In an email today from the desk of Sally Boyton Brown, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party, Grant wrote:
When I was elected Chair in 2011, nobody wanted the job. 2010 had been a terrible year for Democrats in Idaho. We had lost three seats in the state legislature and a Congressional seat. We were, quite frankly, a pretty dismal bunch.
But that has changed. The day I was elected I outlined my plan for the Party. The first phase, running from the Frank Church weekend in February, 2011 to the State Central Committee meeting in October, was the time to get the staff in place, do strategic planning, and reach out to those organizations and individuals who have traditionally supported the Democratic Party but were no longer fully participating in our organization.
I am pleased to say that, with regard to staff, Sally, Marie, Dean, Matt, and Jill have done a great job. Nobody could ever do it alone and all the things that I did get done at the state level over the last couple of years are primarily due to their time, effort and enthusiasm. But I do take credit for recruiting and directing one of the most effective state party staffs we have ever had.
On strategic planning, to be honest, I wasn't as concerned with what the outcome would be as I was with simply getting people to participate. Fortunately, as we held planning sessions across the state, folks begin to understand that the state party is exactly what we make of it and, more importantly, that we all need to be pretty much in agreement as to what our mission is in order to be effective.
The second phase of my plan, which ran from the October meeting in 2011 to the Frank Church weekend in February, 2012, was to help get the county organizations functioning at the level necessary to recruit and elect Democratic candidates. This is difficult for the State Party to do because organizing the counties really is something that can only be done by people on the local level. All the state can really do is help, advise, encourage and support. This is one of the most important aspects of the Party, since, when it comes to elections, it is the people and candidates at the local level who identify voters and get out the vote. I can't say that we are fully organized at the county level, but I do think we are further along than we have been in a long time.
The third phase of my plan was the campaign season itself. It included recruiting, training, and supporting candidates. Considering that we had more candidates running than anyone can remember in a long time, I think we did pretty well. We protected every Democratic incumbent who was running. That's not bad for Democrats in Idaho in a Presidential election year. Of great significance, of course, is that we managed to get through redistricting without getting run over by the other side. In fact, we were able to protect all our traditional Democratic areas. More importantly, we were able to consolidate almost every core urban area into legislative districts that should become more Democratic over the next few years.
Did I get everything done that I wanted to? Of course not. But I do think we accomplished a lot and that we are positioned to accomplish even more in the next few years. With that, I am satisfied I have done my part and that it is time for someone new to lead us from this point forward.
Nominations for the position are currently being accepted by sally@idahodems.org and the election will be held at our annual Frank Church State Central Committee meeting Feb. 23rd 2013.
Sincerely,
Chairman Larry Grant
Idaho Democratic Party