Blue Mass Group

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Tools and Ideas?

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Our town committee has had an unfortunate series of events, though great work by our local Patrick organization delivered the town (OK, barely) for Deval. A group of us started talking the day after the election about restarting and re-energizing the town commitee.

Being a bit of a geek, I am interested in tools (digital or analog) we can use to organize the town and get the Democratic message out there. Lists we can acquire somehow, web tools, etc.; anything others have used effectively.

Thought the discussion would help other people, which is why I’ve chosen to start it here.

Thanks.

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Comments

  1. I’m with you Bob….
    The 2nd largest democratic city committee in the Commonwealth and with 50 precincts and 10 wards and a 99 % Democratic City Council, WE don’t have any organization at the grassroots level. We don’t even have a central phone # or an email address in 2006!

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    Very few of us, that supported Deval (more than 50 locally, lead by the great Bob Knittle and Jon Bartelson)), are part of the committee, and we are on the outside looking in.

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    Deval was the candidate of choice for only 1 state Rep and 1 City Councilor from our delegation.  The rest only AFTER he became the primary winner. (I personally call it hypocrites, and also reality).  But just as I do with Sen. George McGovern, I lift my head high and proclaim, “I GOT IT RIGHT”!

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    I learned most of my stuff, from being a “Deaner”.  And still proud to say that.  He, IMHO changed how we campaign.  And Deval reinforced it.

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    But still an uphill battle to unseat the “I’m gonna be there ’til I die” crowd.

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    So if we can share resources and ideas and keep this momentum going, I say, sign me up….

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    Barb

  2. Check the News and Information section of the Arlington Town Democratic Committee website.

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    A progressive slate, led by State Representative J. James Marzilli, was elected at the time of the 2000 Presidential Primary.  The town committee was an active and solid source of support for the Democratic ticket after the election, and most of the membership was also committed to Deval in the Primary.

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    A group of committed activists, with control of the party machinery, can be a tremendous source of help for Democratic candidates.  The next election for town or city committees is the date of teh 2008 presidential primary.

  3. We need an open source project for this, create a web tool that works for Town Committees. We need one too!

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    Unless someone has already developed one that they know of?

  4. http://civicspacelab…

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    Engage Your Supporters Online

    The CivicSpace On Demand service provides any individual a simple, web-based solution to the problem of bringing individuals and groups together on the internet. Communicate with supporters via a website and e-newsletters. Offer them opportunities to act in support of your cause by making an online donation, volunteering or attending an event. Keep track of your supporters in a powerful, integrated central database. No software to install or maintain: all it takes is your web browser.

  5. here’s something you can do fairly easily and for free: create accounts on myspace and friendster called “Medfield Democrats”.  those accounts are a great way for people on those sites to find you and get in touch.  you’ll also find that there may be other medfield-related myspace/friendster groups, and you can add them as friends in order to draw more people to your page.

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    then, once you have a website started, make sure to link to your myspace/friendster page.

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    i don’t think this will get you tons and tons of people, but it’s absolutely free, so what have you got to lose?

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    another thing you should do is register for an account on partybuilder and list your events there: http://www.democrats…

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    good luck!

  6. Field Manual for City/Ward/Town Committee (pdf)

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    Lots of good information in there to get you started.

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    You can restart a committee with as few as three people to get started.  Here is a link to the petition to start the process. (MS Word)

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    Also, it can be helpful to contact the Field Services Committee.  That committee is co-chaired by Kate Donaghue, who posts here at BMG from time to time. Her contact info is on that page I linked to.  She’s awesome and will be able to answer any questions you might have.

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    If there are committees in surrounding communities, reach out to them.  They will more than likely be happy to help and offer suggestions.  I can’t tell you how helpful the committees in my areas have been.  They’ve always been there when I needed help and saved me a bunch of time by not reinventing the wheel. 

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    In addition to the fine suggestions Shai offered, the MDP can also help you get a website online.  They provide space for the files, but you have to design the website and get the domain stuff figured out on your own.  Also, many DTCs have mailing lists on yahoo. 

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    Good luck!

  8. Being a geek myself, I appreciate your desire to find good tools.  I have to say, though, that as someone who was involved in revitalizing a ward committee here in Medford, I found that good old-fashioned people power trumped tools.  Sure, we created a web site, but it was word of mouth more than anything that got things moving.  That said, the tools we’ve used the most have been a simple announcement e-mail list (I just bcc: to a private list in my e-mail software) and the local Medford Yahoo group (not Democratic, just a general community list).

    • Nice site. I see it’s phpnuke based, which I have downloaded. Can you share code, modules, add-ons, advice ?

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      TO OTHERS: anybody else use this software?

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      Thanks,

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      Bob

  9. For my ward where I was a coordinator for the DP campaign, and  where the ward committee, while made up as far as I can tell of very well intentioned people, they are largely tired or overcommitted to other things, andis largely moribund.  What I’m thinking is seeing if I can rope a couple of my volunteers and see if they’d be interested in canvassing a couple of the  precincts as if they were precinct captains, maybe doing a survey and registering voters as a way of recruiting more activists or at least interest in the doings of the party with e-mail lists, and seeing if we can become actual precinct captains once we’ve built a decent level of contacts and support.

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    Also, there’s a guy with the handle “philinmaine” who had a series of diaries on dailykos called “nuts and bolts” or something like that, who talks about how he and a few fellow travelers rebuilt a working party organization in their county in, you guessed it, Maine.  I intend to go through those diaries, and see if I come up with a plan that I think can work.

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    I’d love to hear about what you come up with.

  10. With the new administration will come, I hope, a little more leadership in the state party. I look at my town committee, and it is a pathetic and worthless lot. It is run by old hacks who think they have power because they do not call meetings (go figure that one out). If there is a meeting, the announcement is late and ambiguous. Obviously nobody in the state Democratic party bothers to see what the local committees are doing. If they checked on our town they would be shocked.

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    Local committees should be the in-place grass roots organization, and right now it would not be hard to find new, actual party stalwarts, people who are willing to give time, to do the grunt work, to make the calls, and make the party strong.

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    I say it’s time for some spring cleaning in November.

      • In the meantime, isn’t there somebody at the state level who looks at the performance of local committees and asks the Chair, What about those four regular meetings per year, or six in the election year? And isn’t there a person who says, Perform your duties, or resign.

  12. Thanks for the responses. We’re working to resolve our issues on the Committee and expect by the inauguration to be back in business. And, a shout out to all the other Dems on the Rte 109 or Rte 27 corridors to call us so we can all get busy. It’s a more purple than blue around here, and the Rethuglicans know that.

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    As for the technology and tools. Thanks for the suggestions. I have created a PartyBuilder account. My concern is that it’s a NATIONAL party tool not a MASS PARTY tool. I also have the Field Manual and other documents from the state party.

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    I am addicted to DailyKos, MyDD, etc. They all have the same look and feel (minus the stupid blinking ad.) so I am assuming they use the same technology (??????).

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    I do a fair amount of web work so I am comfortable installing software. I have looked at the various wiki flavors and other online collaboration platforms. I also run online/ email newsletters and listservers for town and community groups, and non-profits.

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    To fork this conversation into more precise discussons:

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    1.  Web tools

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    a. Not to knock either the Mass or National party, but can we get PartyBuilder replicated at the state level? Love to know what’s happening in Michigan, but I am more interested in what’s happening in Millis. All politics is local.

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    b. Or develop amongst us all a common platform. Anybody know what DailyKos, etc use? I couldn’t find any info on the site.

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    c. Collaboration tools for the town/ward committees to work together, probably as party of a MassPartyBuilder

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    2. Data, data, data.

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    a. Our Red friends (how delicious is it to call the Republican/McCarthyites “red” and who decided that?) get a lot of press for microtargeting voters by beg, borrowing, and stealing various mailing lists and building a nice big database. Can we, at the local level, get that data?

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    b. We need to collect and refer people who contact the various Dem / Progressive web sites to the local party committees. You got someone from zip code 02052, send ’em to me.

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  13. Thanks for the lead to “philinmaine” over at DailyKos. Working down the threads I found a suggestion for a Democratic voter database company (Voter Activation Network at http://www.voteracti…).

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    Anybody know them? Worked with their data? Looks like it MIGHT be a good thing.

  14. Not to digress too much, but one thing that I find to be an incredible tool is this website itself.  Is this web site format – including tools like leftyblogs at the lower left – available in open source or any other reasonably attainable package?

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    I’d really love to have something like this for the other side, though not likely to be named redmassgroup.com  đŸ™‚

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    Demo

  15. Hi Everyone,

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    Kate Donaghue here, as Susan mentioned, co-chair of the Field Service Committee of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. (Susan, thank you for your kind words.)

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    The Field Services Committee’s mission is to help local committees grow and thrive. I chair my local committee, so I know the challenges people face in keeping a Democratic Committee strong.

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    Thanks to all who had suggestions. 

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    In response to Medfield Bob’s question, if you are only doing one thing with technology and communication, I would urge you to develop an e-mail group. As Max indicated, it’s more about people connecting with people, than technology.  I encourage e-mail because it is a quick, cost effective way to include people. Yahoo groups have worked very well for a number of committees.  Allowing all group members to post encourages growth and communication. Web sites are great for when people are trying to locate you.  With limited volunteer
    resources, I’d start with e-mail before going on to a web site.

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    The Field Services Committee runs a group called MassDemsGuide, which we use to communicate with chairs and activists in local committees.  We send pieces on such topics as running interesting meetings, sample press releases, and so on.  To subscribe, please send a blank e-mail to:
    massdemsguide-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . 

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    In general, I urge you to work with, not against, the long time members.  “JimBob” mentioned that his committee consists of  “very well intentioned people, they are largely tired or over committed to other things.”  Use them as resources.  People who are involved in other efforts are great connectors.  They are your institutional memory.  Under Mass General Law, a town or ward is limited to 35 elected members.  But twenty year members, are full voting members and do not count against the 35 limit.  Also, the Democratic Party Charter allows committees to have associate members. 

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    In this upcoming year, the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the Field Services Committee hope to offer training and other resources towards growing a strong Democratic Party infra-structure.  There is the possibility of a Chairs Day or Activist day in the late winter or early spring.  There will be training and networking opportunities at the State Convention on May 19 in Amherst.  For those of you who want to bring in new activists, please get them to register as Democrats by December 31 so that they can take part in the caucuses in February and possibly be delegates to the convention.

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    One additional resource for stating informed is the DDemDispatch, a more or less weekly e-mail newsletter.  To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to:
    DDemDispatch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

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    I’ll close with this invitation to the Westborough DTC Holiday Party.  It is cosponsored by two regional groups in adjoining senate districts. It is an open house and should provide a good opportunity for networking with chairs and activists from a wide area.
    Sunday, December 3, 2 – 6 PM
    Donaghue-Simpson Home
    17 Gary Circle
    Westborough, MA. 

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    • Thank you for that post.  Useful information, and I totally agree with you that where possible, committees should be viewed as allies and resources rather than opponents.  Most members are poeple of good will who have done much service over the years, even if not necessarily as much, in one’s view, as they could in recent days.

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      Speaking of which, I must say the thing I’m most interested in is reviving (if it ever existed?) a precinct level structure for the party, i.e. precinct captains, block captains and the like.  Do you guys (Mass. Dems) have any thoughts, ideas, tools for that?

      • Through Victory 2006, the Party worked hard at putting a precinct structure into place.  The more local you get the more you have influence and connections with people.  The party will continue to encourage people to organize at the precinct level.  As far as tools go, as a Victory 2006 precinct captain, I was given very productive lists of people who had been identified as likely volunteers.  I’m not going to say that it was a magic bullet, but there were people who I identified calling through that list who had not been on my radar screen before, who became involved in our election efforts. 

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        At least in my towm, for certain activities, you needed to organize above the precinct level to get the critical mass you needed.  For example when we tried to do phone banks at a precinct level, it was logistically impractical.  People’s circles of acquiantances don’t tend to run along precinct lines.  People know people through school, churches and other organizations which tend, at least in the suburbs, to be more along town lines.

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        Especially during the “off” years, many people find that regional groups are helpful.  I stress that these should support, not compete with, the City, Town, and Ward organizations.  During off years, they give people an opportunity to network and learn from what others are doing.  When we go into nominating years, they are a way for candidates to reach larger groups of people than would be possible if they needed to go to every Town and City Committee. 

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        The network we’ve built of active Democrats positioned us well to be effective during this cycle.  For example, we had regional Friday night phone banks that did extraordinarily well.  These supplemented our local efforts.  We had a scheduled social hour immediately following the Friday night phones. The most gung ho people from two senate districts participated in these efforts, along with some people who just found the Friday evening time, the only time that worked for them. 

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