DNC Changes - A message from Gov Dean

[Kevin Spidel]

From: Howard Dean
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 10:28 PM
Subject: A Message from Governor Dean



Dear DNC Member:

Over the past month, I've had the opportunity to see many of you as
I traveled to Mississippi, Kansas, Michigan, Oregon, New York - and
just this past weekend to the Democrats Abroad meeting in Toronto.
Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Tennessee where I will continue to
demonstrate what I believe we Democrats must do everywhere -- 'show
up' in every part of the country.

As we conclude our month long transition period, I wanted to give
you a quick update on what we've been doing.

Today, I will announce the following senior staff appointments. Tom
McMahon will become Executive Director of the DNC. Tom has worked
closely with me for a number of years, and I am happy - and
grateful - that he has agreed to join me at the DNC. Prior to moving
to Vermont, where he worked on my campaign for President and later
served as Executive Director of Democracy for America, Tom worked in
the Clinton Administration at both the Pentagon and the White House.

We will also announce today that we are establishing a new Office of
Intergovernmental Affairs. Moses Mercardo, who worked on Capitol
Hill for Dick Gephardt for six years and who was most recently New
Mexico state director for the Kerry Campaign, will be the Director
of that office. Karen Finney, our new Communications Director, was
most recently Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Debbie Stabenow.
Prior to working on the Hill, Karen served as Director of
Communications for Elizabeth Edwards and Press Secretary for Senator
Hillary Clinton during her senate campaign. Mike Gerke, our new
Research Director, served in that role for the Kerry Campaign and at
the DSCC. Prior to that, Mike worked at the White House and at the
AFL-CIO. Matt Nugen, who previously worked at the DNC, will be
Director of the Chairman's Office. Maura Keefe, Leah Daughtry, and
Brad Marshall, whom many of you know already, will also serve as
part of my senior management team * as will Craig Kirby who will be
Director of the newly created office of the Vice-Chairs.

During my campaign for Chair, I made a commitment to strengthen our
party from the grassroots up. I have asked Pam Womack, who was most
recently with the Democratic Governors Association, to lead the
effort of working with the state parties to identify the resources
and programs that they need to have in place to maximize their
efforts on behalf of Democrats around the country. Pam has already
assembled a team made up of individuals, who have either worked
directly for or with state parties, and who will work with her on
this effort. They have already held extensive meetings with one
state party, and will be on the ground this week working with
another. Next week her team will be on the ground in three other
states.

Also this week, I am appointing an Ad Hoc Committee on Budget and
Finance. This committee will be co-chaired by Bonnie Watson Coleman,
Chair of the New Jersey State Democratic Party and Allan Katz, DN C
Member from Florida. The other committee members are Linda Chavez
Thompson, DNC Vice Chair, Patsy Arceneaux, DNC Member from
Louisiana, Bel Leong-Hong, DNC At-Large Member from Maryland, Jim
Pedersen, Chair of the Arizona State Democratic Party, Ben Johnson,
DNC At-Large Member from the District of Columbia, Joe Moore, Chair
of the Democratic Municipal Officials, and Andy Tobias, DNC
Treasurer.

Later this week, I will be announcing the national co-chairs of the
DNC's National Lawyers Committee. The Lawyers Committee will be
housed and staffed out of the DNC and its members * volunteer
lawyers from around the country -- will immediately focus on
monitoring and taking action on voting rights and election
administration issues in the states. They will also provide
assistance on other issues important to the party.

This has been an exciting and busy month of activity and a lot of
work lies ahead. I look forward to working with all of you in the
months ahead as we continue to build a stronger democratic party.

Governor Howard Dean

[roguevalley]

1. Bless you, Dr. Dean. Now who is going to be in charge of the

Congressional Balls and Spine Implant Committee?

[wabranty]

2. This is great news but . . .

Dean can only do so much from the top. If your local Democratic party is anything like mine, it's time to do a little housecleaning, clear out the crony network, and revitalize the local party. And then go on to fix the state party. No more Republican-Lite State Democratic parties.:nuke:

[divineorder]

3. And Dean is creating the national structure

That can help the local parties in their effort to rebuild. Those committees are all outreach committees, designed to work with Democrats in both organization and framing.

If we are to take our country back, it will be through strong local parties that can get people elected, first locally, and then statewide, and then nationally. That has been our weakness for over 30 years. Democrats have let the local parties age and atrophy, and we wonder why successes have been so few at the Presidential and other levels. We can't elect people with no money, no personnel, and no organization.

Dean's strategy is both regional and national. The regional strategy for the South is to shore up parties so that they exist and be competitive. Republicans have taken the South for granted for years, and have mined much money and support out of it. If the South can be competitive, people like Tom Delay will have fewer time and resources to use against the rest of us, having to actually pay attention to local concerns.