Local Politics Question...

[Kixel]

For those of you who are involved in state level politics-what keeps you engaged? If you aren't involved, what would entice you to become engaged? Or, why did you stop attending events?

I have recently become the Associate Chair of my Senate District (similar to county units), and we are looking at some long term party building ideas. Obviously there isn't much we can do prior to the elections, but I thought I'd look for ideas now. If you couldn't guess from the fact that we had elections in August for Chair and Associate Chair, our district is a little fractured right now. Independent thinking can cause big rifts.

The Chair and I have big plans, but without a big base of Dems plans don't really make a difference. We are working with the active Dems in our area and people have been really receptive to what we are doing. I just don't want to loose the momentum we have.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom in advance!

K

[qnr]

1. I don't really know. For my part, I'd like to see the party more engaged

in local affairs. Seems to me that if you want to attract people, you need to make them aware that you exist. Granted, people that are very interested will take the time to search for websites and other resources. However, if someone wants to attract a big base of participants, it just feels like a more active approach would be necessary.

Edit: by local affairs I mean things like festivals, concerts, etc.

[dorktv]

2. Well starting small will help. Have a few places hold picnics

while the weather is good. If you can get things to be okay after a month or so, hold a small (very small) Halloween thing for the Ds with kids and no kids (like some simple booths with a little "Feel the Brains! Feel the Eyes," a booth or two with some face painting/Halloween masks...) Create a few committees that play up to the offended people's strengths (one a good organizer but not very good at providing leadership? have them organize the Halloween bash) And then try to keep those still angry with each othe appart.

[Broken_Hero]

3. what "stops" me from being engaged

is the pettiness of some of the members, who deem themselves important to our democrat club. My wife and I brought forth some good ideas to get the Democrat name out to the youth, through some minor high school scholarships, and sponsoring some sporting events, to get out there with the youth. Both ideas where stomped into the ground as dumb, not good enough. I would not have been upset, if something was done on the issue of bringing in younger members, or new members...but "NOTHING" was done.

Other idea's, using up to date websites, and using other liberal/democrat webistes to coordinate with other Dem's in our area/county. Sites like DU, and Yahoo groups, and firedupmissouri.com...the firedupmissouri.com is decent, but the people in charge of updating that site in our county hasn't done anything new since last november(lsat time I checked). I offered to update our events on that website, but got brushed aside, like I was stepping on toes.

Our Democrat Club is old...very old, if you are 60yrs old, you are a young, in this group, and bringing in new blood I believe is almost as important as voting...and the effort to bring in new members is nil, zero...nothing.

My advice, is have some sort of programs, or events to draw in new members...be it with a bazaar, bbq, anything...to get more people interested in coming out to hear what "dems" have to say at a local level. It also gives the dems in power a chance to hob nob, and talk to the folks, and find out what people are griping about. I would also offer some classes of sorts, to keep people informed...like, some little history/social science classes of sorts.

To keep people abreast of how things work at the local/state/fed level. I find that a lot of dems in our club don't know the particulars of how things work, and maybe a little education on the system might be good, and people will actually learn something, and pass that on to an unsuspecting Repub ....:) :hi:

[mad-mommy]

4. when I called our local office...

I sent an email with some concerns, followed by a phone call with an offer to volunteer about those concerns and I was told by the person answering the phone there isn't anything I could do, except write the editor or do some social service type of volunteering, I don't think she understood me. However, our local rep sent a personal letter, not a "form" letter by any means, and addressed my concerns. he is still not aware I had volunteered my time and was turned away. Once I am better health wise, I plan on contacting him again. There isn't much done around here, no local events, no door to door...they have those dinner fundraisers, my dad does attend, but most are invitation only, and are quite costly.

It's a shame that you and your wife were treated that way. Then they wonder why people don't vote or care...

[Broken_Hero]

5. yeah, my wife and I have a

issue with the meetings too...they always have dinner at the meetings, and its awkward not ordering anything, when its pushed on you...and most of the time, its ten bucks a plate, so just to go its 20 bucks, plus a few dollars for tips, than a few more dollars for the Dem donations...this is plain meetings...the first one my wife and I went to, we ate before going, and during the meeting, they served dinner, and it was just awkward not eating there, its like everyone was eyeballing us...but each meeting is like this...

The dinner fundraisers are mostly held in Springfield, and they are usually 50 buck dinners...and thats...nuts.

[mad-mommy]

6. most are more here...

I just don't understand how they plan on attracting the average person, especially the younger people they complain do not vote.

[Broken_Hero]

7. yes, its ...

hard to deal with. I try my best though, do my own thing...its rough when the backing is not there, but I do what I can...:)

[mad-mommy]

8. well I sure give both credit...

I hope I figure something out here. I have a friend who was invloved in the young democrats, was going to call him, when I realized he and I no longer meet the age requirements, but I'm sure he has moved on to something similiar.

[Kixel]

9. Thank you!

I wanted to thank everyone who responded. You gave me some ideas-what to do and what not to do. It's hard to get people engaged and excited. Basically, we have the potential to turn a blue area into a red area and we need to make sure we don't screw it up.

The nice thing about it is that everyone is very open to change. We have met one on one with a lot of the active folks in our area and our ideas have been enthusiastically received. One of the members (who is actually being recruited to run for our State House) said no one had every asked his opinion before. We are going with a very opinion mind-we want to have a social aspect included in this. Also, we think we need to be connected with the community in a stronger way. Hopefully it works out in the long run!

I am sorry it took me a while to get back-apparently taking over during the elections means a lot of meetings to understand exactly what we are doing. Thanks for the perspective!

K

[Broken_Hero]

10. typo?

"Basically, we have the potential to turn a blue area into a red area and we need to make sure we don't screw it up."

I hope this is a typo....

[Kixel]

11. oops!

Attention to detail...apparently I am not good at that lately. We are going from Red to Blue! Thanks for pointing it out...

[YankeyMCC]

12. Concrete projects with clear and defined goals

once you have those you can give people finite tasks and activities and still respect their time (definite start and stop times).

That has kept me involved with organizations like my local chapter of "Stand for Children". This is why things like voter drives, activities at Town Day, watershed clean ups, gets lots of volunteers.

When people can participate in a well defined task and see clear results this encourages repeat efforts.

Also, visibility and participation of local elected officials.