(crossposted at calitics)
There is a resolution being introduced at this year's California Democratic Party (CDP) convention that calls for the CDP to set aside at least $4 million in funding so they can give up to $100K in funding to endorsed Democratic candidates that are challenging a Republican incumbent. These are races that normally would get nothing even when the Democratic challenger candidate raises some money and runs a decent grassroots campaign. These are the many districts that are not targeted by the CDP.
The good news, there is a statewide grassroots campaign to change the CDP funding priorities that got started with a few East County San Diego Democrats, Deep Red country.
This is not the first time a resolution like this has been submitted, but this may be the first one that actually comes up for a floor vote on Sunday April 29th at the CDP state convention.
More on the flip........
Full text of the resolution here, courtesy of Trinity county Democrats:
Proposed CDP All District Funding Resolution
So far there are 5 Democratic Party Central Committees (CC's) that have adopted this resolution, and more to come.
They include the CC's of: San Diego, Riverside, El Dorado, Placer, and Trinity. There are a few more to come.
Also there are 30 statewide Democratic clubs and organizations that have signed up as cosponsors, and an estimated 200 delegates so far.
This number is important, because the sponsor needs 300 delegates at the convention to sign a petition to force the resolution to the floor for a vote on Sunday April 29th.
The resolution reads in part:
Be it resolved that the California Democratic Party shall adopt at it's 2007 Convention to allocate at least $4 million to be spent in all Assembly and State Senate districts that are open seats or in which there is a Democratic challenger to a Republican incumbent, to assure that every endorsed Democratic candidate for the state legislature gets at least some funding for the general election, enabling candidates to mount a viable campaign, then
Be it resolved that for the general election, each party-endorsed Democratic challenger or party-endorsed Democratic candidate for an open legislative seat shall receive at least $50,000 in seed money, and that candidates who raise $50,000, produce a field plan, and sign up 50 volunteers or more shall received at least $50,000 in additional matching funds. The money shall be spent to implement a grassroots organizing and GOTV effort by the candidate. Evidence of volunteer sincerity will be a five dollar check to the candidate.
This policy will spread the Democratic message to voters in every part of California, thus helping to grow the Party and get out the vote even in conservative regions. This strategy will improve the chances of victory not only for those legislative seats funded, but for all Democratic candidates in California - including "down-ticket" candidates for local offices as well as candidates running for statewide and national offices.
In a cover letter sent along with the All district Resolution, Leon Thompson of East County United in San Diego says:
Howard Dean's "50 State Strategy" was a very large factor in the success of Democrats nation wide. However, while a tsunami swept the nation, inside California only modest advances occurred. The steady decline in percentages both of registered Democrats and Democratic turnout throughout California and increasing Democratic malaise occurring in areas consistently passed over by the Party for support may soon reach a tipping point that jeopardizes California's Democratic majority.
Therefore I ask you to join with California Democrats everywhere in the State to call upon the California Democratic Party to adopt an "All District Strategy for Funding Legislative Races" resolution.
The Resolution will call for at least some funding for every endorsed Candidate in the General Elections running against an incumbent Republican or in an open seat. Additional funds will be given to those Candidates who reach certain specific milestones.
Why implementation of the policy contained in the Resolution is a good thing: (from letter)
1.) It will help grow the party everywhere in the State.
2.) It will help spread the Democratic message.
3.) It will increase Democratic voter turn-out.
4.) It will encourage participation in the election process.
5.) It will boost grassroots, precinct level organizing such as San Diego County's GO-Team and similar programs in other counties.
6.) Candidate recruitment efforts will be more fruitful.
7.) Down ticket Candidates will be helped to succeed.
Why this Resolution will succeed when similar ones have failed to come to a vote.
· Howard Dean's "Fifty State Strategy" worked. It is hard to argue with success.
· Chairman Torres is in favor of a more inclusive policy of funding.
· It is the policy of the DNC. (http://www.democrats...)
· This is a grassroots movement
· The Resolution focuses on policy and deliberately less on specifics.
How do we make it happen? What can I do to help?
1.) Present the Resolution to your Dem Clubs for adoption or endorsement. Do so in your name. After all this is not my original idea and was written in collaboration with others.
2.) Seek the endorsement of your Clubs and ask them to sign on as Co-Sponsors. Email me to let me know you are endorsing.
3.) Present the Resolution to your County Central Committee for their endorsement/Adoption. We have set as a goal to have 7 statewide Democratic Central Committees to endorse/Adopt this resolution Prior to the convention. Since this resolution has already been ADOPTED by 5 Democratic Central Committees (San Diego, Riverside, Placer, Trinity, and El Dorado) and submitted to Chairman Torres for referral to the Resolutions Committee, then what we need now is statewide support plus committed delegates to sign our petition during the convention and also for delegates to stay until late Sunday to vote on this resolution.
4.) Keep track of those Delegates who support the Resolution because with 300 signatures on a petition we can bring it to the floor of the convention for a vote in the most likely scenario that the resolutions committee rejects this resolution or sends it to another committee to die!
5.) We are planning strategy meetings on Friday April 27th, first day of the convention, from 10AM to 12 noon, in the outdoor amphitheater behind the convention center. As an alternative we will meet outside the lobby of exhibit hall C, ground level, by Starbucks. You do not have to be a delegate to volunteer to help. If you are going to be at the convention, you can collect signatures outside of the hall.
6.) Follow Up meetings will be held Saturday April 28th, at 8:30 AM, and then at 4PM. We need to get 300 signatures by 5PM on Saturday April 28th so we need to collect those petitions from our volunteers before 4:30 PM Saturday. If we can get 100 volunteers committed to collecting 3 signatures each, then we can ensure to get enough to take this to the floor.
7.) Plan on staying at the convention until after 7PM on Sunday the 29th. This resolution is likely to come up for a vote late Sunday and we need people to not only sign the petition, but also vote for it and encourage others to support it. So make sure any of your delegates that want to support this resolution make late Sunday plane flights so they can vote for it.
8.) We need floor whips that will be on the floor on Sunday afternoon asking people to vote for this resolution. We have to sit by regions so this is why we need statewide support, so we can have whips in every region.
9.) We also need speakers that will be able to talk about how important this issue is to us in the whole state.
Also, in an emailed response to the question as to why the resolution specifies $4 million dollars, the response was:
By specifying dollar amounts our resolution has teeth. Our concern was that without minimum dollar amounts the State Party would ratify our resolution so they could SAY they were in favor of an all district funding policy but would do little or nothing to implement the strategy. By naming specific minimum amounts with built-in incentives for matching funds the Resolution points the way to fair funding.
We came up with the 4 million dollar amount because that is exactly the amount the CDP left on the table after the last election in spite of the fact that good candidates were pleading for help. Since the leadership felt that the 4 million dollars was left-over and excess we felt it was fair to ask them to spend it on saving California from turning "red".
Below are links to some discussion of the 4 million dollars November 7th windfall, plus other links of interest to this discussion
http://www.capitolba...
http://www.consumerw...
http://www.kesq.com/...
http://www.dirtymone...
http://www.calitics....
http://www.calitics....
http://cbs2.com/...
http://www.californi...
Here is the actual letter asking Nunez to give the money back.
http://www.consumerw...