Burnt Orange Report

I'm not really comfortable with Soechting's rhetoric, but I think it's important that we find a way to :

(1) better coordinate resources between the different organizations (DNC, DCCC, TDP, TCDP, etc)

(2) educate people about the importance of helping to fund local offices and races.

People like Barak Obama are certainly exciting - we see them on TV and in the paper every day. But people like Nancy Hohengarten and David Van Os are going to have a much more immediate impact on our lives. It's important for our community that Greg Hamilton be elected - same with Stephen Yelenosky and Bruce Elfant.

We need to de-mystify political contributions. I think too many people hear about $5,000 dinners and think that donating money is something that only the very wealthy do. Furthermore, I think we need to convince people that when they donate to the TCDP or to a local campaign, they are investing in their community.

People are willing to shell out upwards of $100 (or, apparently, $25 according to the Statesman) to see Barak Obama - they think they're buying a chance to meet him. But people need to understand that a monthly subscription as a sustaining member of the Travis County Democratic Party (as little as $10/month!) gets them something in return, as well.

You might not get the exciting feeling that you're shaking hands with the next President or the guy on TV, but you will get intelligent and reasonable judges; a Sheriff that wants to work with your community, not against it; a full time office dedicated to supporting these officials and defending your rights.

The returns on local investment might not be as glamorous or immediate, but they're much longer lasting.

Put me down as another one uncomfortable with the rhetoric. Why did all this go through Capitol Inside? Was this some 11th-hour nose-thumbing at MBM?

If Mr. Soechting is ready to disavow national cooperation, then let him up and do it already. This press-release tango smacks of gamesmanship.

The theory that the $200K that Barack Obama got here would have definitely gone to the Travis Co. DP if he had not come is flawed. More likely, that money wouldn't have been raised at all. Obama is doing something all the way from Chicago that Texans are not able to do right here in our own literal backyards: get people excited. Why does a candidate who can pick up six figures at one fundraiser and then blow on to the next town and do the same deserve to be punished? Isn't this all just sour grapes?

A far better solution from Soechting would be to commit state-wide to fund-splitting. If non-Texan candidates want to come here and rake it in, the county and state Dem orgs need to make a pact that, before hosting and supporting an Obama-type event, 50% of the net will go to a local candidate or org.

(Not that Garry Mauro feels any loyalty to the TDP anyway, I'm sure. Who else bets he's pleased-er than punch that the Obama event turned out so spectacularly right under Charles Soechting's nose, even if it was a fortunate by-product of the convention keynote?)

I would like to see the TDP revitalized as much as the next girl. I'm just not sure that the DNC and DCCC are the true (and only) culprits... and I'm not sure that blaming them so venomously ("anal cranial inversion"? Conduct unbecoming.) is the way we should want to go if they are.

Woah. Hold on there, PG. I don't think anyone argued that "the $200K that Barack Obama got here would have definitely gone to the Travis Co. DP" had Obama not come. I think the question is, how do we find a way to entice people to support local campaigns/offices to the extent that they support the better publicized national campaigns. "Isn't this all just sour grapes?" No. I think you're missing the point.

"Dem orgs need to make a pact that, before hosting and supporting an Obama-type event, 50% of the net will go to a local candidate or org."

You can't do that. If I write a check to Obama, he gets all the money. If I write a check to Hamilton, he gets all the money. You can't split up money. Now, you can give money to the TCDP Coordinated Campaign and they can split up the money, but I can't have a fundraiser for [candidate] and then take some money and give it to another organization.

Again, I think Soechting's rhetoric is uncalled for. More to the point, I think he's cutting off his nose to spite his face. That said, I don't think it's helpful to paint the Soechting or the TDP as you have. We in Texas need to find ways to rally more people behind local/state politics - true. But, it's not a zero-sum game. There doesn't have to be a loser.

We don't have to turn our backs on the national party to energize constituents or fundraise. But, we need the national party to not turn their backs on us, either.

I think PG does have a point about excitement. The party has come a long way in the past year (take all of the new delegates at the state convention, for example) but we could really use a charismatic leader to rally behind.

I already weighed in on this issue yesterday but something else has been bothering me. So far it's been suggested that the state party is suffering financially because 1) people are donating to the DNC and other national groups instead and/or 2) people aren't excited about Texas Dems. There's a third, very important possibility here: maybe we're not good fundraisers. Do we have a state fundraising staff or even an advisory board? Is there anyone with a development/major gifts background helping with fundraising for the state party? The fact that the Texas Democratic Party set a goal of $15k over 14 days (and judging from their Web site, is struggling to do so) baffles me when we raised over $2000 for Travis Co. in about 30 minutes at a meetup I went to a few weeks ago. I can't help but feel that we're not asking the right people. If we are, we must not be doing a very good job of formulating a compelling ask...

Thoughts? Does anyone know more about how state-level fundraising/development activities work?

Your right.

Yeah, I am the one who updates the graphic and I have been out sick the last two days.

Sorry to hear that Andrew and I hope you feel better soon. I hope that the discussion on this thread may be productive towards some thoughts on the state party. I realized that my post seemed a little harsher than I intended it to sound but if discussion helps in the long term, then I'm all for that.

Damn, a long post got eaten. I'll sum up:

1. It's not as black and white as Seth says -- fund-splitting is possible. But still, that's a Band-aid.

2. Sarah might have a serious point about our fundraising skills. When was the last time the TDP had an in-house powerhouse that could pick up the phone and have 10 big checks by day's end? Still, that's also only a Band-aid. I could answer her question about state fundraising but I'd like for someone else to.

3. I like Seth's point about demystifying fundraising too. Further, I'd like to be more productive myself and suggest that fundraising should also be decentralized. Let's find a way to reward and honor the Democrat who is a "neighborhood fat cat," can get folks to raise $1000 in 5's and 1's by passing a hat at house parties -- because those are truly the people that can reach out over and over and over.

Plus, they are not just collecting 5's and 1's -- they are selling ownership in the Party. They are reinforcing Democratic values by building Democratic community.

As a County Chairman (Van Zandt Co.) I have mixed emotions about all of this. It's great that Obama or anyone else can raise $200K in Austin or anywhere else in Texas. I'm sure he needs it. BUT, we need to give at home FIRST. I liken it to people who give to the various world childrens' charities by the thousands and don't give a penny to groups right in their hometowns that are working to do the SAME THING. Sometimes, we don't see the needs right in our backyards because we're too busy helping out everyone else.

If I was a candidate in Travis County, I'd be mad as hell, though. If I brought in a high-roller to VZC to raise money (though there isn't $200k sitting around here anywhere) I'd be eaten alive before I could sell a single ticket.

Finally, it's great that Soechting is talking about the DNC not doing enough for us. Texas has been written off as everything but a cash cow for too long. They want our money but give no on the ground assistance.

However, Soechting is doing the SAME THING TO TEXAS COUNTIES. Not long ago, he sent out what some of my fellow county chairs have deemed an "extortion letter" telling us how we county chairs needed to raise $5K very quickly and send it to the state party in installments. Number one, most rural and less populous suburban counties (which are essentially the majority) don't have that kind of base to draw from. Some counties don't raise $5K for an entire election cycle. Second, we need to be spending that money to take back our courthouses before we send it to the state party. Taking back Texas begins one precinct, one courthouse at a time and we've got to have the money for those races. Finally, we're being asked for all this money, but where's the support. I have difficulty getting emails and sometimes phone calls returned from the state party for the most basic of information. I've twice invited the Chairman to VZC and been turned down by his staff because of scheduling conflicts. The first time, back in May, I was told a visit to our county wouldn't happen because there were more "pivotal" places. Is that not being written off in the same manner in which the DNC has written off Texas? The state party wants me to send them a $5,000 check representing the hard work of hundreds of Van Zandt County citizens yet we receive relatively little support in return. A voter database would be great, but it's a little late for the current year. We've been working on ours for months. We needed this in March.

Just for kicks, multiply $5,000 by the number of counties in Texas. Heck of a lot of money, isn't it? Where will it be spent? Not, I dare say, on races actually in our county like CD 5 (which even many Democrats have written off), but rather on battleground races to take back the state house. I understand this, but if we're going to give someone $5,000, don't spend it in San Antoion or Houston, spend it at least somewhere near where all those people gave it. We have needs, too.

There are things that have been done--like the county chairs helpline--that are beneficial to Texas counties. I'm not saying the TDP doesn't do anything for Texas counties. But, from my experience, those of us in rural East Texas are out busting our behinds while the TDP focuses on San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and El Paso. Our voter registration cards get stamped "DEMOCRAT" the same as the ones in those areas. Sure, there aren't anywhere near the people in VZC as there are in any one of those areas. HOWEVER, pack all the East Texas counties like Anderson, Wood, Van Zandt, Rains, Kaufman, etc., together and you have a huge voting block where a difference can be made in local voting and statewide races.

Every time I hear the state party asking for more money, I feel sad. I want to go out and raise and help, but, hey, I've got three candidates here I've got to get re-elected. They need that $5,000. I dare say that if the TDP leadership had a full grasp on the situation on the ground in some of our counties, we'd have never received that letter. An elderly lady I know likened this year's local election to a war during a conversation yesterday. The more I think about it, she's right. We're waging a war against the far Right right here in Van Zandt County--a war against their money, their huge headquarters across the street from our Sheriff's Department with paid staff, a sophisticated computer system and their inferior candidates with more money to get their messages of false hopes and half-truths to the people. I'd give my eye teeth for one paid staff member, one computer, or a bigger headquarters, and dance in the streets if someone sent us or our candidates a check for even one quarter of what they have in the bank right now.

Soechting is too lazy to make his fundraising calls.

They did a half-ass job on the online fundraising effort.

Having said all that, go CES! He may be making himself look like an ass but at least he's raising SOME money and getting people talking.

He's playing an important role for the party as basically a kamikaze fighter on a suicide mission.

And Andrew if you're sick for two days get someone to cover your work for god's sake. If you were delivering pizza you'd get someone to cover your shift.