BMG-ers, I’m looking for some suggestions for speakers to help wake up a sleepy DTC. I live in a town north of Boston that’s a textbook case of declining Democratic registrations and increasing unenrolled voters. Some of us who worked on the Deval Patrick campaign are interested in trying to revitalize the DTC – bring in speakers, try to register more Democrats, raise some money. It will be an uphill push against long time members, including the chair, who are content to meet once a quarter and not do much else.
Can anyone offer any suggestions for speakers who are dynamic, would draw in local progressives and who would possibly come to our town (since we don’t have the $$ to offer a speaker’s stipend) from the goodness of their big blue hearts? I’d prefer a panel – two or three views on a single topic – to make for a livelier meeting.
It’s tough to wake up a DTC 16 months out from the next election, but great that you’re looking to do so.
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We had good things happen with electoral reform — Clean Elections is pretty good about sending out someone, and many civil rights groups will address it as well. There are some good housing groups that do good things on Chapter 40B as well.
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Showing a relelvant film such as Inconvenient Truth is often a great draw. I’m sure others will have good ideas as well. It’s tough to get more than a couple new people a month, so don’t get discouraged…best of luck!
but what is DTC? Dem town committee? Just checking…
It’s always tricky to work around a committee that doesn’t meet regularly. Have you spoken to the Chair about your ideas? It’s hard to say for sure, but maybe the committee only meets a few times a year because of a perception that there isn’t enough interest. If you indicated your interest to the Chair, they might be receptive to your ideas.
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As for speakers, afertig has a great idea about keeping it local, if possible by using city reps.
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The Massachusetts Democratic Party also has a Speaker Bureau of volunteers who can address your committee on a variety of subjects. I believe you can get more information from the Field Services folks at Mass Dems. More information about Field Services here [link]
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I’m the Chair of my DTC and I hear you on the challenges of keeping the committee focused and active. Having a project helps. Good luck!
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I noticed someone mentioned Clean Elections…….I held on to my “Clean Election” candidate to the bitter end. I was a die hard CLEAN supporter. Anyone remember who the only completely “clean” candidate was? Yup, Warren Tolman, from Watertown. Don’t know if he’s doing that kind of stuff any more, but every election cycle he shows up on NECN. if not, he might have some tips.
Living on a fixed income I could never run for office, even locally. Case in point. our own Lt Gov., amassed a whopping 125,000.00 war chest to run for re-election to the part time City Council. His salary: $18,000.00! intimidating ? You bet. When your own salary is $7,800.00.
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And How about our own David?
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Panels are tough unless they are local and timed right.
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I did one way back in the mid 90’s. And what I did was get the 3 branches of government (Congressman, State Rep.or State Senator and someone from the local district ) and make the panel about 1(one) issue and how each branch of government would handle it. That gives people a chance to hear from those that represent them and (as I found out) just how differently each branch does things and the procedure they must do to get an issue resolved. That was for Springfield, you can tweak it to fit your town.
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Or how about commandeering the Chair of you local Democratic Committee of contacting the state MDC.
Point one. Some of us don’t register for a political party to preserve our option to vote in the primary of the other party if the primary of the other party is more interesting.
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Point two. Some of us don’t register for a political party because we don’t want to be incessently dunned for contributions from this, that, or the other political party. My spouse had a subscription to National Review in the early 1990s (it actually was quite entertaining and taught us a lot about the mindset of the rabid religious right), and he’s still getting entreaties for money from, not National Review, but from the Republican party. (Obviously NR sold our names and address to the RNC)
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They always included a “business” return envelope. And we always return it. With a stone and a little message to the effect that “you’re an ass.” The stone adds to the weight of the envelope, and hence, the cost of their return postage.
voted in one of those said Republican Primaries, and the RNC knowing that people in Wellesly have money, have decided to target your spouse as a closeted republican in unerolled clothing.
The state reps and states senators who’s districts include any bit of your town is always an obvious step. Some towns call it their “Legislative Roundup” and do it once or twice each year.
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It might be especially interesting if you make it issues based — maybe a few people to talk about: * health care (AnnEm might have suggestions) * civil liberties (there’s enough lawyers around here to find some names) * environmental issues (again, enough greenies here for suggestions) * voting issues
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Etc. I really like the idea of issues forums because your DTC can try to motivate people who have a progressive interest or two to join the DTC.
Leaders and officers in Democratic committees are always looking for ideas for interesting meetings. Committees are sometimes reluctant to invite a speaker out of fear of a very small turnout. When speakers are not invited, meetings tend to be very small, sometimes because there is no speaker.
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Here are some suggestions that committees, including those just starting out, can do successfully.
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Invite a local elected official. A FinCom or ConCom member will often be willing to come to a meeting. Remember, the focus is on Democrats, especially those who might run for higher office.
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Invite an area DSC member. The elected DSC members are generally very ready to speak to area DTCs. Ask the member for a Massachusetts Democratic Party update or a Democratic State Committee update. If you are open to hearing about other issues, just let them know.
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Look within your own membership. In every committee, there are people with various areas of expertise. People on your committee are experts in topics, either from their vocations, or avocations.
– An energy professional spoke on some new energy initiatives.
– An Assistant District Attorney spoke on the work of the DA’s office.
– An employee of the Secretary of State’s office, spoke on voter rights.
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Invite a member of organized labor. Organized labor plays a very important role in politics. Invite a representative to a meeting to talk about the role that his or her union plays in politics and in their members lives.
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Invite prominent local Democrats. Local Democrats are often in leadership positions in such roles as company presidents, hospital management, and non-profit administration. Invite people in these roles to talk with your committee so that you can learn about what they do and build working relationships.
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Local Democratic Candidates: Candidates are always looking for a chance to meet voters. Invite all the Democratic candidates who are running for local office to come to your meeting. This doesn’t need to be something big; just a chance for each candidate to say a few words. Take questions at the end of the meeting
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Voter registration night. Hold a voter registration night, in conjunction with your own regular meeting. Invite your Democratic Town Clerk or a Democratic Voter Registrar.
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Conduct a food drive and have a speaker on hunger issues. This drew in several people.
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Framingham resident Donna Kramer Merritt, Associate Publisher of body+soul Magazine (based in Watertown), is one of 1000 people recently trained by Al Gore to give the “Climate Change” presentation around which the movie An Inconvenient Truth was based. This hour-long live presentation focuses on the science behind climate change and includes action steps each of us can take personally, professionally and politically to part of the solution to this urgent issue. Donna can connect your committee with other trained volunteers across the state. If you are interested in setting up a presentation, please contact Donna at: dbkmerritt@gmail.com.
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Consider having an informal meeting at a restaurant occasionally. If you meet monthly, you may want to do this once per year. If you meet quarterly, you probably need to have a more formal agenda at every meeting, so have an informal gathering, in addition to your regular meetings. Straw polls always make meetings interesting. Try to find a place where those who choose can have a meal, yet those who prefer not to, can have a cup of coffee, or a glass of water. Try to schedule meetings when their regular traffic is low. That cerates a win win for everyone.
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Schedule an “Earth Day Cleanup.” This is a straightforward thing to do that can be very helpful to your committee. If your community has an existing cleanup, recruit a group of members to take part. Get family members to join. Getting people together, doing a project that helps the community helps your committee work as a team. A great additional benefit is getting to know people in the community who support issues of interest to Democrats.If no such event exists in your community, create one. Pick a site that needs cleaning up, preferably a publicly owned area. Then contact the appropriate town or city department. Let them know what you want to do. Ideally, they will pick up whatever litter you clean and bag. Depending on how much time you have to put into the event, advertise it to the rest of the community. We have done it for a number of years in Westborough. It has been very helpful in developing our interest list of people likely to support Democrats.
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Invite a spokesperson for one of the major progressive advocacy groups to come and talk about the work they are doing, and how people can get involved. Planned Parenthood is always willing to provide a speaker about reproductive health care, and other groups will as well if you simply ask. Other groups you could try that are doing important work include Mass Equality, Clean Water Action, and Neighbor to Neighbor. To schedule a Planned Parenthood speaker, you can always go through their Vice President for Public Affairs, Angus McQuilken at angus_mcquilken@pplm.org. For other groups, just call their office and ask who to talk to about scheduling a guest speaker. I guarantee they’ll be happy to hear from you!
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Invite a former Peace Corp volunteer: March 4 is the anniversary date of the creation of the US Peace Corps by an executive order from then president John Kennedy. Each year returned Peace Corps Volunteers are urged to ‘bring the lessons learned home”. I would propose that Democratic Town Committees invite in Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. All kinds of possible questions could be asked: what prompted you to join? What did you do, what did you learn? How have you used your Peace Corps experience since you have returned? What is the importance of ‘global education and awareness? even – How are BIG issues of today (Global Warming) reflected due to your Peace Corps experience?
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Don’t neglect social activities or building in a social portion of your meeting. When we are comfortable with each other, we are more effective working together.
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Sign up for my weekly newsletter to learn about eevents run by other DTCs. Look at the Natick DTC to see what their new chair has done. Send a blank e-mail to ddemdispatch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Also, for Democratic Committee leaders, sign-up for our e-mail group on growing strong committees. Send a blank e-mail to masdemsguide-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to register.
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I’ll close with this: the worse thing you can do is nothing. Do something! If it doesn’t work, figure out what went wrong and fix it, or try something else.
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Democratically yours,
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Kate Donaghue
He just spoke at our committee meeting yesterday. He was great, he talked about running a grassroots campaign and really got everyone excited. It’s perfect for a town committee and he’s going to be the party chairman.
Does any one have contact info for John Walsh?
BMG profile.
calling for the state legislature to call on Congress to impeach Bush and Cheney.
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We have a huge Democratic majority and a Democratic governor. What are we waiting for?
Democrats in the 1st Essex Middlesex Senate District (Sen Tarr) have been meeting regularly for the last four years to rebuild the party in our small towns. If this is your district, or you are near by send me an e-mail (mjmorrin@comcast.net) and I will tell you about an upcoming event you might be interested in.
Lucky you!
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