant enough (if the goal is to make this party younger). I also haven't seen a significant increase, or frankly any increase, in the degree of diversity in the party leadership. Basically, it seems very similar to what it's always been, IMHO. Anyone else seeing something different out there?

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:17:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Downstate... (4.00 / 1)

I'm glad you mentioned folks like Clark Mercer, Frank Anderson, Mike Leiberman, and Kip Malinosky. There has been something of a generational shift downstate as well. I have seen young people (under 35) assume leadership positions in VA Beach, Harrisonburg City, Pulaski County, Wise County, Bristol City just to name a few. We currently have at least two or three Young Democrats planning to run for chair positions in their local areas that I've heard about.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:27:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good! (0.00 / 0)

n/t

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:34:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

From what I've seen (3.00 / 1)

is that young people, by and large, come out for a particular candidate.  They'll volunteer to help someone they are personally interested in seeing win, but they're not too interested in the committee work.  I think they feel that may be to large and to abstract a commitment.  Even the campaign workers - who are almost all in their 20s- don't sign up for committees.

It's rare to find a steady, every year volunteer who's younger than 30 or so.  

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by: NotJohnSMosby @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:17:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Exactly. (0.00 / 0)

NotJohnMosby's on a roll today, I'm agreeing strongly with almost all his comments! :)

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:20:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Right! (0.00 / 0)

Especially difficult is trying to maintain activity among YD's after college graduation and reaching out to young professionals and workers. The best way the Democratic Party used to have to reach those under 35 was when labor unions had more influence, and now that avenue is either gone or barely alive.

I personally know of one effort by a very active young Democrat to build the younger membership of his committee. No luck. He told me that there will have to be ways found to work with the facts of this generations: They don't go to committee meetings where the time is spent going through the same old agenda month after month. They are active during election campaigns for specific candidates because they want to be actively involved in a cause they believe in. The best way to contact and reach out to them is through social media.  

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by: Elaine in Roanoke @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 20:36:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My perspective (4.00 / 3)

I'll tell you what we've done in Braddock -- we have a really great precinct captain at GMU, who also works very directly and diligently with the Democratic clubs in at least four high schools.  Our executive committee is a mix of all ages, even if you committee membership at large tends to the older.  Committee members also reach out to high schools as they know teachers, students, etc, and we are very good about helping students do their community service hours while they help us.  

But here's the thing -- you have to actually let them do something meaningful.  There is no reason why a high school student can't man a poll, or be a precinct captain, or why a college student can't be a volunteer coordinator.  Too often, I've seen students and people under 30 brushed aside or over-managed to the point of suffocation, at which point they walk off, which only makes both sides feel like they were right all along -- young people aren't committee and older members won't make room.

Oh, and this is important.  We don't burden them with dues if they can't afford it.  (We do this for any member, but it often comes up more with younger members.)  There is a provision for waivers at the Chair's request, but it's not unusual for older, better established members to simply pay the dues without fanfare or making a big deal of it.

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by: GretchenLaskas @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:27:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well said. (4.00 / 1)

I love to hear success stories about local committee members working well with high school and college chapters, especially those committees willing to empower and include YD volunteers. Is there any chance you could shoot me an email at president@vayd.org so we could discuss those high schools? I would love to see what we can do at the VAYD level to support and grow those high school chapters in Braddock.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 19:32:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great GMU Precinct Captain? (0.00 / 0)

Must have missed that when I was in Braddock the last few months.  The voters in that precinct apparently missed it also with only 36 voters at University voting the Democratic ticket.  We'd get more votes by taking one greek house.  In fact, student govt candidates at GMU usually get over 1000 votes, showing how ineffective the GMU Dem organization really was this year.

Not to get off topic, but the county really should eliminate the precinct if they are paying for 63 total voters to show up.  Those 63 can walk across the street to another precinct.  This was a failed experiment.

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by: notlarrysabato @ Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 22:30:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why is there such an enormous disparity between precinct sizes ? 63 ?! (0.00 / 0)

My precinct has almost 3,000 registered voters and only one of our committee members was assigned to work all shifts at his and my precinct all by himself, yet I was assigned to work a relatively tiny precinct with a with only about 700 registered voters. There is no way one person could possibly work a precinct as large as mine so I took three  hours off starting at 9:30 A.M. to give the "lone wolf" at his and my large precinct a break so he could have breakfast (he started his first shift at 5:30 A.M.). The traffic at the small precinct was so slow most of the day that it became obvious by noon that I was wasting too much time, so I went back at 5 P.M. to own my much larger precinct to help out again until close to poll closing time when we both called it quits and got the last vote count.

I was stunned to discover that the small precinct I had been assigned was 1/4 the size of mine, and that there was another precinct even smaller that is literally in easy walking distance of the small precinct I worked, literally around the corner from the elementary school parking lot where I was.

But I cannot imagine why the county would even consider having a separate precinct at GMU where only 63 voters showed up on election day. At least the small precinct I worked had over 400 people who had voted as of 5 P.M. when I quit there for the day. This is another example of how bad it can get when a committee has NO Precinct Captains and no Precinct Operations Committee to do any advance planning and logical allocation of personnel resources.

How can the SBE, the registrar or the county government possibly justify the cost for so many small precinct so close together ?

                      T.C.  

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by: Tom @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 02:32:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The low turnout... (0.00 / 0)

is partly the product of the fact that the precinct was brand new and introduced during a state and local election cycle. To use an example from downstate... Williamsburg City has gradually seen an increase in student voter participation. They were finally allowed to register from a campus address a few years ago and at first participation levels were fairly low. That has changed over time as the student government and campus political groups became more adept at conducting voter registration drives. The GMU example involves a brand new precinct of approximately 940 registered voters (at election time), and I would venture a guess that you'll see a very large uptick in participation and registration numbers during the federal election cycle coming up.

The rationale for placing precincts on college campuses is straightforward. Student voters who live on college campuses in some localities lack a car until they are upperclassmen, and would have to rely on mass transit to get to polling locations off-campus... a significant burden. To use an example that doesn't involve young voters... the same could apply to precincts in and around nursing home facilities where mobility plays an equal factor.

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by: Isaac Sarver @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 03:50:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

A majority of those 940... (0.00 / 0)

Voted in 2008 according to the VAN.  Unless they were freshman at the time, they are already gone.

58 voted on campus at an off campus location in 2007, it looks like about 70 total did this time.  So the county is creating a poll to increase voter size by 12 people?

This might be a good idea some places, but it's a failed experiment at Mason.

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by: notlarrysabato @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 08:09:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Redistricting and Local Politics Drive Precinct Locations (0.00 / 0)

n/t

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by: notlarrysabato @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 08:07:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

But it is not done. There was a lot of scurrying (0.00 / 0)

By the BOEs to address precinct boundaries after redistricting.  They were going to split precincts divide neighborhoods based on elections that only occur ever 4 years.   We had great suggestions and were able to have extreme influence on any precinct changes in our district, in fact the republicans had no input, we held town halls and most if not all of our direct influence was adopted for our district.

Time to review and go through and issues with the precinct divisions again.  The fcdc bos can bring up changes at anytime

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by: totallynext @ Sun Nov 27, 2011 at 14:31:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Planting the SEEDS: $$$$$$$$$ (0.00 / 0)

HERE IS A WORD OR TWO ABOUT FUNDRAISING AND STRENGTHENING OUR LOCAL COMMITTEES...

1. FUND-RAISE, FUND-RAISE, FUND-RAISE FROM THE TOP TO GET THE BALL ROLLING...

2. ALLOCATE FUNDS TO LOCAL COMMITTEES IN ORDER TO HELP BUILD SOME SORT OF FOUNDATION. FOR EXAMPLE... A LOT OF LOCAL COMMITTEES COULD NOT AFFORD THE VAN AND WROTE IT OFF COMPLETELY. HOW DOES THIS HELP US TOP TO BOTTOM???

3. ENCOURAGE LOCAL COMMITTEES TO FUND-RAISE SOME ON THEIR OWN, THEN ALLOW FOR MATCHING GRANTS FROM THE DPVA.

4. MONEY. MONEY. MONEY... SHOULD BE FUNNELED DOWNWARD AT LEAST TO MOTIVATE AND PROVIDE A MEANS NECESSARY TO START TO BUILD THE GRASSROOTS EFFORT NEEDED TO WIN ANY RACE FROM SCHOOL BOARD TO THE WHITE HOUSE.

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by: sbroy2013 @ Wed Nov 30, 2011 at 13:55:20 PM UTC