(I will extend this challenge to each and every reader. I work for ActBlue in Massachusetts but I'll be damned if I'm going to let Texas be ignored. I'm donating, too. Hell, do it for Molly- let's fix Texas. It starts here. It starts now. Do it. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
There have been some very good discussions in the Texas blogosphere in the last week or so. I've featured some wise words from Hank Gilbert and some good comments from The Texas Blue in the extended entry. But let's cut to the chase.
The moral of the story:
- If you're going to attempt to run statewide, raise money. Raise real money.
- If the grassroots wants its nominee to be taken seriously -- start fundraising online. NOW.
To that end I've started an ActBlue page to raise money for the eventual Texas Democratic Senate nominee.
I'm putting in $100. How about David Van Os matches that? How about Jeff Crosby? Phillip Martin? Annatopia? Krazypuppy? Tejana? Put your money where your mouth is. I know we have our differences but ultimately we're all good Democrats, let's work on something worth while together.
(For those of you have heard Van Os' grumblings lately... - promoted by Sam Jones)
How much of ComeOns post is responding to my bitching and moaning and how much is aimed at David Van Os and company?
But I'd like to make it clear, once again, that I have no problem with targeting certain races to recieve the most resources. That's strategy 101 -- concentrate your forces.
I also have very few complaints about the TDP. The TDP has two functions -- put on the primaries and hold the annual convention. They manage to pull off both of those most every time they have a chance.
My complaint has been with the large donors and power brokers who reacted to the debacle of 2002 by being too cautious in 2006 and wasting some major opportunities.
(I was aware this meeting was planned but am happy it turned out to be productive. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
I just got this email from Barbara Ann Radnofsky and I think it's a real sign of progress.
Maybe all the online pissing and moaning that's been going on has had some good effect. Maybe this would have happened anyway whether some smart alecks started a blog-jihad or not.
Regardless it's a great sign for 2008.
On Sunday, nearly all the statewide 2006 Democratic nominees met in Austin with the State Party Chair, Executive Director, staff members and others.
The meeting was positive, frank, and friendly. The Chair thanked us eloquently for running. He and his wife understood what is involved in the service and the process. We were appreciative for this opportunity for debriefing and planning.
The candidates and the chairman passionately expressed their views on what worked, what didn't, and how to win in 2008.
We all agreed that the effort to elect Ciro Rodriguez set a great tone for the future, in winning a race pundits described as unwinnable.
I'll summarize proposals for the future that emerged. The common theme: Elect Democrats in 2008 and beyond.
Commit to a plan to win in 2008.
Grass roots and Communications: 1. Operate professionally, returning phone calls, maintaining open, clear lines of communication
2. Assign a designated liaison from the state party to each campaign
3. Provide a designated committee for liaison and efforts from the SDEC to each campaign with the mission to elect dems statewide
4. Share the media strategy and allow candidate input in advance of press conferences and media events
5. Assist the candidates in generating excitement. Specific proposals abounded. We heard from brilliant grass roots organizers who effectively generated excitement. Several candidates emphasized their willingness to help generate the excitement on a broad geographic, demographic and issue basis. Most frequently mentioned as unifying issues: Iraq and the Trans-Texas Corridor. (My opinion: The war eclipses all else.)
6. Understand that county and precint chairs are elected, let all help to guide and move forward efficiently. Fill the empty chair spots. The statewide candidates will help in this and in communications.
Money:
The candidates had various opinions, but all sympathized with fundraising difficulties. Suggestions included bringing in, one at a time, the national Democratic stars for fundraising events which keep money in Texas.
All wished to see the party turn out the base. All want to appeal to their base to help win in 2008, to help their own campaigns if they run again, and to help the party as a whole, supporting the entire Democratic slate.
If you keep committing professional hari kari on the internet, the only threat to your livelihood is yourself -- which is also something you obviously need to get over.
Rather than threatening you, I'll give you some advice: you're gonna have to make a choice. You're either a political consultant or a "netroots activist." You can't be both.
You can't criticize folks for their lack of political virtue while taking money to do politics. You forfeited your virtue when you went pro.
And one other thing: one can attract more flies with honey than vinegar. You will grow in this business by building relationships and trust, not by building a list of people who either intensely dislike you or have some reason to mistrust you. Stoking your ego with long threads on BOR won't pay the bills.
Like Smokey and the Bandit, I'm gonna do what they say can't be done -- be a political consultant AND a netroots activist.
Being a professional, my clients come first. I don't speak about current clients online except when I'm posting on their behalf. And then I always disclose who I am and who I work for. As a political consultant or staffer, I'm always willing to fall on my sword for the candidate or office holder I'm serving.
However, just because I help people formulate their message and how best to deliver it to voters does not disqualify me from my right, and duty as a citizen, to share my observations and experiences as honestly as possible.
I believe in Democracy. I believe in elections. I believe in open debate. One of the best political consultants I've ever had the honor to work for is also one of the best bloggers.
He's spoken out a bit about the corrupt and incompetent leadership that keeps Democrats from winning races and it doesn't seem to have killed his career, although the powers that be have certainly tried.
Texas Democrats have been trying the same thing over and over again for the last ten years. We've been less successful than we need to be.
I'm just trying to share some of the "back room dealings" and "insider's" perspective that I've picked up since I went to work at a little political firm in Austin Texas in the mid-1990s.
The ice caps will be melted before the current leadership of the Texas Democrats (note I'm not talking about the TDP, I'm talking about all of us as Democrats, not the party per se) turns things around. I've been shutting up and doing what I'm told for 10 years now.
That time is over.
I became a grand-uncle on January 8 and my purpose is clear -- to do what I can to get new, Democratic, leadership in office in my state and my country in time to save the world so that my grand-nephew will be able to live in a world better than the one I grew up in and not some post-apocolyptic nightmare.
Raising hell on the blogs with the aim of stirring productive conversation is the goal of this project. I'm trying to be a constructive critic and certainly appreciate the perspective of those such as former Chairman Soechting who have given so much to this party over the years.
Let's keep talking Texas Democrats, we've got some issues to work out so we can all work together and win in 2008.
This was so good I thought I deserved a full diary from "getreal":
wasn't that a great triple overtime basket ball game? (0.00 / 0)
...even though UT lost on a freaky three by OSU's center?
At halftime, I was so anxious to get back to that game that I couldn't even spell or comment. But you all kept going, so here are a few thoughts.
Charles makes an important point. There are many people trying their best to rebuild the Party in Texas, and we better learn how to play as a team - and that means play on the same team.
For starters, let's put an end to calling 2006 a disaster. That is pure crap. Could we do things better? Sure, we all make mistakes and have to own up to them and learn from them. But a lot of good was done in 2006, and it's better to build on it than to tear it down.
On TTLA, they are a trade association. And neither TTLA nor their staff have ever controlled the TDP. Not ever. Many of their members and TTLA itself have been good to the Democratic Party and individual Dem's in many elections, but they haven't been good to every Dem or TDP in every race or in every election year. I've seen them work with TDP (agreeably and less agreeably at times) when they had mutual strategic goals and when the players got along, and there have been times when they went their own way when they didn't. And that's as it should be, because a political party can't be dependent on any one group or association.
Likewise, no single consultant has ever controlled TDP - and rarely could one say a consultant elected a candidate single handedly. One of the worst things about this thread is all the credit being given to consultants and advisers. Give us all a break, businessfolk.
For example, the Donna Howard race was mentioned as it related to consultants. I know who won that race - Donna Howard. She was the right candidate at the right time. Her face on TV was believable. Her consultants ran a smart race. The County Party's mail program linking Bentzin to DeLay's TRMPAC consultant(thanks, Ben) was masterful. And a lot of people busted their butts to turn out the vote. Yes, it was a team working for a good candidate - and that's true in most wins.
Back to 2006 quickly. TTLA did not support, fund or recruit several of our winning Dem House candidates - like Hightower Pierson, Hopson and a few others. And it's been said that they pulled the plug on Joe Heflin's race before E-Day. But TDP and the HDCC and other groups like the teachers (in Tx House races) stuck with those candidates and made a winning difference. At the same time, TTLA backed and funded targeted Dem's like Vaught, Cohen and others from the get go to the end. The point is, everyone played their part and no one group or operative was in control.
The Governor's race was another story and it frustrated the hell out of me. And how it got that way was a curious mess. As was noted in a previous comment, many major individual trial lawyers like O'Quinn and Watts and Nix and Baron ended up supporting Bell. And none of us really knows if backing Grandma was Russ Tidwell's mistake or if he was simply working for key TTLA players who had been convinced already by others. Around Austin, there were a lot of insiders who never understood Grandma's limited potential as an "independent." Remember, in those early days when those donors were forming their opinions, Bell wasn't even a favorite of many of the BOR crowd who were Bob Gammage fans, and look where Gammage ended up on the race.
Hell, just weeks before filing opened in the Governor's race, the twisted logic of those who backed Grandma was an Austin parlor game that was going on at about the same time John Sharp helped out Perry by taking the Tax Commission appointment in late 2005. I know some folks who vilify Sharp for that, but who are any of us to say Sharp wasn't sincere when he said he did it because he wanted to help his state solve a problem? And attacking him then would have done no more to defeat Perry than attacking Russ Tidwell will do to help us win in 2008 and 2010.
If the purpose of this post was to go after Russ Tidwell, as SmartyPants suggested he would in another post a while back, that's been done. Big Whoop. There's a point where vilification serves no constructive purpose, and this thread may have reached that point, because what Russ does is TTLA's business.
We have our own business to do, and carrying out personal vendettas for whatever reason is a bad use of our time. Disagreement and constructive criticism within the Democratic family is fine, but it has to result in a consistent, pragmatic plan to win - and that takes a lot more work, a lot more money and a lot more strategic planning than will be delivered by this blog post.
Coming up with creative new lines of litigation-and doing it on the cheap-is imperative for plaintiffs' lawyers in Texas these days. No other state's trial bar has suffered a greater reversal of fortune.
To make a long story short, the Texas Trial Lawyers have gotten their asses kicked. Basically, their political enemies have used money to influence elections so effectively that trial law, as a profession is endangered. The trail lawyers have been defunded. Their excess and lack of political smarts spurred the Big Insurance and other big money corporations to pour more and more money into Texas politics, tipping the balance to the GOP.
He's the guy who advised wealthy trial lawyers like Walter Umphry, Joe Jamail, and John Eddie Williams to funnel millions into supporting the gubernatorial campaign of Republican-turned-Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn. At the same time, Tidwell was exercising veto power over the Texas Democratic Party. He vetoed candidates -- saying "no thanks" to candidates for state representative if he didn't like them or their chances. He vetoed the likes of John Sharp and Pete Laney when they were urged by supporters to run statewide in 2006. He never even considered backing Chris Bell. He personally threatened candidates who were already running if they didn't fire consultants he disapproves of to hire his favorite hacks. Even though Democrats have steadily lost power under his reign, he is allowed to keep calling the shots - and losing.
But my blog isn't about politics. It's about political tactics, so bear with me as I pull more from the Business Week story.
Word out of the nation's capital this weekend is that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has asked former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes to head up a "Democrats for Hutchison," sparking renewed speculation that Texas' senior solon has made her decision to take on Rick Perry in what promises to be a bruising GOP primary.
Barnes, a longtime Hutchison supporter, was at the center of last fall's CBS controversy over reports that George W. Bush was AWOL from much of his National Guard duties in the early Seventies. For Hutchison to call on him now has raised eyebrows among her supporters who wonder whether aligning herself this closely to the Bush-bashing Barnes makes sense in a GOP primary.
It should also be noted that Barnes is also close to Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the feisty State Comptroller who is also said to be looking at a primary challenge against the hapless Perry. Strayhorn boasts not one, but two, sons who work directly for the President in Washingon, leading some back here in Texas to conclude that she has at least winking approval for the White House for her ongoing jihad against Perry - the least popular politician in the state, according to the latest Texas Poll.
Seems like "Mr. Democrat" has a habit for falling for those Republican ladies. I'm doing a video interview of Governor Barnes on the 9th of February, please submit questions you'd like to see asked.
And to all those on the Texas blog scene that I offended yesterday. Sincere apologies. Lots of madness in ol' SmartyVille yesterday.
The article shows the reason Ben Barnes has been backing Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn at the expense of Texas Democrats since fall of 2000.
Former Lt. GOY, Ben Barnes is known at the Capitol as Mr. Democrat, but he may be, backing Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander's re-election because she has made a $12 million state investment in one his affiliated companies.
Democratic comptroller nominee Marty Akins said Barnes told him last fall that a business relationship with the comptroller's office would prevent him from supporting Akins in his challenge to Rylander. Akins, who had announced as a candidate for governor, said he called Barnes after deciding to run instead for comptroller.
"He (Barnes) was most gracious. He would eagerly support me for any other race other than comptroller because he had a business relationship with Carole Keeton Rylander and the comptroller's office." Akins said in response to questions from the Houston Chronicle.
Barnes, who helped build this year's statewide Democratic ticket, said Akins is wrong.
Barnes said he supported Democrat Paul Hobby in the 1998 comptroller race because Hobby asked first. Barnes said he pledged support for Rylander's re-election three years ago because she is an old family friend.
"I've got no ongoing relationship with the comptroller's office," Barnes said in an interview.
But Barnes sits on the board of advisers of Techxas Ventures, a high-tech venture capital firm that invests in Texas companies. Barnes said his investment in the company amounts to less than 1 percent of its total worth.
Rylander's office in the fall of 2000 committed to invest $20 million of the state's tobacco settlement money with Techxas Ventures II L.P., one of the firm's investment funds.
"Oh, yeah, I remember that, now that you mention it," Barnes said.
The comptroller's office transferred the first $4 million of its promised investment to Techxas on Dec. 5, 2000.
Three days later, Barnes' adult son, Greg, gave Rylander $7,500, and Techxas board member Richard Salwen donated $25,000.
Barnes said his son is not involved in Techxas in any way.
Rylander and Bames said they never discussed the Techxas investment.
Rylander said the contributions from Greg Barnes and Salwen were coincidental because she was raising money to beat a Dec. 10 deadline. After that date, no statewide officeholder could raise political money until the 2001 legislative session was over.
Two days after the deadline passed, Techxas general partners Bruce Ezell and Michael LaVigna each donated $10,000 to the Associated Republicans of Texas. One of Rylander's personal aides is the son of the association's executive director.
Since then, Techxas has drawn another $8 million from the tobacco fund. Rylander's campaign has received another $15,000 from Greg Barnes and Salwen. [NOTE any typos occurred in transferring the text from the pdf which is apparently based on a printout from a Lexus Nexus search]
For the record I have immense respect for Governor Barnes (as a former Lt. Governor of Texas he is addressed as Governor) but agree with much of this note from reader:
There is one thing that strikes me in this ongoing debate about the Democratic Party.
The real targets are left untouched.
Who am I talking about? Ben Barnes is at the top of the list. A power broker par excellence and charter member of the Me First school of self-centered politics, Barnes long ago stopped letting the greater good stand in the way of his own personal ambition or financial gain. For him public service and partisan politics are all about which candidates can help him line his pockets - period.
As Lt. Governor in the early 1970s, he fell all over himself to help a young George W. Bush escape dangerous military service and instead get a coveted spot in the Texas National Guard. Then, Barnes spent the next quarter-century refusing to talk publicly (privately, he told anyone next to him on a bar stool who was willing to listen) about the favor his did for the Bush Family while first Pappy, then Jebby, then W. rose to power and did irreparable harm to the ideals Democrats like Barnes claim to hold dear.
Along the way, Barnes has repeatedly sold out his party and its principles when the price was right, which it often has been. He kept quiet about George W.'s military service when Bush made sure that the lucrative Texas Lottery contract would remain his. He has worked behind the scenes to keep good candidates out of statewide races by cutting off their funds. And this year, he supported Republican-turned-Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn over potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates - including the eventual nominee, Chris Bell - to safeguard his personal business interests, which include a major contract with the State Comptroller and controlled by Strayhorn.
Don't get me wrong. Soulless lobbyists are commonplace in D.C. and in Austin. It's just that most them don't simultaneously dictate Democratic Party decisions at the highest level, from Harry Reid to Boyd Richie. Barnes does.
There are plenty of villains who make the goal of "crashing the gates" and turning the current Democratic Party structure on its head a worthy one. But none is more destructive to our long-term ideals than Ben Barnes.
And I want to make it clear that while I disagree with his actions and question his motives, I would never presume to question his service to Texas, his service to the Democratic Party or this country in the course of his lifetime.
What I am questioning is his support of Rylander Strayhorn since 2000 and his motivations for that. [UPDATE] I just got off the phone with Governor Barnes and he has agreed to sit down with me for a video interview on February 9. Stay tuned.
When I was a little baby boy in the Texas Panhandle my Grandmother taught me a native American saying: "Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins."
It was true when my Grandmother was born in 1892, when my Mom was born in 1927, it was true when I was born in 1969 and it's sure as heck true in 2007.
And it from the discussions going on in the Texas blogosphere on the eve of the SDEC meeting it sure seems like that's a message we keeping at front of mind.
I wanted to 2nd in a big way something that Susan at KissMyBigBlueButt wrote:
I happened to overhear a couple of SDEC members - who are damned close to being 60-somethings - grin and say, "Hey, they're just like us forty years ago, only they have keyboards whereas we had megaphones."
I applaud the bloggers for gumption. But I also counsel them that understanding is a two-way street. You might be asked how many SDEC meetings you personally have attended before you decided to attend this one. You might also consider giving the new SDEC members a chance to get their rumps in a chair before you attempt to light a fire under it. They may surprise you.
You might keep in mind that some of these SDEC members were in Chicago in 1968 and had their heads bashed. Some of them marched with Dr. King. Some of them went to jail. Some of them went to Nam. Some burned their bras. Some fed and clothed union members on strike. Some of them have more passion for this Party than you can imagine."
Damn straight. I try to honor my ancestors everyday. I sit down to work everyday under photographs of a beloved aunt and uncle to remind me that both my parents picked cotton as children and my father (born in 1921) fought at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
But Anna points out that Susan is assuming that "the bloggers" are all in their 20's and 30's like the BOR crew. Wrong,most bloggers and blog readers are in our 30s, 40s and 50s. We own cars and homes, we've got kids, we've worked on campaigns for decades here in Texas, etc.
That's a good point for Susan to know.
There's word choice Susan made that I have to differ with though -- that last sentence, "Some of them have more passion for this Party than you can imagine." Susan, "the bloggers" coming to the meeting have the same amount of passion. We don't just imagine the passion you feel, we feel it equally.
It's a classic case of natural allies at each others throats while their mutual enemies watch.
The fight isn't between the bloggers and the SDEC. The fight is between the volunteer activists who make up both of those communities and the money and power brokers who have been making the big decisions about what the Texas Democratic Party does and doing a terrible job. From the perspective of the big players, the bloggers and the SDEC are just well-intentioned suckers fighting among themselves while they look down and laugh.
That's why my blog goes after folks who have lots of power as I said before:
Now that I've covered so many of my disagreements with the strategic decisions of folks I consider to be great Democrats, stay posted -- we're turning on the traitors who put millions of dollars into Strayhorn's campaign next.
Those guys are named Ben Barnes and Russ Tidwell of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Stay tuned.
But in the meantime don't get played for fools. Have a good meeting and get to know each other tomorrow. I think you'll find that few if any of you, bloggers or SDEC members where in the big offices where the bad decisions were made in 2002 and 2006.
(I'm promoting this only because many have asked who this user is and there is more to come from them over the weekend that I'll promote (without personal opinion or bias) for discussion here on this blog. There are things that should probably be talked about but we had the graces to not talk about them before the election. And no, I'm not SmartyPants. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
