Cross Posted at www.fofa.org/paprogressive
For some time now I've now of a group called the Good Works PAC, headed by Eric Loeb. I was actually connected through Eric by someone I met at the Center for Progressive Leadership training this past summer, who could not speak enough about how great Eric was, and what a great idea the PAC was. I was intrigued, and since then I've found much more reason to be.
Much more on the flip...
GW PAC lists its mission on its
website as
A Public Service Campaign engages candidates and their volunteers in public service projects that focus on key issues. Just as college fraternities and sororities take on public service projects to highlight the positive effects of their institutions - often competing to see who can log the most volunteer hours, raise the most money, or donate the most blood - candidates can engage in public service ("good works") projects as well. The more candidates, the more volunteers, the more public good, the more voters and attention drawn to Democratic issues.
The intention of a primary campaign that is conducted as a series of public service events, is to gain from each event a maximal benefit to the local party and the eventual primary winner from each of the events. GoodWorks-PAC conducts many different kinds of events. Each event has two facets: a public facet, which shows the party and its candidates in a good light, and a private facet, which meets the needs of party building, staff training, and candidate selection but is not intended to be part of the news story about the event.
This is taking the general idea of community service, and allowing candidates to bring out their own volunteers, plus other, unaffiliated volunteers, to do a good dead, but also to build a better database and volunteer base during the primary, which will in the end help the candidate who comes out of that primary as the nominee. Personally, I love this idea, but I may be biased because I've worked on several campaigns as a database guy, and I love to see a PAC out there whose purpose is to try and extend and improve databases. I also like some of the races that GW PAC is working towards. Below are a few examples, and a few examples of events they've put on.
Candidates the PAC is/was working with (with links to GW PAC press releases, if available):
Gur Tsabar- NY City Council
Joe Otterbein - US House,
Chris Carney - PA-10
Patrick Murphy - PA-8
Andy Warren - PA-8
I know of two events that haveoccurred so far with GW PAC and a candidate, the first being with Chris Carney.
Chris Carney Event
This was designed basically as an attempt to go about in Sunbury PA and provide help to elderly for various errands, including cleaning houses and cuttings, raking leaves, and helping at a nursing home. The campaign described it in this manner:
Sunbury, Pa.-Volunteers for Chris Carney's congressional campaign and Deb Saxton for city treasurer participated in community service activities in Sunbury, PA on Saturday. The volunteers ran errands for senior citizens throughout the town, which included cleaning gutters, cleaning a house, clipping branches, hauling trash, cleaning walls and wheelchairs at the Mansions Nursing Home, and washing the windows of the Albright United Methodist church.
After the event, Chris Carney said, "Today was a wonderful example of individuals coming together to take an active role in improving their communities and the lives of seniors. Our efforts today demonstrate how much can be accomplished when people work together for the common good. I think we all wish there was more cooperation and dialogue in Washington."
Pictures from that event can be found on the Carnery for Congress blog.
Patrick Murphy and Andy Warren Event
In this case, the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for the 8th Congressional seat worked to clean up the yard and area surrounding the Morrisville YMCA. What this mostly entailed was raking and cleaning leaves, doing pruning work, and hauling away bags of what they had cleaned out. Both candidates brought volunteers, and at the beginning of the event were given a chance to speak. From the pictures posted at the GW PAC summary here, it looks like 20-30 people were there, and a lot of work got done.
I can only find a quote from the Murphy Campaign (the campaign manager, Josh Nanberg):
We're committed to encouraging people to give back to their communities. ... We considered this a great event, a chance for our volunteers, who are often spread around the county or stuck at their own full-time jobs during the week, to meet and to work together while building a more cohesive team. Patrick believes, and I believe, that the best way to impact a community is through direct action. This qualified, as the Morrisville Y's constituents will come in today to find their parking lot and playground newly cleaned. Those folks may well have never heard of Patrick Murphy or Andy Warren or any of the volunteers who came out to be neutral and just support Eric and GoodWorks-PAC, but they'll notice that the place looks a little nicer...
Supposedly there was a Intelligencer Record article on the event, but I could not find it in their archives - if anyone can, please drop me a line.
In all, I'm really happy that GW PAC exists, and these campaigns are taking service seriously. This kind of activity is a bit like going out on a political limb - this is not a typical campaign event. But in an era where government and campaigns are hated, it's a great first step towards bringing back some honesty and integrity to public service.