| I sit tonight in New Orleans to write about the future of a once proud organization that has struggled to remain vibrant since Hurricane Katrina blew ashore. Prior to the hurricane, candidates for elective office won their elections simply by being on the Democratic Party's ballot line. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case for many elected offices throughout the state. To be fair, the decline of the Louisiana Democratic Party (LDP) started long before Hurricane Katrina. Like the manifest problems inherent in the City of New Orleans, the hurricane simply made it clear that there were (and are) structural problems with the LDP.
The point of this post is to lay out what I, as a longtime Democratic activist and blogger, see as the steps necessary to return the LDP to the prominence it once enjoyed. These steps must take what Dr. King once described as the fierce urgency of NOW ... particularly since the LDP no longer has an Executive Director or a Field Director, nor, at some point in the next few weeks (if it hasn't happened already) a Communications Director. Those steps are:
1. Fundraising: This is the holy grail. Nothing I write below can happen unless the fundraising happens first. The very first thing that a new Executive Director must do is to convince the Democratic elected officials that represent us in Baton Rouge and in Washington, D.C. is that annual party dues are necessary and vital. Obviously, the dues will be progressive ... with a statewide elected official paying much, much more than a state legislator or a City Mayor. But the days of elected officials just taking what they can get from the LDP and giving nothing in return must be over. This initial influx of cash will help the LDP start implementing what needs to be done.
In addition, to get potential Democratic donors to open their wallets to the LDP in this economy, there needs to be a vision. And that vision is below:
2. Field: This is where we rebrand the LDP. We need to have a field operation headed by a statewide field director, who, along with regional directors, will seek out and enlist volunteers to knock on doors throughout the state for every single election from here on out. The days of relying solely on a media campaign (either on the airwaves or in the mail) to get the Democratic message out are over.
As an activist, I've worked on campaigns from Louisiana to South Dakota, from Iowa to Connecticut. On those campaigns, regardless of whether I was a volunteer or a regional director, I knocked on the doors of voters asking them to consider voting for the Democratic candidate I was working for. Nothing can beat the face to face contact with a voter that a door-knocker brings forth. It sends the message to the voter that the candidate and campaign cares enough to reach out personally to them to talk about the issues and the campaign at their door. A field operation that is more than simply having sign wavers on the busy intersections in the finals days leading up to Election Day is a necessary component of the 21st century campaign that the LDP must wage to win elections.
3. Communications: The Communications shop, headed by Scott Jordan, did a good job of dragging the LDP into the 21st century with the Blue Notes, and starting up the Facebook, Myspace, Twitter niches for the LDP. But one man can only do so much. There needs to be a full-time Communications Director, along with an Assistant Communications Director, and some interns. Not only must there be a blog that is updated daily, but there should be a constant interaction with the public on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Anytime there is an event held or hosted by a Democratic organization or official, it must be broadcast far and wide on every single medium available - email to news organizations, messages on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blue Notes, and other niches on the internet.
4. The Democratic State Central Committee: There are members on the DSCC for whom politics is a daily contact sport. And then there are some who only can only be bothered once every four years when the National Convention rolls around. This must end. If you're going to go to through the process of getting elected to the DSCC to ensure that you go to the Convention, then you're signing up to be involved in the party's affairs as if it were a second job. You're going to be asked (and required) to join the fundraising committee, or the events committee, or the field committee, or the training committee.
- The Fundraising Committee should be helping the fundraising director find potential donors, and set up house meetings for donors to meet with the Executive Director and/or Chairman and local elected officials.
- The Events Committee should be tasked with setting up the annual JJ Dinner, as well as regional fundraising dinners throughout the year.
- The Field Committee should be tasked with setting up field events throughout the state at festivals, and finding volunteers to staff them. When campaigns need a door-knocking program set up, whether for a city council race all the way to a state senate race, the field committee should be tasked with running that effort, from cutting the turf to recruiting the volunteers.
- The Training Committee should hold field trainings, communication trainings, or campaign trainings once a year for Democrats interested in receiving such trainings for a nominal cost, which would cover the expenses of putting on the trainings.
5. Message: The current message of the LDP is muddled. Folks don't know what the LDP stands for. When election time rolls around, candidates espouse a "Louisiana Democrat" message - pro-life, pro-gun, pro-family. When did the LDP become the Republican party? As Dr. Howard Dean often says, "if folks are given a choice between Republican-lite and a real Republican, they'll choose the real thing every single time."
I am not arguing that the LDP needs to espouse a liberal social values agenda. I am asking why the LDP and her candidates stopped pushing a message of economic fairness? A message that we are all in this together? A message of standing up for Louisianan workers? A message that unions are necessary to protect the rights of workers?
I've lived in this state for 6 years, yet the only time I've ever seen the unions FIGHT for a political candidate were Don Cazayoux's elections last year in LA-06. Why did they fight for Don? Because Don stood up for Louisiana's workers. He told us he'd vote for EFCA. He told us he'd vote for a higher minimum wage. He told us he supported efforts to reform our health care system. Because of that, the unions fought for him, because, in fighting for him, they were fighting for themselves (and us).
Yet, our elected officials in the Legislature include Democrats that vote AGAINST raising the minimum wage; that vote AGAINST common sense regulation of the workplace; and vote FOR every single bill of corporate welfare.
Until the LDP and her candidates espouse a pro-worker philosophy that doesn't undercut Louisianan families, there is no reason for the voters to vote for any Louisiana Democrat that asks for their vote.
This list of things that are necessary is not all that needs to be done. It simply consists of the most pressing reforms. Once these reforms are implemented, then other reforms can be undertaken.
These reforms should be the mandate of the new Executive Director, as well as the new Communications and Field Directors. If the LDP wants to regain a fighting chance to take back the majority of the congressional seats Louisiana has in Washington, as well as a majority of the statewide elective offices, these reforms need to be undertaken. If they are not, I fear the LDP will continue to lose election after election, and with those losses, any chance to affect positive change for the families of Louisiana. |
