Dear Democrats,
CC: Tim Kaine, DNC Chair; John Walsh, Chairman Massachusetts Democratic Party
Subject: An open letter to the Democratic Party
Well done! This week you proved that by empowering volunteers to take the campaign and make it their own, Massachusetts Democrats could win an election on the ground. During the past year you mobilized thousands to communicate, engage, and recruit among our friends, family, and neighbors. You gave us the tools and young and old we got to work. But, and yes this is a big but, I hope it doesn’t stop here. In 2006 you told me “Together we can” and in 2008 we all chanted “Yes we can!” And we did. But then we didn’t. In both cases Democrats won, but you failed to keep many of those who volunteered engaged.
The 2006 campaign was the first time I volunteered. I listened to then candidate Deval Patrick speak at UMass Amherst and I knew immediately I had to do more than just vote. I needed to get others to support my candidate. And I did. After the election I was left wondering: what now? And for me nothing happened. Nothing. During 2008 I took it up a notch, visiting our neighbor to the north (New Hampshire) in support of then candidate Senator Barack Obama. We participated in rallies, held signs and canvassed. It was one of the best political experiences of my life.
And then it was over. I sat around waiting for someone or some group to engage me. I received a few e-mails from Organizing for America, but for whatever reason at the time OFA didn’t appeal to me. I’ll take some responsibility for my inaction, but I was a newbie! I didn’t know where to go or who to speak with to stay engaged in the political process. It’s true that there are a thousand doors to politics, but that can be almost as debilitating as it is helpful. So I sat around waiting to “be the change.” Now, my experiences might be the exception to the rule, but I don’t think so. I’m sure there are others out there who have had similar experiences.
Then one evening in early September 2009, I received a call from a member of the Young Democrats of Massachusetts inviting me to an event. Since that first meeting, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy working with a great group of dedicated young people making the Young Dems a better organization. We have traveled across the state from Northampton to Fall River and from Worcester to Lowell meeting with Democrats, both young and young at heart. They are excited and looking for a way to get more involved. And we do what we can to help them get connected. I’m thankful to be part of such a wonderful group of activists. It’s been a very fulfilling part of my life. But it isn’t just young people. People of all ages are interested in being more engaged they just don’t know where to begin! So as much as it is on each individual to take some personal responsibility and walk through that door, it’s on the party to help illuminate the path to the door.
Here’s the problem as I see it. We spend so much time each cycle recruiting thousands of volunteers. We keep spinning our wheels on a redundant task. We need to stop engaging people only to wave good bye the first Wednesday of November. Across Massachusetts we’ve done something different this time. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked extraordinarily well. Through Chairman John Walsh’s leadership the party engaged volunteers in a new way. He called this strategy organizing version 2.0. He saw the writing on the wall. Cold calling voters is not the most efficient use of time. Instead we need to engage voters by utilizing our own social networks. Who’s more likely to get through to a voter: a volunteer in Boston cold calling; or me skyping my friend in East Longmeadow, visiting my mother in a neighboring town, and e-mailing my friends and co-workers in Massachusetts? You know the answer. It was brilliant and it only recently occurred to me just how powerful a strategy John et al. developed. It seems that each election cycle the top down strategy gets deconstructed a bit more. And 2010 was no exception. We empowered volunteers to speak to their friends, family, and neighbors in a way that we have not experienced before. Make no mistake; it’s very much a strategy for success in 2012.
Please don’t take this as an attack on your efforts. I know, or at least have an idea, how very hard you and your staff work. This is more a plea. Help me help you. Let’s engage this new group of volunteer activists before they walk out that door. Let’s reduce the work load every election cycle, by not having to recruit the same people we did last time. Let’s prevent them from walking out that door. We’re about so much more than just winning elections. Democrats are the party of progress and we’ve got a great platform to support. We’re about advancing the Commonwealth and our country to make it better for the next generation. I hope you’ll look at this suggestion as the evolution of your strategy. Let’s call it organizing version 2.1. You’ve made this an open source campaign and now I want to tweak it, make it better, make it more my own. It’s what you’ve wanted all along.
You have my e-mail and plenty of you have my phone number, let’s not wait two weeks, two months, or two years this time. We all want another “date with the Dems.” We’re not desperate, but we’re interested. We liked you enough to “friend you” on Facebook and click the “like” button on your status updates. We had a few dates and it’s gone great so far. So let’s get together and continue to develop the strategy and help move Massachusetts forward, together.
Best,
John H Kleschinsky
Resident of Everett, MA
And Membership and Outreach Director,
Young Democrats of Massachusetts.
P.S. these words and feelings are my own and do not represent the organizations I work so hard to advance.
…that both the Governor and the President could have steamrolled the General Court and Congress respectively if they quickly activated their organizations as soon as they were hitting a rough patch. We could and would have contacted our legislators in droves to ask them to vote our way.
John Boehner wants to “cut spending” so perhaps the President’s team can figure out just how many millions in subsidies go to the tobacco and oil lobbies that have bankrolled Boehner.
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p>And then we can drop a thousand Letters to the Editor about cutting this spending. Maybe twitter a thousand tweets about this–CNN pays attention to that.
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p>Maybe we can put the pressure on Congress to save Healthcare Reform and the 30 million Americans who now have coverage thanks to the Democrats.
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p>Maybe we can even put the pressure on Congress to pass a jobs bill.
My single largest complaint, that totally dominates my reaction to all these grassroots organizations, is that they seem to be only interested in my money.
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p>I’ve set up my spam filters to treat messages from “James Carville”, “Barrack Obama”, and all the rest precisely the same way messages about Viagra, various watches, and Nigerian bank opportunities are treated — I don’t even see them.
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p>I just want to be very clear: I will encourage my friends, family, and neighbors to write letters, vote for particular candidates, and so on.
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p>I will not ever suggest that they give money to anybody, and I will not ever knowingly add their name or contact information to people who do (ask them to give money).
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p>Capiche?
Tom – Several months ago, I received an e-mail from the DCCC telling me my Democratic membership was set to expire, or it was something along those lines. I wrote them a nasty e-mail about the misleading tactics they were using to fundraise. Not to mention the constant barage of e-mails asking for money from DSCC and OFA. I understand these organizations require money to operate, but multiple times a day seems a bit much. That’s why I think the apebble system or something like it is much better. Have people sign up, provide them with information and tasks (e.g., letters to the editor) and then let them do some organizing and outreach. I’m really just more interested in keeping people engaged. We spend so much time recruiting for each GOTV cycle. What if we were already engaged and ready to go. Imagine what we could accomplish if most of our volunteers were not out of the loop. We could be busy contacting members of Congress, getting together to discuss issues, writing letters to the editor about issues that are important to us, engaging other citizens the sky is the limit.
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p>Christopher – I totally agree and I think that’s the whole point of OFA, it just wasn’t implemented right. I think the Governor’s campaign was much more effective. What remains to be seen is how they’ll work to keep us engaged post election (e.g., trainings/workshops, speakers, town-hall meetings, social events).
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p>Listen, I know not everyone enjoys this stuff as much as me and were only likely to see them during GOTV efforts. That’s fine, but there’s a group somewhere in between that’s interested in getting involved, we just need to identify them and help them find their spot. That’s the point.
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p>Tangent: Oh and BTW DNC/OFA these cute e-mails from Begala, VP Biden et al., they were cute in ’08, but really we know it’s just a PR person, so let’s all cut the crap. *
The emails you refer to come from legit party organs, all of which you really can unsubscribe from, unlike true spam where trying to unsubscribe just confirms your address exists and invites more spam.
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p>Though I can’t give money I stay subscribed in order to get the updates. That being said, given the Citizens United environment our side absolutely must raise money, now more than ever.
My first wife’s late father was a passionate and fervent conservative Republican who knew I was an equally passionate and fervent left-wing radical/Democrat.
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p>In 1980, during first Reagan campaign, I received a bright and shiny new official red Republican membership packet and card — my father-in-law had used my name and address to send an individual contribution large enough to qualify for card-carrying membership in the Republican party.
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p>It took me, literally, years to get off all the right-wing mailing lists that followed.
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p>He (and my first wife) thought it was a funny joke. I did not.
Just think about the wasted resources they used contacting you, looking for support and money. I know how aggravated I get in similar situations, but I stuff anything they send to me in their SASE, and send it back. It cost me a few moments of my time, but it costs them more to open it and pay the postage. It works for me.
…allow the use of someone else’s name to make a contribution. I also thought parties and other groups weren’t supposed to coordinate like sharing addresses. Maybe those are changes since 1980. It takes a bit more effort to request removal from snail mail lists I suppose, but like I say it works for email. After all, the last thing a campaign or party wants to do is antagonize you.
I get emails from the Louisiana Republican Party, David Vitter, Bobby Jindal, and John Fleming on a fairly regular basis (somehow with my sister’s or father’s first name though, neither of which are registered Republicans). These emails are a constant source of amusement, but in the case of Fleming and Vitter seem to be a serious misuse of their franking privileges. Somehow I also never got purged when GOP SoS Jay Dardenne dropped a bunch of Dems from the voting rolls there (may have something to do with registering myself as a Green Party member when I first turned 18).
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p>I am loathe to unenroll myself from these though, because they do make good material for helping me organize some folks down there.
On the state side… that’s clearly not the first ask. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I’ve received an email from the state party asking for money — but I’ve certainly received emails asking me to volunteer.
Important conversations about what it means to be PRODUCTIVELY engaged did happen post Nov 08 and it would be smart for those to happen, again, with leadership listening, taking it seriously, this time!
…seems to still be a good organizing tool as several events were listed there this cycle. What’s needed is leadership from the White House saying this is our next legislative goal and here’s how you can help us achieve it.
We hear you.
I get all the annoying emails from “Barack Obama” and James Carville”, too, all soliciting money and demonizing the reds. Fine. Deleting time is not significant time. I still vote left, and advocate left, and work for left candidates, and give money where I think appropriate.
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p>But this year, on the day before the election, I got a robocall from Dick Morris! Who first says that he worked for Bill Clinton (that gets him “in the door”?)…then he trashed Obama, “Obamacare”, Bill Keating, the Democrats, and advocated for Jeff Perry. It was fascinating in its duplicity, its ferocity and its naked desperation. I listened as you watch a car accident…and then laughed ruefully.
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p>Democrats need to do a much better job of publicizing their SUCCESSES. How often did you hear distortions/lies about Democrats, and that health reform bill (as tentative as it is) that went unresponded? Probably not for effort on the Dems part, of course. The answer probably is to go viral with “the message” through social webs…and not just to raise money. On FB, for example, my sister-in-law in Florida, a Rubio righty, would see on my wall a message I put there. It’s like erosion, wearing on her. Hey, SHE does it to me!
Great post and thread! In addition to staying engaged in national and statewide issues, I would urge everyone to take a look around your neighborhood. There are municipal elections coming up next year. What are the important issues going on in your city or town? Not only are these the issues that impact day-to-day life, but school committees and city councils are the farm teams for statewide officials and beyond. And the discussions about property taxes and schools is where we and our neighbors begin to frame our ideas about the role of government.
Getting voters to register takes long term work. I’d love to see a focused effort at getting more folks registered. Of course, I don’t just mean anyone. I mean working hard at registering folks who are more likely to support Democrats. Demographically, that means lots of things — nonwhites, women, students and other young people, union members, government employees, city dwellers, etc etc.
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p>Since it often takes multiple trips to get these folks to register, and since they’re less likely to vote even if registered (after all they needed their teeth pulled just to register), they’re not prioritized in the months leading up to an election. Resources are scarce, and there’s no point in chasing tough votes.
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p>But, there’s no (state/federal) election coming for over a year. Now is the time when volunteers should be working on a long term, focused voter registration drive. Now is the time when we should both (a) cultivate new voters, and (b) touch base with other folks on the list to ensure that our data is correct. Sure, the data will age over the next 18-24 months, but anything we fix now will make our data better then… and any new voters we add now will be more potential voters for our candidates then.
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p>
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p>This is tough work, and it requires some real effort and organization. I’d love to see us work on that.
We often lament that our turnout isn’t as high as other democracies, but said other democracies often have automatic or mandatory registration. If we counted percentage of registered voters rather than eligible voters our turnout stats would be more comparable. That suggests to me that if people register getting them to show up will take less effort than you might think.
… extended voting periods (a few days) and a voting holiday.
I fear that a voting holiday just means a four day weekend in New Hampshire, and maybe we get home in time to vote, maybe not.
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p>I prefer early voting. Not absentee (need an excuse), but rather the encouragement of people to vote early by mail or in person. Also, while 8pm is a great time to close the polls, 6am might be better for folks than 7am… for folks in the sub/exurbs who come into Boston for the day, voting before the commute might be easier.
… is that there needs to be some kind of law that makes employers give employees time to vote. Figure a mandated day or half day to be given at any time through a voting period of 3 or so days. Work seems to be most people’s biggest obstacle to convenient voting.
Is work really an issue for a lot of people given the very generous polling hours of 7AM-8PM in Massachusetts? Seems like there would be plenty of time in the evening. Eight-hour shifts plus up to two hours commute still leaves time, at least mathematically. I actually agree with having a holiday, but keep it a Tuesday so it’s not tempting to make a long weekend OR just shift voting to the weekend with accomodations for those who strictly observe a Sabbath.
… our participation rates when compared to other countries and the ways in which our voting circumstances differ are only coincidentally related. Granted – if you want to vote you usually can, but if you want to increase the participation you need to identify the biggest impediment to convenience and that’s working hours.
Find out where your nearest chapter of Neighbor to Neighbor is organizing and help them out!
Who remembers this OFA?
http://www.massforchange.com/2…
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p>Here are some names: John Bowes, Tony Mack, Brian Corr, Ross Neisuler, Lydia Segal, Sarah Compton & Harmony Wu. There are others, maybe a half a dozen that I can’t quite remember.
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p>My advice is for OFA to allow Massachusetts to experiment with the format.
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p>It worked well, back in the day.
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p>1) Live blogging OFAMA – at HEALTHCARE REFORM 101
by – bowes3
Posted on: Sat Jul 18, 2009 at 09:08:11 AM CDT
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p>2) OFA-MA HEALTHCARE REFORM 101
by – bowes3
Posted on: Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 10:48:39 AM CDT
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p>3) Live blogging OFAMA – Organizing for America, Massachusetts
by – bowes3
Posted on: Sat May 16, 2009 at 10:12:20 AM CDT
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p>4) Organizing For America Fulfills Promise
by – John from Lowell
Posted on: Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 12:35:48 PM CDT
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p>5) Massachusetts For Obama summer kickoff event OFAMA.(SATURDAY, MAY 16)
by – bowes3
Posted on: Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 07:10:11 AM CDT
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p>6) Organizing For America – Greater Lowell
by – John from Lowell
Posted on: Mon Mar 09, 2009 at 09:53:03 AM CDT
n/t
I think that staying engaged locally is the best way to go. Join a “Friends” group to help your local library, historical site or natural resource. Join the local ward, town or city committee.
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p>Volunteers are just that, volunteers. They tend to have lives and put those lives on hold for a while to recruit others to work hard for a short period of time (even if it seems like an eternity) for a campaign. Keeping people engaged in that kind of vlounteer effort and recruitment is simply not possible in the long run.
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p>When elections roll around and the most engaged activists reach out for volunteers they tend to find them through their own groups. Be a part of those groups.
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p>Civic engagement is about a lot more than campaigns. Local networks of engaged people are what move us forward on a day to day basis and they provide the incubator for the kind of well run but de-centralized campaign we saw this year in MA.
No where here have I seen any encouragement to get folks who sign up for campaigns involved in their local City or Town committees. These groups meet on a regular basis and do their best to keep people engaged on a year round basis and are receptive to new members. This is a place where people can be kept informed and encouraged to remain committed. Why the dearth of recruitment here?
but many town committees are not activist or even social. The state committee and the campaign committees should send out emissaries to the local committees and keep them updated on actual tasks and useful information that they can use to keep their members engaged and active in between election years. Town committees are excellent tools for organizing only if we use them and keep them relevant.
They’re called DSC members from the respective Senate districts, and it would seem this is inherently part of the job description.
Contact the people who represent you and invite them to come. I am co-chair of the Communications Sub-Committee and we are ready to send speakers to disucss the work of the committee. You can reach me at 508-404-8531 or at KateDonaghue AT aol DOT com .
town committee member – I have limited time, can help about an hour/week with some local events getting our message out. So far most of us are a little too old to have kids in the local school systems
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p>We are looking for a few younger members.
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p>We try to exploit the little time and talent that we do have.
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p>I have a talent for outdoor painting (attracts people who want to talk to the artist – on good days) .
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p> We have members with different abilities: language facilities, town politics and union experience. We hope to be building a committee, where we can exploit the strengths and INTERESTS of members, understanding that we are all volunteers.
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p>We are in a very Repub town
In 2006 I heard Deval Patrick speak in a forum and I liked what I saw and heard, especially the way he responded to questions that were asked, without screening, btw. Had never been politically active. I decided to help with his election. At that point, I was invited to come to our town committee meeting and I have remained involved. It was all about the people that I spoke with actually INVITING me to a local meeting. This is what I am getting at. Let’s not lose sight of those who show up for a particular candidate. We may not get all of them involved but we can at least ask, let them know that Democratic City/Town committees exist! We may even find that some unenrolled folks will see that designating a party affiliation and helping out can be rewarding.
There is little momentum for anything outside of getting members elected to local/state offices. That’s fine, nothing wrong with it, just not really my speed. Sometimes I just want to have the local-institutional-motivation to work on big national things like health care reform. No doubt it’s different from one to the next.
…get so wrapped up in local politics or they are themselves not the most enthusiastic Democrats.
For your suggestions and comments. It sounds like people are interested in a sustained voter registration drive focusing on populations that lean Democrat (Holler at your Young Dems!), better access to Democratic City/Town Committees, and just generally focusing our attentions locally. As Tip O’Neil said “all politics is local.”
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p>I can’t speak to all DTCs, but I’ve met leadership and members for several and they are very active and very happy to recruit more members. But you are right they are not all created equal and access is far from perfect.
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p>It also sounds like we need more resources from the State Party and we need to do a better job with outreach for our various organizations.
And Patrick,
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p>I’m glad to know that you are hearing us. I look forward to what’s in store.
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p>John
Hi John,
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p>Thanks so much for getting this thread started. I think wondering how to keep the movement of a campaign alive and nurtured for the next race (and hopefully to do some good in between) is an important question and one neither party is yet to perfect.
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p>First, a few thoughts on organizing around public policy issues. The Governor tried this early on in his first term, and the DNC is still trying to perfect this with OFA. I would suggest stopping.
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p>There are some positive things I think the party can and must do to inform and activate members, and there are some things the Deval Patrick Committee and Governor’s Office can and should do with the the lists they can respectively access. But, with one exception, advocacy shouldn’t be one of them.
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p>The only exception is urging members to contact Senator Brown when he’s towing the Republican Party line and voting against the rest of the delegation. And only when you’re prepared to make the case that he’s doing the wrong thing for MA. If ever there were something that all Democrats in both chambers of Beacon Hill supported and all the Republicans opposed, we should highlight that as well.
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p>But, it is a mistake to assume that everyone will support the Governor’s agenda just because the people support his candidacy. And even if they do, I’m not sure using the campaign apparatus to take it to the people will yield productive results in continuing to have a productive legislative body.
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p>Here are some of the things the Governor’s campaign and/or the Governor’s Office should do (apply to each based on legality):
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p>1) Inform your constituents of what you’re doing and why. Legislative candidates should do this too. Regularly communicate the issues of the day so that we can keep having conversations that overcome the din of hate radio. But also avoid doing so in a way that will irk your legislative body.
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p>- When communicating about issues, let people know how to give feedback to his office, and how to connect with organizations who are involved with the issue.
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p>2) Seek feedback. Use online polls, social media, blogs with comments, etc. to help set the agenda and get buy-in on the issues you’ll be advancing.
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p>3) Fundraise. I know there was a recession to tend to, and there still is, but find some time over the next four years to raise for the party. Also help the groups that helped you with dollars or volunteers restock their coffers.
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p>4) Communicate to your organizers and the groups that organized on apebble about next steps vis-a-vi a transition over to the party.
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p>5) Keep doing the talk radio shows and meeting with constituent groups as possible (and with use of surrogates)
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p>And there’s a few things I think the party should do:
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p>1) Get your data in order
– Debrief thoroughly with every level of user and administrator of apebble to figure out what worked, what didn’t, what we can afford to improve for usability and on the back end
– Figure out AND communicate the future of apebble to organizers and the groups that were using it
– Come up with your best guess at if and how apebble will be used in the next election and what the full ecology of the software used is likely to look like. If possible, do whatever with APIs is possible to make it as easy as possible for them to talk to each other
– Collect your lists: get as many positive IDs and volunteer lists as is legal from as many campaigns as is possible and get them accurately coded somewhere for next time around. It’s especially important to make sure you empower your next round of community organizers by capturing lists of who volunteered in what ways.
– To those ends, add as many contacts as is legal to the Party’s email list
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p>2) Nurture and build on real relationships
– Many groups came together to help elect Democrats; empower them to use apebble as an advocacy tool
– Rather than using the party or campaign as a platform to advance public policy, the party should act as a clearinghouse to help supporters connect with any supportive organization that can keep them engaged during the legislative session.
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p>3) Bring Democrats together under what unites us
– Talk about the Democratic successes at the state and national level.
– Encourage State Reps & Sens, Ward & Town Committees, and other party electeds and organizations to communicate among their supporters about local issues and successes
– Organize us against Scott Brown
– Keep us posted on every crappy thing about Republicans that we should tell our neighbors about
– Find more opportunities like voter registrations where we can organize events that don’t require a contribution to get people involved with
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p>4) Pay Kate Donaghue or hire a full-time Communications Director
– In support of points 2 and 3, the party needs to be plugging people into organizations that are generally supportive and that might actually interest supporters
– We should have an online, searchable, sortable clearing house of organizations – with party opportunities, of course, always highlighted first
– We should have a comprehensive online calendar of events and email list, which is already done on email by Kate Donaghue
– Candidates, ward/town committees, et al should have access to trainings and templates (which I know Kate and her DSC Committee have done to some extent)
– We should be regularly updating social networks to keep folks engaged
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p>That’s as much as I can think of for now. There are a lot of opportunities for helping supporters and volunteers stay connected and involved in helping finish what we started. But the most important thing I think we can do is help supporters connect with existing organizations that they’d be interested in, and help communicate the good the party is doing, and the opposite regarding the opposition.
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p>Thank you for listening.
Thanks John!