An email of the article from the Rio Grande Guardian tells the sad story of the Texas Democratic Party. In the hole financially, letting consultants and fundraisers go and struggling to maintain staff. The Rio Grande Guardian requires registration, so the article is in the extended entry for you to read.
Party Treasurer Miguel Wise tries to valiantly paint a rosier picture than the dollars suggest. We suggest those folks working over there get on the damn phone. And, if you're so inclined get your lazy ass over there and help 'em out...better yet, give 'em a dollar, for Chrissakes.
This is why the Republicans call Democrats whiny. Liberals do bitch and moan, there's a lot to bitch and moan about. But how many have given the TDP one dime to help elect Democrats? Bitches, you only have yourselves to blame. Money makes the world go round, money rules politics...you don't think it's actually good, civic-minded people do you? HA! Silly thing. It's money. So, find some and give it to the TDP, then we'll appreciate your bitching and moaning a lot more.
If the Republicans were this poor, we'd tell y'all to give them money, too. Not with the same tone, but two parties are better than one.
Wise says despite financial woes, State Democratic Party will survive
12 July 2005
Steve Taylor
AUSTIN - Texas Democratic Party Treasurer Miguel Wise says rumors that the party must find $30,000 by the end of the week in order to keep its doors open are wide of the mark.
However, Wise confirmed that the state party's executive committee
agreed at a meeting Saturday to offload high-paid consultants, rather
than lay off full-time staff. He said the committee also agreed to
instruct all staff to work on fundraising, rather than their regular
duties.
"I don't foresee the doors of the state party closing but clearly our
financial situation is of great concern," Wise told the Guardian
Tuesday. "Certainly, our focus in the next several months has to be
geared towards fundraising."
Wise, a former state representative from Weslaco, said the party was
$8,000 "in the hole" at the end of its second quarter on June 31.
Although the party had $25,000 in the bank, its monthly outgoing was
around $78,000.
Wise said discussions centered on the use of consultants at a time when money was tight. He said the discussions included the $5,000 a month paid to public relations expert Kelly Fero.
On Monday, Fero told the Quorum Report that he had decided to cut his
direct links to the party in order to pursue other political work.
Wise said the party also recently "let go" of fundraising consultant
Brandy Coletta. "Although she was bringing in more than her $110,000
salary, we decided it just wasn't worth it," Wise said.
"I have nothing against consultants, I have used them," Wise said. "But I questioned whether we cut staff before we cut out the consultants."
Wise said the party's audit committee had recommended that every
employee start raising money, ahead of everything else. In addition,
Wise said, every SDEC member was asked to find six or seven new
'sustaining members' per month. A sustaining member is worth $120 per
year to the party.
On a positive note, Wise said the Democratic National Committee had
agreed to hire four new workers for the Texas party, with a focus on
work in the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso, East Texas and urban areas of
the state.
"The party still has a lot of important work to do going into the next election cycle. Candidate recruitment remains a high priority for the party," Wise said.
The party's severe financial difficulties have led some activists to
question their organization's leadership and direction. Currently, the party holds no statewide office and few expect that to change anytime soon.
Houston-based Democratic consultant Marc Campos said his criticism was directed mainly at an over-reliance on Austin-based consultants and a lack of minority outreach effort. The party's one Hispanic outreach worker, Jackie Soliz-Chapa, voluntarily left some months ago.
"The Democratic Party refuses to recognize that we have a growing Latino population in Texas. As long was you have that attitude you are going to continue to lose elections," Campos told the Guardian.
"I think the people running the party have a very narrow view of the
political landscape. It seems like the Republican Party is following the demographic growth in Texas and we are not. The excuse is that we don't the resources, but I just hope that when we do have an influx of money, that they decide to get some help from outside Austin; someone who has had success in their community."
State Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting said the party's
financial situation was being addressed. He said Monday had proven "very productive" in raising additional funds.
"We have got a lot of work to do and finger-pointing is very
non-productive, especially when those same fingers could be dialing
phones and asking for money," Soechting said. "While we don't have much cash, we have great programs, great SDEC members and an understanding of what it is going to take to win elections."
Soechting said no party chair had worked harder at minority outreach
than he had. He said that as a result of a meeting he had with the DNC two weeks ago, between four and eight additional campaigners were being recruited for outreach work. Soechting said he wanted two new workers in the Valley and one in El Paso. "I think our record on Hispanic outreach is as good as it can get," Soechting said.
Soechting said he was fed up with critics forever blaming consultants
for the party's woes. "There is no question that Kelly Fero is one of
the most talented consultants in this part of the country, if not the
entire country," Soechting said. "He is not particularly modest about
that fact and that aggravates some of the less successful consultants."
Fero told the Guardian Tuesday that his decision to move on had nothing to do with the party's financial situation. "I have always been a net donor to the party. I don't like taking money from the party," Fero said. "As the state races begin to take shape, and, frankly, all the races on next year's ballot, it's time for me to get into a position where I can deal with all that and not put the party in any kind of conflict of interest."
I do not think that money comes before fame. There are many examples where there is a crock-o-full of money but the results are bad (the space agency, many school systems, etc.)
What the Democratic party needs in Texas (as well as in the United States) are individuals who are articulate, have FRESH new ideas, are not as old and tired as Moses, will speak their minds and NOT always be politically correct and be natural born leaders. These people do exist but frankly, I do not know where they are or why they will not come forth. Once he/she does come forth, the money will follow.
The party could have all the money in the world but with no dynamic leaders, it doesn't do a darn thang.
Part of the Texas Democratic Party's problem is the same all over the former Confederacy: We're just now coming out of decades' worth of being the party of segregation hiding behind states' rights, the party of exploitation of labor, the party of the Anglo-Celtic white folks who ran the South from before the Civil War up to the New Deal and Great Society broke the White Protestant Men Only contract.
People talk about the heyday of the Democratic Party in the South without realizing that they're talking about the heyday of lynch rule, segregation and a colonial economy where if you weren't white and male you were disenfranchised.
I think we've still got further to fall before we can pick ourselves up and get the Texas Democratic Party on the right track. For instance, we haven't figured out if we're going to be a middle-of-the-road statewide party with centrist agenda or a urban stronghold party with a wholly progressive agenda. The difference between those two points of view is a huge one for the future of the party.
One thing we can all do is to quit sending our money to groups like ACT and MoveOn and the DNC and keep it here in Texas with Texas groups. One thing I was exposed to from people in both the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast in this last election cycle is that they don't give two shits about us.They like to lump all of us (us being Texas progressives) into the same category with the pre-Rapture dominionists who run the Republican Party in Texas. We're good for jokes but not much else in their eyes since "we" gave them George W. Bush.
We're nothing to them except a source of money and a source of campaign talent; perhaps if we kept our money in Texas we might have the money to fund not only our state party but to keep the considerable number of bright, promising young progressives employed on campaigns and with organizations here in Texas that will help us instead of helping the ingrates on the coasts.
Oh, Patrick... marry me!
most of the people who championed the heyday of the democratic party in the south switched parties in the 80s and for all intents and purposes, the democratic party of the south is now called the GOP, in principle and practice.
as for the TDP and money . . . i fully support putting your money where your mouth is. but, clearly, there needs to be a change in leadership, message, tactic, and energy. sanchez's campaign is a prime example of having all the money in the world and flushing it down the drain behind an unelectable candidate. how's about getting sanchez to fund SOMEBODY ELSE'S campaign this go round?!
Howdy vox_democratica! Hmmm...interesting offer...
Howdy mole! You're exactly right about the swith-eroo from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in the 70's and 80's. Whether part of the GOP's Southern Strategy (which I hear that Ken Mehlman is going to "apologize" for at a speech today) or whether for other reasons, the Dixiecrats who stayed behind are now solid Goopers. Now that they're gone, we ought to embrace the legacy that we have in Texas of modernist progressive politics.
We've got a hell of a modern progressive legacy here in Texas: LBJ, Sam Rayburn, Barbara Jordan, Wright Patman and Ann Richards to name a few. We've got the people to turn the TDP into the street fighting grassroots party that it can be and if we, as Texas progressives, simply directed the resources we've been sending out-of-state to organizations and individuals that aren't going to lift a finger to help us, then I think we've got a fighting chance to build something worthwhile here in the Lone Star State.
Your last comment is precisely why I wrote that we still have further to fall: I don't think we're going to be able to build up an effective TDP until the current incarnation has withered on the vine. Sanchez was an embarassment to any progressive worth his or her salt.
I agree that changes needs to be made. Where to start? Now that's one hell of a question.
It is one hell of a question, isn't it? It's why I personally don't spend a lot of time bitching about the party. If I'm not smart enough to figure it out, how the hell can I complain about TDP leadership? Patrick you're sounding promising, buddy...
Edmonton dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night and the 4-0 margin in Game 6 makes it hard to imagine the Oilers not hoisting hockey's Holy Grail above their heads in less than 48 hours. And it would not come as any shock to see defenseman Chris Pronger, who had another 31-minute night, take the honors for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
My kingdom for a rich liberal.