PO'ed about Parkland

ARE YOU A DALLAS COUNTY TAXPAYER? READ THIS!
As you probably know, Parkland hospital could use some financial help.

Did you also know that Parkland is the only hospital that treats the uninsured and indigent in a seven county area in North Texas?

Did you know that, by state law, all counties are required to set aside 8% of their budget to spend on health care for the uninsured, but they are not required to spend it?

Did you know that in order to qualify for help with health care bills in Collin county, the uninsured have to make less than $2,328 a year?

For example: In 2003, Parkland treated 237 Collin County in-patients (for which it received payment for ONE) and had 4,575 outpatient visits from Collin residents, leaving Parkland with a $6 million unpaid bill for the care provided to Collin's indigent population. (source: Health Law Prof, 2/9)

Dallas residents' county tax bill is about double that of Collin County! (source: Health Law Prof, 2/9)
40% of Parkland's budget comes from local taxes – YOUR taxes. (source DMN, 2/23/05).

YOUR TAX DOLLARS are paying for the health care of people who do not live in this county! Those counties should be PAYING US BACK but THEY ARE NOT!

Are you mad yet? YOU SHOULD BE!

Now, here's what to do:

State Senator Royce West has sponsored a bill which would require all counties to spend that 8%. This would mean that the counties would have to either reimburse Parkland or take care of their own residents.

Call your State Senators and State Representatives and tell them you want them to support Senate Bill 230 / House Bill 930. If you don’t know who they are, you can look them up here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm

Also call the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. You can find them here: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/commit/c610/c610.htm
You can also call the members of the House Public Health Committee:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/410.htm

SUPPORT PARKLAND.
COUNTIES WHO USE PARKLAND SHOULD PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!

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City Council Candidate's Forum

I wasn't involved in the committee that planned this, but I am pleased and proud that our Democracy For America group managed to pull this off and even got Sam Baker of KERA to moderate the forum. I attended the entire Dallas slate and here are my impressions of the candidates who attended. Disclaimer: This is based on my notes and impressions and I do not claim to be 100% accurate, but I have done my best to state every candidate's position as I noted it. If you find an error please email me and I'll correct it.

Each candidate was given three minutes to make a statement and then took questions from the moderator and the audience. Each candidate was given the opportunity to answer all the questions as well as the same amount of time.

District 7
City Council district 7 takes in a chunk of Dallas immediately south of downtown and east as far as Jim Miller.

Kevin Felder attended. His opponent, Leo Chaney, the current incumbent, did not, and Mr. Felder made that point by bringing along a sign with his name on it and hanging it on an empty chair.

Mr. Felder was very well spoken and had some intelligent things to say about crime, zoning, etc. One of his more novel ideas was getting police cars and helicopters fixed by asking for corporate sponsorship and then putting the logo on the vehicle. He also advocated marketing Fair Park as a year-round tourist destination, which I think is a good idea, although they already do a certain amount of that. Another of his good ideas was to get Dallas involved in the "HUD Dollar Housing Program" in which the city can buy a house for a dollar and, in partnership with private enterprise, fix it up and sell it.

Mr. Felder is against Proposition #1, the Blackwood Amendment.

District 10
This district includes the northeast corner of Dallas, on the border with Mesquite and Garland, and includes part of Lake Highlands. Bill Blades, the incumbent, and Joe Glogowski both attended.

Mr. Blades tended to stay more on-topic and have more succinct things to say than Mr. Glogowski did. One point of disagreement came with regard to the question of crime particularly in the Audelia and Forest area. Mr. Glogowski said that the northeast district of the police department could use a checkup. Mr. Blades stated that he thought that the officer in charge of the northeast division was doing a fine job, that crime has dropped 10% in the area and that the department is going in the right direction and basically needs more support.

Another point of contrast was when they were asked about tax incentives for multi-family housing. Mr. Blades said that he has voted for them in the past, but that he doesn't think that this is necessarily the best way of handling things, and that we need to be careful about creating tax-exempt programs. Mr. Glogowski decried waste in city government, saying that we need to take better care of our money overall and that incentives would be less necessary if the city government did not waste money.

Proposition #1 was not mentioned in this Q&A session. (either that, or I missed it.)

District 2
This district includes (what looks like) Oak Lawn, Uptown, Deep Ellum, and some neighborhoods along 30. Monica Greene and Se-Gwen Tyler attended. Pauline Medrano did not.

I really enjoyed hearing both of these ladies speak. Se-Gwen Tyler sounds like she has had a long-time grounding in serving on Dallas' various boards and commissions and was very articulate. Monica Greene's main theme appears to be her business expertise as she returned to that repeatedly during the conversation.

Ms. Tyler had a really great point to make about using technology to make city government more transparent. She talked about all the tools that the Texas Legislature has to make their government more open, such as the filing of bills online, and the online broadcast of sessions, and so on, and she said that she would like to see something like that happen for city government. I thought that was a great idea. Ms. Greene said that she would like to create a report card for herself, and have her constituents grade her. Also a good idea. The residents in this district are going to have a hard choice to make. Both of these candidates sounded very intelligent and had good points.

Neither candidate supports Proposition #1, but Ms. Greene made a point of saying that she would support a different form of a strong mayor amendment in the fall.

District 5
Yolanda Williams was a no-show. Camile White attended.

I confess that I missed most of Ms. White's Q&A session since I stepped out to have a break.

District 9
This district includes some of Lakewood and East Dallas, all the way to the Mesquite – Garland border. Albert Turner attended. The incumbent, Gary Griffeth, had a previous engagement.

Mr. Turner had some things to say specifically about this district, and I was interested to hear him as I am a resident of this district. He came out strongly against the proposed high rise which the zoning committee has approved at White Rock Lake, and pointed out that the city council has yet to approve it, and he would definitely vote against it. He also said that he is very interested in the re-development of the intersection of Northwest Highway and Buckner, and would be very opposed to the proposed resurfacing using asphalt, which will last 2 or three years at the most, and would encourage the use of concrete.

He reiterated the need to improve Dallas' tax base and make the city more business friendly, and pointed out that it is very important that the city council learn to work together and be unified for the greater good of Dallas. With regards to Proposition #1, he said that he did not agree with some parts, but that we do need some change in our city government.

All in all, he said some good things, but I'm going to have to hear from Mr. Griffeth before I can make up my mind. I hope I'll have a chance to do so at some future point.

District 6
Both Linus Spiller and Steve Salazar were no-shows.

District 8
This is the most southern part of South Dallas. Al Lipscomb attended, Clara McDade and Adrian Drake were no-shows.

Mr. Lipscomb is a bit of a controversial figure in Dallas politics but damn, he's a great speaker. It was highly entertaining to listen to him for the allotted half hour. Every single candidate up until this point harped on the fact that "Dallas is the #1 city for crime for 7 years in a row," but the only solution they had was to support the police. Mr. Lipscomb pointed out that there are 150,000 prisoners right now in the Texas Department of Corrections, and when they get out and come back to Dallas, if they can't make any money by going straight or getting a real job, they'll go back to "Dallas' #1 employer – crack cocaine." He wants to start a camp similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps, to pay people a stipend to work, and to train them for the future. He wanted to pass a resolution to do this, involve the Texas Municipal League and the various chambers of commerce in the city. It was a bit high-flown at times but it was a nice break from the same old mantra of "more cops, more cops."

Sam Baker and even the audience broke up when Sam asked Mr. Lipscomb about Proposition #1 – because Al's been quite an outspoken opponent of it – he even compared it to the rise of Hitler -- and everyone there knew perfectly well that he was about to get out the flamethrower. And he did not disappoint us. He said that the system is not the problem, it is the councilperson's egos that are the problem.

He had a novel proposal for the homeless – he'd like to use the old Parkland building, which is on Maple, to build a homeless center. He pointed out that of course no councilperson wants this in their district, but that this building has the advantage of being owned by the city, of being in working order, and of being able to house the approximately 6,000 homeless which are on the streets of Dallas.

Anyway, there's no doubt he's a controversial figure – he was forced out by a federal bribery conviction (which was eventually overturned), and there are other allegations out there – you can google to find out more – but there's also no doubt that he was one of the most entertaining and interesting speakers of the day.

District 11
This district covers part of North Dallas, from Walnut Hill all the way to Arapaho. Danny Harrison and Linda Koop attended.

Danny Harrison was the only candidate to come out loudly and clearly in favor of Proposition #1. In fact, he talked about it so often that I was kind of left with the impression that promotion of Proposition #1 was his campaign's raison d'etre, so to speak. Linda Koop took the more moderate position that the city needs a change, but that she was against the Blackwood proposal. For example, when asked, What are the factors influencing businesses in Dallas, Ms. Koop talked about licensing and inspection and developing a consolidated department to help businesses. Mr. Harrison basically said that we needed to adopt the Blackwood proposition.

Mr. Harrison owns a landscape company, and stressed his business background. Ms. Koop, a former land use planner, has served on the DART board and the Dallas Park Board and also runs a family owned business. Both came out in favor of a Limited Government Corporation for downtown, but Linda Koop stated that it should be implemented with care. Basically, between the two of them, Ms. Koop came off a bit better simply because she actually addressed the issues instead of harping on the Blackwood amendment.

District 12
This is the northernmost city council district, from Arapaho all the way to the city border. Tony Fleo, Matthew Bach, and Ron Natinsky attended. Mike Mansfield was a no-show.

By this time I, I hate to say it, nothing that these three guys said really leaped out at me and my notes are just horrible. Sorry, District 12 voters, you're on your own here. J

District 14
This is Veletta Lill's old district. It comprises a weird section around Lemmon Avenue, downtown, East Dallas along Cole, and the area east of Central to Abrams. It basically looks like a ring around the Park Cities. Candidates Angela Hunt, Kathy Ingle, Candy Marcum, and PD Sterling all attended.

The most important thing I learned from THIS section of the forum is that a half an hour is too short of a time for four candidates to be able to speak. And, unfortunately, I took awful notes for this one too. I think by this time I was getting pretty tired since I'd been listening to city council candidates the whole day. There was an interesting tone to the discussion about the Wright Amendment, though. This is what keeps long-haul flights from leaving Love Field. Most of the candidates throughout the day were all in favor of repealing it. Love Field is actually IN this city council district, though, so these particular candidates were much more cautious, and they repeatedly mentioned the "Love Field Master Plan Agreement," which limits growth of Love to 32 gates, and which Southwest Airlines has signed off on.

The day closed with a discussion on Amendment #1, the Blackwood Amendment, also known as the "Strong Mayor" proposal. It wasn't much of a discussion, though, since David Laney, of "Stronger Mayor, Stronger Dallas," didn't bother to show up. So we heard from Michael Jung, who gave us seven very concise and convincing reasons against the amendment. The strongest one being, in my opinion, that it has inconsistencies with state law and would probably be litigated as soon as it was put into place. Also, it was developed by one person, who has very little history as a Dallas voter, who in fact did not live in Dallas until recently, and who did not ask for any input from Dallas activists or the citizens of the city. He also pointed out that we should soon be able to get an idea of the City Council's counter proposal, which they hope to put on the ballot in the fall. (In the fall? I wasn't aware we had an election in the fall. Hm.) All in all, quite

Anyway. I guess I'll wrap this up. It was a very worthwhile day, although we didn't get as large of an audience as I had hoped. However, by the end of the day, the audience had expanded greatly. There seems to be a lot of consensus among the candidates about the problems facing Dallas. Crime, the tax base, and the schools were mentioned the most often. It's a paradox, of course, that it's difficult to attract businesses (and thus expand the tax base) because of the crime and the schools, but, fighting crime and fixing the schools also takes money. Other issues: almost every candidate asked came out against the Blackwood Amendment (Danny Harrison being the notable exception), and most of them came out in favor of repealing the Wright Amendment.

Honestly, the two candidates whom I most enjoyed hearing from were Se-Gwen Tyler and Al Lipscomb. I thought her idea about improving the City of Dallas website in order to foster more citizen involvement is absolutely brilliant. And Al, as controversial as he is, was at least entertaining, interesting, and had some new ideas. I was most discouraged by the candidates from North Dallas simply because they were all so flipping bland. Not an original thought between 'em.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the election and to getting more involved in Dallas politics. There's so much to learn....

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Flamefest, Concluded. (Possibly)

Well, Susan Hayes resigned. Can't say that it's much of a surprise, really. And, it comes at an especially appropriate time. Spring is in the air; it's time for a fresh start.

I wasn't particularly thrilled with the way the party office handled itself in the run up to the 2004 election, but I'm not particularly thrilled with the way the "Petitioners" handled themselves either. Although the whole episode did in fact provide plentiful free entertainment, and one of the most thrilling meetings I've ever attended in my life, so that was something. Anyhoo, here's hoping that a good compromise candidate with a reasonable and sane head on his/her shoulders emerges.

I can't help wondering if this really is entirely over, though. What's going to happen next? Stay tuned for As The Party Turns....

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Fun with Powerpoint

Here's what I've been working on lately... My local Democracy for America group developed a committee to work on training for Precinct Chairs. We've got several "training modules" underway. One thing that I've finished is a Democratic Powerpoint template: . Cute, eh? Email me if you want it... it took about 10 minutes to whip up so I'm not saying it's anything fantastic but if you don't know how to do PowerPoint Templates and you don't want to learn, it might come in handy.

And, here's the other thing I've been working on: training on how to create your own internet mailing list. Yeah, I know, it's really easy, why would anyone need training on how to set up a Yahoo Group? Well, some folks probably can use the training, and the Yahoo Group is a pretty useful tool for an activist, I think.

Anyway. That's what I've been up to been recently. More to come, I hope!

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On Persistence

Allow me to begin by telling you a story...

December, 2004. Passwords and access for the new Voter Relationship Management website, sometimes (inaccurately) called "Demzilla," are given to people in Dallas County. A technical lead in the county begins creating accounts. He has questions, so he posts them on the online help forum on December 27. There is no answer to his questions posted.

February, 2005. I get my account and start to play around with the system. Some functions are obvious, some not so much. I notice that the technical lead's questions haven't been answered yet.

March, 2005. I start developing training for the system in earnest in order to roll it out to precinct chairs in the county. March 3. I post about ten questions on the website. No answer. March 4. I send an email to the technical support email address on the website, politely drawing their attention to the questions posted on the forum. I get an out of office auto-reply. March 8. I get on the phone with the state party. They say that they noticed my email and ask me to send them the questions. I, politely, do so. March 10. I follow up my email with a polite phone call. Did you get it? Did all of my questions make sense? March 14: I'm still waiting. I'm going to wait a couple of more days and follow-up with another phone call. If all else fails, I'll try the state party chair. ;)

Now, I post this story, not in order to rag on the state party, but in order to illustrate what I want to talk about: Persistence.

Make persistence a habit of mind.

If you want to make a difference, it is not enough to make one phone call or send one email. Once you set your sights on your goal, continue until it is achieved. No matter what. You will encounter obstacles everywhere you go. I am sure the fine folks at the state party office have many things on their plate and are overworked. People get distracted by personal issues. Phone messages get lost. Emails get accidentally deleted. Do not allow inefficiency to daunt you! Treat it as a game. Keep score. How long will it take you to get what you need?

However, here's a cardinal rule you MUST heed: never, EVER, be rude or impolite. That's the fastest way for your emails to go unread or your phone calls to go unreturned.

A lot of people seem to have this attitude towards organizations such as their local Democratic party organization, or the government itself. The attitude is, "Gee, there's a problem here. Someone needs to take care of that."

Well, that "someone" is YOU.

Stop thinking of your government (or the Democratic party) as this huge, hierarchical organization, and you're this liiiiitle tiny peon down at the bottom, at the base of the pyramid, and all the power is up at the top of the pyramid, in the Chair position, or in the presidency, and all you can do (poor me!) is whine and complain about how things are going.

Stop that. Stop it now.

You are an American citizen, and you own that government. You are a Democrat and you own that Democratic party All of it belongs to you. The pyramid is upside down. It's balancing on its pointy tip. You, the citizen. are standing on the broad flat base of the pyramid. You're at the top, and the President is waaaaay down there at the bottom, under the crushing weight of all of us.

It's your country! It's your Democratic party! Crack the whip, be persistent, sound your barbaric yawp unto the world (not once but many, many times if necessary) and above all, grab the wheel and DRIVE. When I saw Howard Dean speak at the 21st Century Democrats training last year, he said that it is no longer enough for us to just vote.

"Just voting gets you a D. That's barely passing."

I'm going to say it again: VOTING IS NOT ENOUGH. We have to contribute money to campaigns, or work on a campaign, or run for office ourselves. Every single one of us. And we have to be persistent! We have to take control of our government, we have to take control of our Democratic party, and we can't let a few people who won't return our emails or phone calls stand in our way! We have to nag and nag and nag and raise hell and follow up and ACT until WE GET WHAT WE WANT!

Now go out there and raise hell!

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Signal to Noise Ratio

Signal: the wavelength, the groove, the clarity of your TV picture or your radio reception. Noise: static, garbage, useless information, fuzz. A high signal to noise ratio: Meaning, more signal, less noise. In other words, there is clarity. You can see and communicate easily. A low signal to noise ratio: Most of what's coming across is crap, garbage, meaningless nonsense. Too much noise.

This metaphor can be usefully applied to the quality of human communication.That meeting had a high signal to noise ratio: Work got done; it was productive. Or, if the meeting had a low signal to noise ratio: It was mostly a lot of people sitting around bitching, getting off topic, and very little was accomplished.

The same holds true of conversations. The ones you hold on the telephone, via email, or on an internet message board. Where the quality of the interaction is high or the discussion stays on topic, it's like being able to "see" the signal on your television, clean and clear. When people get angry at each other, wander off-topic, chide each other or get into flamefests rather than having productive deliberations, the signal to noise ratio drops. It's frustrating, and it's like listening to the radio with a bunch of static on it. If it drops far enough, people may choose to turn it off. Listening to a song is no longer a pleasurable experience if the static is so bad you can't understand the words.

With me so far? Now, here's the key point.

When there is a low signal to noise ratio, the solution is to increase the signal, NOT to complain about the noise.

Let's say you're in an unproductive meeting. People are off-topic, chattering about their weekends or personal lives. You decide to start complaining about the waste of time and how off-topic this meeting has become.

Congratulations - NOT. You just increased the noise, not the signal, and you probably pissed off your co-workers to boot. Instead, you should bring up what needs to happen in the meeting. Repeatedly, if necessary, until the group regains its focus.

We've all seen this happen online. A productive discussion of a topic is underway and somebody swans in and misunderstands a post or starts to complain about something that's not related. Rather than ignoring the interloper, people respond to their misunderstanding, or scold them for being off-topic, or tell them that they shouldn't complaint. Again, WRONG. Increase the signal. Ignore the offending posts and add something substantive to the discussion.

And that's really the entire point of this post, so I'll say it one last time:

When there is a low signal to noise ratio, the solution is to increase the signal, NOT to complain about the noise.

Have a good weekend, all!

Namaste,
- C

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Why You Should Become A Precinct Chair

First, what is a Precinct Chair?

(Now, bear in mind that my only experience is with Texas, so if you are reading this from another state, your mileage may vary.)

The Precinct Chair is an official position with the Democratic Party. Precinct chairs can go to conventions and give input into the official Democratic Party platform. Precinct chairs, as members of their county party's Executive Committee, give input to their County Party Xhair. Your County Party Chair helps run your local Democratic organization in many ways. The county party helps candidates, assists in campaigns, gets signs printed, and does a thousand practical things on the ground to get Democrats elected.

In short, Precinct Chairs have real power in the Democratic party. And, if you have an interest in reforming or giving input to the Democratic party, the Precinct Chair position is a great place to start.

Also, the Precinct Chair has real responsibility in the Democratic party. The Precinct is the smallest voting unit in our system. In a perfect world, each Precinct should have its own Democratic organization. The Precinct Chair and their helpers take responsibility in a political way for their neighbors in their precinct. They make sure that all of the voters who live near them get a flyer on their door telling them about the Democratic candidates in their area. They ensure that the Democrats get a phone call reminding them to go out and vote. They make sure that people who need absentee ballots or rides to the polls get them.

In short, the Democratic precinct chairs take care of the voters in their immediate community and even BUILD a community of activist friends and neighbors who are willing to help elect Democrats.

Why would I want to be a Precinct Chair?

Well, in a PERFECT world, all of what I've described would happen, but a lot of these precinct chair positions don't get filled, or some of the precinct chairs get busy and don't have time to do all of the work. So that is the big reason why you should consider becoming a precinct chair. If you want to help elect Democrats, and you have the time to give, the Democratic party in your neighborhood needs your help.

I have a dream. I'd like to see the Democratic party just as organized as the Republican party is. I'd like to see a working, activist precinct chair in every neighborhood in our state. I'd like to make sure that every Democrat gets informed about the issues and candidates, gets reminded to go vote, and gets a ride to the polls if they need one.

In order to do this we need a working precinct chair in every precinct to take care of their voters.

How would I become a Precinct Chair?

A precinct chair is an elected position and, at least in Texas, precinct chairs will run for office in 2006. BUT, if the position is vacant, the County Party can have an Executive Committee meeting and appoint people to fill vacancies.

The first thing you need to do is find out what precinct you are in (this should be on your voter registration card) and contact your county party. Ask them who the precinct chair for your precinct is. If there is no precinct chair, ask them if you can fill the position.

If there IS a precinct chair, ask them for the name of the precinct chair. Contact that person and find out if there is any way you can help.

If they don't call you back, keep calling! And don't give up. There are precinct chairs in my area who have had the position for years and years and years. They do it because they want to be the election judge. BUT, they don't want to do the basic organizational work such as block walking, passing out flyers, and building a precinct committee. Since there has been such a shortage of precinct chairs in the past, I think the philosophy has been that somebody who would do even a little work is better than nobody.

Anyway, if you find yourself in this situation, you'll know that you really ARE needed. You can become a precinct "captain," at least in my area, which is an unofficial position, and basically means, "the person who is willing to do the work." Then, if you build a successful precinct committee you'll have a good position to run against your existing precinct chair in 2006.

I've been doing the work for my precinct since last July, but my precinct chair moved away and they have not had a meeting of all the precinct chairs (where they can appoint you) since then so I have been a "pending" precinct chair this whole time.

Don't be shy! It took me three phone calls to get my walk list out of the county party office so I could walk my precinct, and it took me about five phone calls to get myself appointed an election judge.

However, I feel like the only way I can effect positive change in the Democratic party is to be PART of the Democratic party, and having an activist, working precinct chair or captain in every precinct will be an essential part of rebuilding the success of the party for the future.

Anyway, here's the Dallas County precinct chair manual. It's pretty good and will give you some idea of the duties of a precinct chair.

http://www.dallasdemocrats.org/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=1500&page_id=28

Good luck, and please consider becoming a precinct chair or a precinct captain in your area. The Democratic Party needs you!

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Young Democrats Meeting with Texas Dem Party Chair Charles Soechting

The highlights of this meeting included:
- information about a new anti-animal cruelty bill that the Young Dems are endorsing, and which I think would be worth following.
- Dallas Constable Mike DuPree of Constable Precinct 5.
- a discussion with Beth Ann Blackwood, sponsor of Proposition 1, the so-called "Strong Mayor" amendment to the Dallas City Charter
- and, of course, Texas Democratic Party Chair Soechting.

1) The animal cruelty bill is HB 326 / SB 172. Apparently there's a loophole in the law that allows people to be cruel to animals that don't belong to them and this bill would close it. I think this one is worth following and getting feedback to the Lege about.

2) Constable DuPree told us about a very interesting program he's working on called "Police and Constables in Partnership" which is designed to reduce crime in his precinct, and has done so well it's attracted national attention. Constables, apparently, serve warrants and suchlike, and by working in conjunction with the DPD, they can take some of the load off of them and thereby get more work done. Good news and good job!

3) Beth Ann Blackwood gave a good pitch for Proposition 1, her "Blackwood" proposal, which is a revision to the Dallas city charter to change our form of management from Council-Manager to Strong Mayor. I don't think she convinced anybody. The room got rather frosty when someone asked about the pedigree of the financial backers of the proposition. Some of them have also supported the infamous "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." Ms. Blackwood rather disingenuously claimed that her backers were all owners of businesses in the city and thereby were motivated by "what's good for Dallas." I'm sure that Sharon Boyd of DallasArena.com would have jumped on that and pointed out that they mostly, in fact, LIVE in Highland Park.

4) And, finally, Charles Soechting spoke about the future of the TDP. He seems to really want to support the local clubs and county parties, and offered to get Al Sharpton up to Dallas to do a fundraiser. Oh, and by the way, John Edwards will be coming to Houston for a fundraiser on April 27th. Woohoo! I might go... hmm....

As far as the state Lege, the Dems have been doing pretty poorly Every year we've been losing seats. This year, that trend stopped. Hopefully in 2006 we'll be able to reverse it.

With regards to the role of the national party vs. the state parties, Chair Soechting had written a pretty scathing letter before the election about the national party, in which he pointed out that all the DNC ever did for us was to come down here, fundraise, suck money out of the state, and then return home. He sounded much more positive tonight. He thinks that'll change under Howard Dean, and that they'll be funding three positions for the state parties. Now THAT sounds great!

He didn't have any comments on the DCDP situation, nor was Chair Susan Hays present, although the "Opposition Party" was out in force. Since the Young Dems actually sponsored the resolution to the Club Council which called for the Executive Committee meeting, I think I'm pretty safe in concluding that the Opposition Party is based in the Young Dems club in Dallas.

Which makes Chair Soechting's decision to visit this club, at this time, particularly interesting. Hmmm.....

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Flamefest, part 3

The plot thickens.

Since I'm not an official precinct chair (yet) I'm following all of the great DCDP controversy through Burnt Orange Report's coverage. (Latest here.) I really wanted to keep this quiet, but since everybody and their dog are now posting this crap all over the internet, I guess I may as well get in on the fun. Check out this letter from the CWA president:

Dear Fellow Democrats,

I feel the need tor respond to numerous written accounts of the conduct of some of the attendees of the Dallas County Democratic Executive Committee meeting held at my building, the C.W.A. Union Hall, Monday night February 28, 2005. I was not present nor was I contacted that night about the meeting being disputed. Having chaired more than my share of union meetings where heated discussions about completely opposite viewpoints happen, our meeting hall is not a stranger to this type of meeting. My intention is not to take sides with the participants who did attend the February 28th meeting.

I want each of you to know that no one in C.W.A. authorized the Sergeant-at-Arms, who is not a member of C.W.A., to speak on behalf of the building owners and ask all of you to leave immediately. I gave no such authority to anyone that night.

Subject to our own needs, our facility will continue to be available for Party meetings in the future.

In closing, I hope we can all take one step back and pursue a resolution for unity on our Party.

Sincerely,


(signed)
J.D. Williams
President
CWA Local 6215



Well, ain't THAT a pippin? So much for Susan's continuing claims that the CWA union "strongly urged" the meeting to remain calm. So much for the Sergeant-at-Arms' much-vaunted authority. So much for the phone call to the supposed "head of the union" that confirmed that we had been kicked out.

Psssssht! Now I really am disgusted at all of this. What would have it hurt to allowed the meeting to continue?

Honestly, I became a party activist last July solely for the purpose of winning elections. I know people who work at the party office and I know people who are in the opposition camp. I had thought, and still DO think, that both sides are behaving badly. However, I am beginning to think that the pro-Susan camp is behaving MORE badly.

Sheesh.

My advice for the next meeting: Pass out Xanax at the door. It's the only thing that might help.

Nevertheless, I am not going to allow this freakshow to stop me from doing my work. I'm done with my Powerpoint "Democrat" template – it's pretty generic, just blue and a donkey design, but it's very very cute, if I do say so myself. :) Also, I've completed my Powerpoint presentation on setting up Internet mailing lists. And, if I could manage to extract the answers to some relevant questions out of Demzilla support, I'd be well on my way to finishing off that presentation as well.

Exciting internecine warfare comes and goes, but the work will march on!

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Care and Feeding of Volunteers

If you're a precinct chair, you're going to need volunteers to help walk your precinct. If you're a candidate, you're going to need volunteers to run your campaign. If you're any kind of committee leader, you're going to need volunteers to do the work. And you want to make sure that you take care of these volunteers and give them the best experience possible. Because you want them to volunteer for you again next time! So, here's how to do that:

Here's the most important thing. Make it as easy as possible for your volunteers to participate. They probably have busy personal lives or are involved with other causes, and are not necessarily self-directed with regards to the particular event or cause that you may be organizing. So, once they've been recruited, you need to lay the plan out for them, in an A, B, C method.

For example. Say you're organizing a precinct walk. First, you have to recruit your volunteers. You do this by phoning your friends, getting the word out over any local internet groups you may have access to, or using whatever other resources you have. And, when you're planning your walk or other event, give your volunteers at least two weeks notice. Three is better. People's schedules book up and they get busy. Also, plan something fun in conjunction with your walk, like a cookout. This might be the deciding factor. If they're hanging out in bed on a Saturday morning, deciding between staying at home and relaxing or getting up and coming to your precinct walk, knowing that coffee and a nice breakfast (or at least bagels or something) will be waiting for them might well help them make up their minds to attend.

Second, communicate, communicate, communicate. Make sure they know where and when they need to be. Send a follow up email or phone call. Make it as easy as possible – send a link to a map or directions so they know where they're going. Tell them what they need to bring to the activity, if anything. And, make SURE to add a phone number they can call with questions.

Third, make sure the event itself is planned to run as smoothly as possible. Have everything Xeroxed and printed beforehand. Have pens, clipboards, bottles of water, and all of the supplies you'll need. Sit down and mentally think through everything and make a list. Collate all of your materials. If your volunteers arrive, and you are still putting your walk sheets together, this is a BIG PROBLEM. Respect your volunteers' time so that they will be able to walk in and get right to work. They are taking hours out of their schedule to do this, so don't waste it.

Fourth, paradoxically, if the volunteers themselves seem inclined to waste their OWN time by being social or chatting, there's not much you can do about it. You can gently encourage them to get going, or make a suggestion, but you MUST never, ever treat them like they are your paid employees or any other kind of subordinate. This is the best way to ensure that they will not come back, and they will ALSO badmouth you to any other people they know to make sure that THEY don't come back either. Remember the A, B and C types in the "Taxonomy of Activists?" Some volunteers are equally interested in the social aspects of volunteering as they are in the work you're trying to get done. The most you can do with these cats is gently herd them toward the work you're trying to get accomplish.

This ties in with Fifth, which is, always, but ALWAYS, treat the volunteers well. (You'd be surprised at the horror stories I've heard.)

Sixth, if you're doing something like a precinct walk, leave yourself or somebody free during the walk or activity to support the volunteers. Give your cell phone number out to the walkers, and get theirs. Make sure there's someone at the rendezvous point if they come back early. Let them know they can and should call you if there's a problem.

Finally – it's over! Enjoy your cookout or other fun activity following the volunteer session. Provide a vegetarian option if you're cooking a meal. A lot of folks these days would also prefer a low-carb or a low-fat option as well. Think about who you've got coming.

And get ready to plan your next volunteer work session. You'll find it's quite addictive!

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Planned Parenthood of Texas Lobby Day

I am politically involved because it gives me a feeling of deep satisfaction and pride. Every time I go to a meeting, learn something, or otherwise participate in our political process, I walk away feeling that I have fulfilled part of my duty as an American citizen. And, because I believe in government by the people, for the people, doing my patriotic duty makes me happy all the way down to my toes.

Well, attending the North Texas Planned Parenthood Lobby day gave me this feeling in spades. This was the best-planned event I have ever attended, and a fantastic learning experience.

Two busloads of (mostly) women wearing pink left the Dallas office at 7:00 AM, which was quite the sacrifice for me considering that I normally GET UP at, oh, about 8. The organizers had Starbucks coffee, granola bars, croissants, and muffins on the bus, as well as water and juice. The three hours on the way down flew by as we went over the lobbying materials in detail, chatted with old friends and made new ones.

When we arrived at Austin, we first went to the Convention Center for a rally. About 700 - 800 people from Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Denton, San Antonio, and Houston, filled the room. Houston brought EIGHT buses! First, we heard from Sarah Weddington, who argued Roe vs. Wade in front of the Supreme Court. She told us that it was time the younger generation took up the banner. Well, with the room full of women, many of them student groups, this looked like a good start. We also heard from State Representatives Jessica Farrar and Dawnna Dukes.

After that, it was off to the capitol. It's been a long time since I was actually in the building, so I got to be impressed all over again at how beautiful it is. It's more than just the impressive dome or the high ceilings, though – the place really is an architectural treasure just for the wonderful small details: the intricately carved molding around the doors, the patterned frosted glass in each transom. Even the door-hinges were specially cast, with ornate patterns and the words "Texas Capitol." (I stole this from the Texas State Historical Society's website:)

My group of six planned what we were going to say as we enjoyed lunch at the capitol cafeteria. The materials we were given were very thorough. On the left hand side of the folder, a summary agenda with the bills we wanted to talk about, and detailed issue sheets for each bill. On the left side of the folder, maps of the capitol, background information on Senators and Representatives, an office directory for every office, and a list of every volunteers' representatives.

The four points we emphasized were:

1. Full funding of family planning in the appropriations bill.

Did you realize that 30% of Texans are completely UNINSURED? This costs the state billions in emergency care because these folks wait until they are very sick and then they go to the emergency room. Funding family planning helps women get screenings and preventative health care and catches problems early when they are easier to treat.

One point is simply because family planning funds go to Planned Parenthood, these funds do not go for abortions; they are prohibited from doing so and Planned Parenthood keeps this separate.

Also, Senators Ogden and Williams are sponsoring a rider, Rider 34b, which would prohibit family planning funds from going to agencies which also use separate, privately-raised funds for abortion services. This is directly aimed at Planned Parenthood. This would unfortunately keep many women in rural areas from getting family planning services because Planned Parenthood clinics are often the only source there. We asked our legislators to oppose this rider.

2. Support the Medicaid Waver for family planning.

This bill, SB 747, has bipartisan report and is a no-brainer. A similar bill passed in 2001 but was vetoed by Gov. Perry. Basically the deal is that Medicaid currently funds family planning for women who are living at 17% of the "federal poverty level" --- this is about $3000 a YEAR. You have to be dirt-poor to get it. But pregnant women living at 185% of the FPL, which is about $35,000 a year for a family of four, can get Medicaid for help with their prenatal, postnatal, and delivery care.

Now, if Texas passes this waiver, then women all the way up to 185% FPL can get family planning help, which would LOWER the number of women who need Medicaid for help with their pregnancy medical needs. Also, for family planning, Medicaid would pay 90% and Texas would pay 10%, whereas for pregnancy care, currently, Medicaid pays 60% and Texas pays 40%.

This bill would save Texas over $131 million over a five year period. AND, it's currently sponsored by REPUBLICAN Senator John Carona.

Here's hoping Gov. Goodhair has the good sense NOT to veto it when and if he gets it this time.


3. Support emergency contraception in the E.R.

This bill, HB 676 / SB 389, would make sure that women who are raped are told about emergency contraception in the emergency room. Most women don't know about this and don't know to ask for it, and yet, obviously, this is a big worry to these women. This is the AMA standard of care for sexual assault survivors and should be required by law. 60% of emergency rooms in Texas do not tell these women about this option.

I'd like here to point out that emergency contraception is simply a higher dose of the hormones that go into the birth control pill and is not "the abortion pill." It prevents pregnancy but will do nothing to harm a fetus if the woman is already pregnant.

4. Vote AGAINST the refusal clause.

Ok, this one's a real stinker. This is the reason most women on the bus were here today.

Do you remember this? A Denton woman was raped and got a prescription for emergency contraception, which she took to an Eckerd's pharmacy. Instead of filling the prescription, ALL THREE of the pharmacists refused to fill it and instead publicly lectured her on morality.

Think about that for a moment.

Now, she WAS able to subsequently fill the prescription at the Walgreen's across the street, and the pharmacists were fired, and Eckerd's came out and made a statement that this action was against their rules. Fine.

Enter Texas Representative Frank Corte, who has just sponsored a bill that would make it OKAY for pharmacists to do this. And keep their job. And they wouldn't have to tell their employer they felt this way ahead of time. And they wouldn't have to post any kind of notice on the door of their pharmacy telling women that they don't dispense this medicine. So you could just walk in, present your prescription, and get it denied for WHATEVER REASON THE PHARMACIST FELT LIKE. Maybe because he didn't like the way you looked. Or dressed.

AND, because the bill defines EC as "an elevated dose of hormones used to prevent pregnancy," this bill could theoretically be used to prevent women from obtaining not just EC but also THEIR REGULAR BIRTH CONTROL PILLS.

Can you tell I'm not really happy about this?

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Ok, now that you've got the lowdown on the content, back to the story of Lobby Day.

We had appointments at two offices. Our first appointment was at 1:30 with Senator Todd Staples of District 3 in East Texas. We got to talk to his chief of staff, who ushered us into his office and very politely heard our points. She was noncommittal about the bills, saying that that the Senator hadn't really studied them, but she was very polite and it was enjoyable meeting with her.

After that we dropped by a few offices and signed their guestbooks. We visited my representative, Bill Keffer of House 107, and I made sure to point out to the aide that I was a constituent. Next up, Senator John Carona, of Senate 16, whose aide very politely chatted with us in the hall and heard our viewpoints on the various bills. He asked us if we lived in the Senator's district and I pointed out that I lived not only in the Senator's district, I also lived in the Senator's PRECINCT. Heh heh heh.

Then we had our appointment with Senator Royce West's office. It was nice meeting with someone who was in our court, so to speak. The aide took lots of notes and we were able to talk intelligently about the bills. We also spotted Senator West and Senator Carona in the hall as we were waiting, so that was fun.

Our last scheduled stop for the day was Rep. Mary Denny's office. She represents House 63 which takes up a big chunk of Flower Mound, Roanoke, etc. It's around but does not include Denton proper. Gee, I wonder if that makes her district more red...? Anyway, even though we had a constituent of hers in the group, the woman in the front room was downright ugly to us, basically telling us that they'd already heard our points from another group, that the representative was quite conservative, blah blah, and even though we tried to make the point that this is about women's heath, she was clearly not having any of it. Snotty witch; she needs to be nicer to members of the public. It's not like we wanted more than about 10 minutes of her time.

Anyway, we finished the day with a visit to the Gov's reception room, where we signed the book and admired the furnishing, and then we adjourned to the steps to have our photos taken. We relaxed with our wine and cheese on the ride home, happy to have participated in our democracy. My first lobby day ever!

Now I want to go again!

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