I yield the floor to Zach Crago, who yields the executive directorship of the South Dakota Democratic Party to the next willing and able madman.
Crago is leaving South Dakota for graduate school... but not without offering a valuable review of the work he thinks the SDDP has done during his watch. Here's Crago's exit report, plus a real trooper's exhortation to action.
Zach Crago, SDDP executive director until January 1
Dear South Dakota Democrats,
As I’ve long planned, I’m resigning as Executive Director of the South Dakota Democratic Party at the end of this calendar year with good news to share about the state of the State Party that you all deserve to hear.
But let’s get right to the point on everyone’s mind - the 2014 elections were painful for Democrats. Nationally, Republicans padded their majority in the US House of Representatives, and the GOP swept nearly every single competitive Senate race to capture the US Senate majority. It wasn’t much better here in South Dakota either. We lost Senator Tim Johnson’s US Senate seat and all other statewide races. And while we gained one seat in the State Senate, we lost five seats in the State House.
Some are saying the South Dakota Democratic Party is broken, but fact of the matter is nothing could be further from the truth. While the Party exists to win elections, we must also be good stewards who protect our Party’s viability beyond any single election cycle. Despite a dismal election here and across the country, the South Dakota Democratic Party has made enormous progress this election cycle in fundraising, field organizing, and our future leadership to build a party that lasts.
The South Dakota Democratic Party has a mixed past when it comes to raising money. We’ve raked in cash with powerful federal office holders & strong state party leaders and held literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt after elections gone bad. The boom and bust cycle made it impossible to retain top quality staff, attract new talent, or inspire confidence in prospective candidates and volunteers.
Chair Deb Knecht and I decided we were going to escape the broken boom and bust cycle when we took charge in July of 2013. At that time, the South Dakota Democratic Party was raising $1963 a month from the Founders Club, the monthly sustaining donor program George McGovern started in the 1950s - barely enough to cover rent, phones, and office supplies every month. Today with the support of over 160 Democrats, the South Dakota Democratic Party raises $6360 a monthfrom Founders Club members like you. With the DNC’s additional $5,000 a month State Partnership Program contribution, our ongoing revenue matches our ongoing expenses nearly dollar for dollar for three full time staff.
And guess what? When the ongoing expenses are covered by ongoing revenue, it’s a lot easier to raise one-time money for targeted programs too. In fact, the South Dakota Democratic Party raised $458,959 in one time contributions this year from revamped events like our “Tribute to Tim” McGovern Day Dinner with over 725 people and over a dozen house parties, a new monthly mail program, an aggressive email operation, and regular call time from our state party chair and staff among other successful fundraising initiatives.
When you’re raising that kind of money, you can spend it on field organizing that makes a difference. The South Dakota Democratic Party wasted no time in 2013 when we partnered with our friends in organized labor to sponsor an initiated measure to raise the minimum wage. In 60 short days, we hired 1 Field Director and 10 organizers, recruited over 500 petition circulators, and submitted 25,681 signatures from registered voters to put our initiated measure on the ballot. With $330,000supporting the IM 18 campaign, 55% of South Dakota voterssaid Yes on 18, giving 62,000 South Dakotans a raise. In an otherwise rough election, YOU can be proud that the South Dakota Democratic Party championed this issue for working families across the state.
We made big investments in the field to help candidates win up and down the ballot too. The South Dakota Democratic Party hosted 7 webinars and 41 one on ones to train our candidates. We rewarded candidates who knocked doors and raised money with 32 rounds of free mail. We created the first ever YELL Fellows program with 21 young Democratswho were paid staff paired with 21 legislative candidates with half the expense covered by the Majority Project and half by the candidates. We hammered away at the Mike Rounds EB5 citizenship-for-sale scheme through 12 press conferences that among other things generated over 12,500 articles on Mike Rounds and the EB5 scandal. With the additional scrutiny, Mike Rounds dropped to a 4 point lead in the polls in early October.
We also made big five figure investments in our Get Out The Vote program. With Democratic County Party GOTV offices across the state, volunteers like you made approximately 31,000 calls. Our GOTV headquarters in Sioux Falls incorporated predictive dialers and canvasses to make 313,764 calls. Add to that a special targeted effort to reach Democrats with a low to mid likelihood of voting, and the South Dakota Democratic Party made over 573,000 phone calls across the state! Strong candidates with proper trainings and a focus on turnout allowed us to gain a seat in the State Senate - one of only 14 legislative chambers in the entire countryin which Democrats gained seats.
At the same time we were ramping up our fundraising for big investments in field organizing, we were thinking about the future too. The question I heard most often as Legislative Director and then Executive Director is how do we get more young people involved in the Party? We tried answering that question. In 2013, the South Dakota Democratic Party started the first ever Young Elected Legislative Leaders retreat in Pierre for high school Democrats who draft bills, debate legislators, and decide issues on the state senate floor. 28 students participated in 2013, and the program was so successful among students 48 high schoolers participated in 2014. Know what they told us in a survey afterwards? They didn’t want to stop after the weekend. They wanted to find more ways to make a difference right now. So we answered their call too, and we formed the aforementioned YELL Fellows program where our 21 YELL Fellows knocked thousands of doorsand made thousands of phone calls for legislative candidates. And after the election was all said and done, we left $60,000 in the bank to continue building a better future right away.
To be sure, our efforts didn’t translate to the ballot box this year. But just because we didn’t see electoral gains from our efforts in a tough year doesn’t mean we stop raising money, recruiting volunteers, or bringing more young people into the Party for the next election cycle. It means we need to continue this work - and do more! We have to evaluate our efforts, adapt, and iterate - and once the statewide voterfile is released by the Secretary of State, the Party plans to model results against our targeted programs to see if our investments made an impact. Most importantly, we need to continue to add more value for the Party. We need to raise more money, rebuild county parties, recruit more candidates, and register more voters to win elections going forward.
Here’s the tough part: We can’t do this without you. Do you want a staff person dedicated to Democratic turnout? Be a Founders Club member with a monthly contribution of any amount that fits your budget. There’s no reason why the South Dakota Democratic Party can’t double our Founders Club program and with it double our number of full time staff for Democratic turnout, candidate recruitment, voter outreach, or rapid response communications.
Do you want to help build our county parties? Be a county party officer in your county. You can be appointed in vacant counties, or you can run for a filled county party office in April. The South Dakota Democratic Party is about to embark on an aggressive training program for county officers across the state so you have the tools to raise money, recruit local candidates and register voters in your county.
Yes, I’m resigning my role as Executive Director, but the truth is I didn’t do this work alone. Not even close. State party leaders before me paid off all our remaining debt. Chair Deb Knecht called Democrats across the state to triple our Founders Club program. Volunteers like you gave your time to put minimum wage on the ballot. Donors like you funded a host of projects including the Young Elected Legislative Leaders program. County party officers like you guided us through thick and thin. And our unparalleled Field Director Ryan Rolfs & Finance Director Zach Nistler worked way too many hours for way too little pay to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
With the continued support of Democrats like you, truthseekers like Cory Heidelberger here at MadvilleTimes.com, and great new leaders like State Party Chair-elect Ann Tornberg and Vice Chair-elect Joe Lowe, the South Dakota Democratic Party’s best days are ahead. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you over the last four years. I look forward to volunteering my time, talent, and treasure right beside you going forward.
Zach Crago, Executive Director, South Dakota Democratic Party
[letter, 2014.12.19 ]
We didn't win elections, but we did a lot of things that will help us win future elections. All applicants for Crago's job (submit résumés to SDDP!) should read this letter and come to the interview with a critique of this assessment and an action plan for capitalizing on Crago's work.
Crago will continue to advise the party part-time after January 1 to help pass his knowledge on to the next exec. Good luck with the transition, Zach, and with the next big adventure!
We Democrats owe much to Zach Crago. He's brilliant. He's got the work ethic of a Kentucky mule. He digests, analyzes and presents information in a way and at a level I've seldom seen in law and politics.
Thanks, Zach.
larry kurtz
2014.12.19
Too bad Mr. Crago didn't work hard enough to convince someone like you to run for Attorney General, Mr. Duffy.
Liberal Stuck in SD
2014.12.19
Zach is amazing. He'll do well at Stanford.
deb
2014.12.19
Patrick is right on. I have the upmost respect for Zach. I wish him all the luck in the world at Stanford!
Owen
2014.12.19
Zach will be missed. Hard working and a class guy
larry kurtz
2014.12.19
Just do it, Cory.
Joeboo
2014.12.19
Zach did some great things, but the big black eye during his time was the lack of recruitment of candidates.
If I was interviewing for the job, that is what I would mention as my plan.
They also need someone that is willing to stay for a while
jerry
2014.12.19
Washington is broken, that is what republicans all say when they campaign here for Washington. Cycle after cycle that is what they say and then they say there the ones who will fix it. Whoever runs the show after Mr. Zach leaves must come up with the correct answer for that slogan. I would agree and say that the reason it is broken is because of their dropping it, time after time. Now, who is gonna run against Thune? What about the dust bunny? When will Duffy do something about the EB-5? What the hell is going on with the FBI and their case against stubby and Joop? All is quiet on the Western Front..
JeniW
2014.12.19
I do not think that it is necessarily a "black eye" for Zach because of the lack of candidates.
No one can force anyone to be a candidate if they do not want to be.
To be a candidate means the willingness to accept the expectations of an office, and the ability to fulfill those duties and responsibilities if elected.
How many people can afford to give up their employment in order to campaign for office, especially when there is no guarantee that the job will still be there after the election is over?
Just as people who are seeking employment are not paid for applying for jobs, and going to interviews, candidates are not paid for campaigning.
When people quit their jobs to campaign, they are also giving up benefits, namely health insurance. Unless the party can pay qualifying individuals to campaign for office, and make sure that they have health insurance coverage, it is going to be slim picking as to who will campaign.
Joeboo
2014.12.19
I'm not going to say its not hard to recruit candidates.
But its the one downfall of his tenure, he knew his stuff did some great things, but he didn't get candidates.
I won't argue with you about how hard it is to campaign and how few people can actually do it. But there are people out there that will do it if asked
Update: Chairwoman Tornberg is taking résumés. From the SDDP press release on Crago's stepdown:
"The South Dakota Democratic Party plans to fill the Executive Director position before the end of January. Interested applicants can send a resume and cover letter to chair@sddp.org."
Joeboo: willing to stay for a while? Zach worked for SDDP for, what, four years? He was exec for just 1.5, following Nesselhuf's departure. Median employee tenure in management is around five years.
I'd love to hire a party exec for whom the job is a serious career move, not a rung on a ladder to something bigger (that's not a criticism of Zach; that's just an ideal for an organization). An individual who stays builds institutional memory, a valuable asset that the SDDP seems not to have been accumulating.
But longevity costs money. Also adding a premium to the necessary pay:
—Running the Democratic Party subjects a professional to more public scrutiny and Google-rep-blackening attacks than most jobs.
—Doing this job right will require extensive travel and nights not home.
—Prospects for success seem dim; taking this job is a much greater professional risk than a nice safe management job in a stable, growing business.
Whatever pay you think is required to convince a skilled, experienced professional to settle down in this job for a decade or more is probably more than what SDDP paid Crago and more than what it can pay the next exec on its current ongoing revenues. As Crago says, if we want more, we're going to have to contribute more.
Curious: what do you folks think SDDP should pay its next exec?
Jaka
2014.12.20
Thanks, Zach for what you did while exec! Cycles come and go in all things. Dems deserved to get beat by Gingrich et: all in '94 cuz they got sloppy, arrogant etc and people as a whole turned against them. The same will happen to the 'Pubs in the future (for me not soon enough) but they will bring themselves down by the same way.....
Tasiyagnunpa Livermont
2014.12.20
Sounds to me like they did all that candidate training and money seeding East River, because from what I've heard folks felt pretty lost out here.
Tim
2014.12.20
Be careful Tasi, last time I attempted to call out the SDDP elite here they called me petty for expecting a real party leadership election instead of the backroom deal we got. This is my last comment here, just call me petty again for expecting more than the other side gives us.
Tasiyagnunpa Livermont
2014.12.20
There is no SDDP elite. Don't believe the smoke and mirrors. Nobody is that important. There are however people who won't answer phones or questions from everyday Democrats. And I won't stop drawing attention to that hypocrisy until it stops for everyone. I challenge anyone right now to find the information about precinct work. It isn't on any website and I've reached out on Twitter and messaged our new chair. Granted it is the holidays, but I will be making a more serious nuisance of myself very very soon trying to get that information. If someone wants to prove me wrong and get it to me asap, that'd be awesome.
tara volesky
2014.12.20
Apply Tasi.
deb
2014.12.20
Go to SDDP.org under "what we stand for", click on the constitution, Article II addresses Precinct men and women.
Alan Fenner
2014.12.20
Thank you Zach for all of your hard work and best of luck.
Tasiyagnunpa Livermont
2014.12.20
I will check it out Deb, but that information shouldn't be hidden in the constitution. It should be front and center on the website.
Disgusted Dakotan
2014.12.20
The Dems need some leadership that can recruit and guide candidates into winning elections. Ignoring old workhorses like Frank Kloucek and Red Allen is a mistake. They are not the hard Left sect of the Democratic Party, but they both had a long track record of getting elected and know how to campaign.
leslie
2014.12.20
Tasi, i think it may also be in a big 3 ring binder Linda Lea did years ago, before the "you know" world wide web thing.
Troy
2014.12.20
"Linda Lea". Blast from the past when Dems knew what it took to win elections and be relevant.
Leslie: do you know Linda Lea? Does she still have that binder on her shelf? Can her institutional memory help the next chair? (Troy seems to think so!)
Bill Dithmer
2014.12.21
According to the RCJ this morning, " The combined number of independent and non-politically affiliated voters in the state could surpass the number of Democrats sometime in the next 15 to 35 years."
Now that is some cracker jack political prognosticating from the Journals expert. If it wasn't so important, it would be laughable. You know, you dont need a weatherman to tell you if its raining outside.
How did that happen to the SDDP if it is, or has been making progress? Thankyou Zach. Its hard telling what would have happened if you werent there with your hand on the tiller.
Gordon Howie and Big Wheel Bob Ellis have succeeded in their teaparty goals there in South Dakota. They to might have problems getting elected but they are being heard.
The body has been embalmed and thrown in a box and the station wagon is backed up to the door.
I dont know where it would come from, but the SDDP needs a Frankinstien to shake things up. Someone who breaths fire and has their name in front of the public every damn week. Someone not affraid to piss people off if thats what it takes at that moment. Bold new ideas not in policies, but in the ways those policies are presented to the public.
Or you could join the mourners, maybe grab a shovel and throw some dirt in the hole.
Bill D, should the exec be a quiet administrator, leaving the fire-breathing to Chairwoman Tornberg and Vice-Chairman Lowe? Or should every board officer and staffer be an out-front fighter?
Bill Dithmer
2014.12.21
Every voice is important Cory. Even if there is disagreement on some things, being up front and talking out loud shows not weakness but the diversity that the Democratic party should stand for. Now is not the time for meek and mild, now is the time for drastic change. It appears that the same old, same old is still going to happen, thats just crazy.
Real leaders learn from their mistakes. When they stop making the same mistakes they start being successful in whatever their doing.
Now those leaders are having to deal with voting public the is already moving away from the party. That means not just getting those dems back but bringing some indies and Rhinos to come onboard to. You dont do that by hanging back no matter if your the head chief or someone there to help out. You do that by communicating.
The Blindman
tara volesky
2014.12.21
The Democrat party needs to quit acting like Republicans and take up some controversial causes that will shake up the Republican party. Meek and mild does not work. Stand up for the working poor instead of crony capitalism. Stand up against the duopoly in health care that have control over our politicians and consumers. Stand up against the corporate takeover of education. Throwing money at a problem like education does not work. Stand up for the children that are being abused and sexually molested. Stand up for the Native American who are kept down by Tribal and State governments. Safe issues will not get you elected. Take some lessons from Bernie sanders and Elisabeth Warren. Listen to Patrick Duffy when it comes to abortion. His illustration should be on the party platform. Mike Myers and Rick Weiland were the only 2 candidates that set themselves apart from the corrupt establishment. The Democrat party is fearful and weak.
tara volesky
2014.12.21
I just feel so frustrated and sad that our young people are leaving because nobody wants to get to the core of the problems. Who can they turn to? This has been going on for years and skirting these issues is why SD is the way it is. Grow some balls Democrats!!!!!!!
JeniW
2014.12.21
Why should anyone even try to do something constructive when all it means is having people throw crap at them from all angles?
How would the third party work in South Dakota Larry? Would that mean that there would no siphoning off of votes for a Democrat or a Republican, just count the votes as they are without having to have some kind of fixed percentage of the vote? Winner take all?
larry kurtz
2014.12.21
Jerry, nut jobs like Kurt Evans are a dime a dozen: unless and until Democrats pull out of our nose dive Libertarians in South Dakota are going to raise money and become a force to be reckoned with.
Bill Dithmer
2014.12.21
Not to damn bad Tara.
The Blindman
leslie
2014.12.21
rick weiland was the strongest candidate on the ballot. the only weakness i saw was the failure to handle the national debacle w/Reid-Daschle sniping. And that was a BIG fail. oh, and not being more agressive (a la Barth) on the EB5 scandle, not the program itself. A million dollars on an EB5 spotlight would/could have won the day.
leslie
2014.12.21
cory-i believe all the dem county offices have the binder and operate from it to some degree. if its not available via smart phone, NOW, young'uns appear frustrated. some people remember "books". yah have to carry them home and read'em for 5 hours--something you are obviously not afraid of. i don't like the "ageism" bigotry i am seeing in the after-election bitching. its like the steve carell's movie "crazy stupid love" imo.
oh, linda lea would likely tell troy to take a flying leap. imo :)
Adam Mc
2014.12.24
Sometimes, change doesn't come fast enough for one's taste, and South Dakota happens to be a tough project.
However, Zach has exceeded just about everyone's expectations. What he has taken such huge part in building is very sustainable and even better - very expandable. He's attracted some great people to the scene. Rolfs and Nistler understand the direction and identify with it nicely [in my opinion]. I think it'd be smart to keep them on.
If Crago wrote a book on what did, and didn't, work (and his take on why) since he first started helping dig the SDDP out of the quite dismal hole it was in, I'd buy it.
A Crago book! Yes! Maybe we can get him to write that alongside his master's thesis (or is he going straight to the Ph.D. dissertation?). We could put up our own South Dakota Blueprint to update Witwer and Schrager's Blueprint about Colorado.
Adam, do you have any knowledge about whether Rolfs and Nistler are able and willing to stay on? Do they still have grad school or other aspirations in the chute?
Adam Mc
2014.12.24
I have reason to believe they are interested in staying on, and I am even more sure that they enjoy working together.
We Democrats owe much to Zach Crago. He's brilliant. He's got the work ethic of a Kentucky mule. He digests, analyzes and presents information in a way and at a level I've seldom seen in law and politics.
Thanks, Zach.
Too bad Mr. Crago didn't work hard enough to convince someone like you to run for Attorney General, Mr. Duffy.
Zach is amazing. He'll do well at Stanford.
Patrick is right on. I have the upmost respect for Zach. I wish him all the luck in the world at Stanford!
Zach will be missed. Hard working and a class guy
Just do it, Cory.
Zach did some great things, but the big black eye during his time was the lack of recruitment of candidates.
If I was interviewing for the job, that is what I would mention as my plan.
They also need someone that is willing to stay for a while
Washington is broken, that is what republicans all say when they campaign here for Washington. Cycle after cycle that is what they say and then they say there the ones who will fix it. Whoever runs the show after Mr. Zach leaves must come up with the correct answer for that slogan. I would agree and say that the reason it is broken is because of their dropping it, time after time. Now, who is gonna run against Thune? What about the dust bunny? When will Duffy do something about the EB-5? What the hell is going on with the FBI and their case against stubby and Joop? All is quiet on the Western Front..
I do not think that it is necessarily a "black eye" for Zach because of the lack of candidates.
No one can force anyone to be a candidate if they do not want to be.
To be a candidate means the willingness to accept the expectations of an office, and the ability to fulfill those duties and responsibilities if elected.
How many people can afford to give up their employment in order to campaign for office, especially when there is no guarantee that the job will still be there after the election is over?
Just as people who are seeking employment are not paid for applying for jobs, and going to interviews, candidates are not paid for campaigning.
When people quit their jobs to campaign, they are also giving up benefits, namely health insurance. Unless the party can pay qualifying individuals to campaign for office, and make sure that they have health insurance coverage, it is going to be slim picking as to who will campaign.
I'm not going to say its not hard to recruit candidates.
But its the one downfall of his tenure, he knew his stuff did some great things, but he didn't get candidates.
I won't argue with you about how hard it is to campaign and how few people can actually do it. But there are people out there that will do it if asked
Update: Chairwoman Tornberg is taking résumés. From the SDDP press release on Crago's stepdown:
"The South Dakota Democratic Party plans to fill the Executive Director position before the end of January. Interested applicants can send a resume and cover letter to chair@sddp.org."
Thanks Zach, the light of your leadership shown clear across the state line into southwest Minnesota!
Joeboo: willing to stay for a while? Zach worked for SDDP for, what, four years? He was exec for just 1.5, following Nesselhuf's departure. Median employee tenure in management is around five years.
I'd love to hire a party exec for whom the job is a serious career move, not a rung on a ladder to something bigger (that's not a criticism of Zach; that's just an ideal for an organization). An individual who stays builds institutional memory, a valuable asset that the SDDP seems not to have been accumulating.
But longevity costs money. Also adding a premium to the necessary pay:
—Running the Democratic Party subjects a professional to more public scrutiny and Google-rep-blackening attacks than most jobs.
—Doing this job right will require extensive travel and nights not home.
—Prospects for success seem dim; taking this job is a much greater professional risk than a nice safe management job in a stable, growing business.
Whatever pay you think is required to convince a skilled, experienced professional to settle down in this job for a decade or more is probably more than what SDDP paid Crago and more than what it can pay the next exec on its current ongoing revenues. As Crago says, if we want more, we're going to have to contribute more.
Curious: what do you folks think SDDP should pay its next exec?
Thanks, Zach for what you did while exec! Cycles come and go in all things. Dems deserved to get beat by Gingrich et: all in '94 cuz they got sloppy, arrogant etc and people as a whole turned against them. The same will happen to the 'Pubs in the future (for me not soon enough) but they will bring themselves down by the same way.....
Sounds to me like they did all that candidate training and money seeding East River, because from what I've heard folks felt pretty lost out here.
Be careful Tasi, last time I attempted to call out the SDDP elite here they called me petty for expecting a real party leadership election instead of the backroom deal we got. This is my last comment here, just call me petty again for expecting more than the other side gives us.
There is no SDDP elite. Don't believe the smoke and mirrors. Nobody is that important. There are however people who won't answer phones or questions from everyday Democrats. And I won't stop drawing attention to that hypocrisy until it stops for everyone. I challenge anyone right now to find the information about precinct work. It isn't on any website and I've reached out on Twitter and messaged our new chair. Granted it is the holidays, but I will be making a more serious nuisance of myself very very soon trying to get that information. If someone wants to prove me wrong and get it to me asap, that'd be awesome.
Apply Tasi.
Go to SDDP.org under "what we stand for", click on the constitution, Article II addresses Precinct men and women.
Thank you Zach for all of your hard work and best of luck.
I will check it out Deb, but that information shouldn't be hidden in the constitution. It should be front and center on the website.
The Dems need some leadership that can recruit and guide candidates into winning elections. Ignoring old workhorses like Frank Kloucek and Red Allen is a mistake. They are not the hard Left sect of the Democratic Party, but they both had a long track record of getting elected and know how to campaign.
Tasi, i think it may also be in a big 3 ring binder Linda Lea did years ago, before the "you know" world wide web thing.
"Linda Lea". Blast from the past when Dems knew what it took to win elections and be relevant.
Leslie: do you know Linda Lea? Does she still have that binder on her shelf? Can her institutional memory help the next chair? (Troy seems to think so!)
According to the RCJ this morning, " The combined number of independent and non-politically affiliated voters in the state could surpass the number of Democrats sometime in the next 15 to 35 years."
Now that is some cracker jack political prognosticating from the Journals expert. If it wasn't so important, it would be laughable. You know, you dont need a weatherman to tell you if its raining outside.
How did that happen to the SDDP if it is, or has been making progress? Thankyou Zach. Its hard telling what would have happened if you werent there with your hand on the tiller.
Gordon Howie and Big Wheel Bob Ellis have succeeded in their teaparty goals there in South Dakota. They to might have problems getting elected but they are being heard.
The body has been embalmed and thrown in a box and the station wagon is backed up to the door.
I dont know where it would come from, but the SDDP needs a Frankinstien to shake things up. Someone who breaths fire and has their name in front of the public every damn week. Someone not affraid to piss people off if thats what it takes at that moment. Bold new ideas not in policies, but in the ways those policies are presented to the public.
Or you could join the mourners, maybe grab a shovel and throw some dirt in the hole.
The Blindman
Bill D, should the exec be a quiet administrator, leaving the fire-breathing to Chairwoman Tornberg and Vice-Chairman Lowe? Or should every board officer and staffer be an out-front fighter?
Every voice is important Cory. Even if there is disagreement on some things, being up front and talking out loud shows not weakness but the diversity that the Democratic party should stand for. Now is not the time for meek and mild, now is the time for drastic change. It appears that the same old, same old is still going to happen, thats just crazy.
Real leaders learn from their mistakes. When they stop making the same mistakes they start being successful in whatever their doing.
Now those leaders are having to deal with voting public the is already moving away from the party. That means not just getting those dems back but bringing some indies and Rhinos to come onboard to. You dont do that by hanging back no matter if your the head chief or someone there to help out. You do that by communicating.
The Blindman
The Democrat party needs to quit acting like Republicans and take up some controversial causes that will shake up the Republican party. Meek and mild does not work. Stand up for the working poor instead of crony capitalism. Stand up against the duopoly in health care that have control over our politicians and consumers. Stand up against the corporate takeover of education. Throwing money at a problem like education does not work. Stand up for the children that are being abused and sexually molested. Stand up for the Native American who are kept down by Tribal and State governments. Safe issues will not get you elected. Take some lessons from Bernie sanders and Elisabeth Warren. Listen to Patrick Duffy when it comes to abortion. His illustration should be on the party platform. Mike Myers and Rick Weiland were the only 2 candidates that set themselves apart from the corrupt establishment. The Democrat party is fearful and weak.
I just feel so frustrated and sad that our young people are leaving because nobody wants to get to the core of the problems. Who can they turn to? This has been going on for years and skirting these issues is why SD is the way it is. Grow some balls Democrats!!!!!!!
Why should anyone even try to do something constructive when all it means is having people throw crap at them from all angles?
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/the-seeds-of-democratic-decline-theories-attempt-to-explain-party/article_2ffcfee9-e1c3-5e4e-86c8-13930dee65f7.html
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/forecast-democrats-could-drop-to-no-in-voter-registration/article_01f1430c-7877-5ef5-8057-58cc5a4c0ba3.html
http://ijpr.org/post/oregon-could-soon-have-third-major-political-party
How would the third party work in South Dakota Larry? Would that mean that there would no siphoning off of votes for a Democrat or a Republican, just count the votes as they are without having to have some kind of fixed percentage of the vote? Winner take all?
Jerry, nut jobs like Kurt Evans are a dime a dozen: unless and until Democrats pull out of our nose dive Libertarians in South Dakota are going to raise money and become a force to be reckoned with.
Not to damn bad Tara.
The Blindman
rick weiland was the strongest candidate on the ballot. the only weakness i saw was the failure to handle the national debacle w/Reid-Daschle sniping. And that was a BIG fail. oh, and not being more agressive (a la Barth) on the EB5 scandle, not the program itself. A million dollars on an EB5 spotlight would/could have won the day.
cory-i believe all the dem county offices have the binder and operate from it to some degree. if its not available via smart phone, NOW, young'uns appear frustrated. some people remember "books". yah have to carry them home and read'em for 5 hours--something you are obviously not afraid of. i don't like the "ageism" bigotry i am seeing in the after-election bitching. its like the steve carell's movie "crazy stupid love" imo.
oh, linda lea would likely tell troy to take a flying leap. imo :)
Sometimes, change doesn't come fast enough for one's taste, and South Dakota happens to be a tough project.
However, Zach has exceeded just about everyone's expectations. What he has taken such huge part in building is very sustainable and even better - very expandable. He's attracted some great people to the scene. Rolfs and Nistler understand the direction and identify with it nicely [in my opinion]. I think it'd be smart to keep them on.
If Crago wrote a book on what did, and didn't, work (and his take on why) since he first started helping dig the SDDP out of the quite dismal hole it was in, I'd buy it.
A Crago book! Yes! Maybe we can get him to write that alongside his master's thesis (or is he going straight to the Ph.D. dissertation?). We could put up our own South Dakota Blueprint to update Witwer and Schrager's Blueprint about Colorado.
Adam, do you have any knowledge about whether Rolfs and Nistler are able and willing to stay on? Do they still have grad school or other aspirations in the chute?
I have reason to believe they are interested in staying on, and I am even more sure that they enjoy working together.