Letters to the Editor: Barely 16 and standing his ground!

Well I was already hyped up after last night's JJ and seeing so many good friends from around the state. Then I got this awesome response in the Dalton Daily Citizen from our Whitfield County Chair, John Anthony.

http://m.daltondailycitizen.com/TDC/db_265590/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Q9Z4O2Ae&full=true#display

Christian Hurd is not even 16 yet and he's already calling out the Republicans for their foolishness and double-talk. This is exactly the kind of response we need to push for in every county. Heading into 2014 elections, we've got to call them out for every lie and half-truth.

I'm already making moves to get Christian down to the Young Dems Convention in Atlanta April 12-14. I challenge each of you to send a young Democrat from your county to this event. Great job Christian! rj

RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties

rj4dpg@gmail.com

Make the Most of It!: Strategic Planning for County Parties

Let's face it - as a county party leader, you're working with limited dollars and a constantly shifting volunteer base to find/elect good Democrats. Often you're working in a very challenging political environment and, by the way, you only have a 2 year term to get it all done!   You need something that will help you set priorities and focus your committee's energies on common goals. You need a Strategic Plan.

If you haven't already discussed it, please make this a topic of your next Exec. Committee meeting. If your next Exec. isn't scheduled until after March 31st, call a meeting. County parties rarely engage in strategic planning and it lessens our statewide effectiveness.

You'll find lots of resources on strategic planning, but some of them are a little cumbersome. Check out this County Party Strategic Planning Resource as a starting point. The breakdown of steps:

1. Identify Who Should be Involved with the Planning (Stakeholders)
2. Establish Short and Long-Term Goals
3. Determine the VISION and the MISSION to Achieve It
4. Analyze your Internal Strengths/Weaknesses
5. Analyze your External Opportunities/Threats
6. Develop your Strategic Objectives
7. Writing the Draft Strategic Plan
8. Communicating the Plan for Feedback
9. Writing the Final Strategic Plan
10. Execute and Constant Evaluation for Effectiveness

Of course, you will adapt these steps to the needs of your particular county. The important thing is to at least begin the discussion. We'll dive into each step over a series of future posts. rj


RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties
rj4dpg@gmail.com

Useful Grassroots Handbook from Texas Dems

I volunteered for President Obama with the Texas Dems in Austin and learned a lot from my time there. I've always admired their commitment to the grassroots.  Check out their Texas Democratic Party Grassroots Manual to get your party jumpstarted in the right direction. Let's start talking strategy over the next series of posts. rj


RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties
rj4dpg@gmail.com

Letters to the Editor that work

County committees must constantly look for ways to promote the party and Democratic ideals. Letters to the Editor can be used to highlight important issues, call out Republican false claims, recruit new members/candidates and also increase fundraising potential.

Success here means finding party members who are good writers and tasking them to daily/weekly search for opportunities to get published. It really comes down to a numbers game. To increase your chance of publication, you will have to increase your submissions. In addition, you have to build relationships with your local editors even if they are right-leaning. To get you started, here are some good links with best practices.


Community Tool Box: Writing Letters to the Editor

Vermont Democratic Party: 4 Tips for Writing a Good Letter to the Editor

Reclaim Democracy!: Tips on Writing Effective Letters to the Editor


Whether you get published or not, please let me know when you send in letters or post here in comments. We all can learn from reading letters that worked and one's that didn't. rj


RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties
rj4dpg@gmail.com

Parliamentary rules: Party meetings that work (part 2)

So I spoke to you earlier about the importance of parliamentary rules to maintain tight, orderly party meetings. Unfortunately, I've sat through plenty of meetings where one or two folks dominate the discussion and nothing gets done. It's a total waste of time and the fastest way to run newcomers off.

Last time, I talked about Robert Rules in Brief as a good resource. Another option is this handy pdf short course on parliamentary procedure. County Chairs READ THIS and DISTRIBUTE to your Exec. Board and committee members. It's no good if only a handful of people have the knowledge of procedure and keep others out of the process. ALSO I highly encourage each county to designate a Parliamentarian to help keep things on track and show membership that following meeting rules matter. rj


RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties
rj4DPG@gmail.com

Awesome feeling: New Democratic county parties

As Vice-Chair of County Parties, it's been a real privilege and honor for me to witness the formation of new county committees, the growth of some and the rebirth of others. Take Bryan County. Amy Tavio has been our Party Contact there for years. Sometimes it's hard to get solid activity in a county. The best you can do is just have a Contact there and wait for the environment to swing. Thanks to Amy and our 1st District Chair, Jeana Brown, I'm excited to welcome Andrea Conrad as the new Bryan County Chair.

Amy Hupper Tavio

Thursday near Richmond Hill, GA

Congratulations to the new Bryan County Democratic Committee. It's been over 15 years since Bryan County has had a Democratic Party presence, and I am thrilled to have had the support of so many great citizens to make this happen. Wishing our outstanding new Chairwoman Andrea Conrad, her executive committee, and all the great people who stepped up to fill all the county commission district post positions and at-large positions much success!

Maybe you live in a county or near a county that's desperately in need of a Democratic organization, but you don't know what to do. You can always just reach out to me or the DPG District Chair for your Congressional District. We can talk about next steps and I'll outline those steps in a future post.

One county at a time, there are these inspiring stories, like Bryan County, of small groups of Democrats coming together, in long-dormant counties, to push our party forward. I know it's a little corny, but I do get choked up about it. When I make my first visit to Bryan, I'll be sure to keep you posted. Uphill and worth it. rj

RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties

rj4dpg@gmail.com

County party meetings that work

So many of the the local party issues that pop up around the state could be avoided with good meeting procedure that's understood/accepted by those in attendance. I've learned to always carry my copy of Robert's Rules of Order IN BRIEF. Even if a county leader just read and followed Chapter 2 "What Happens at a Meeting", I could reduce my county phone calls in half. Hey that's a great idea for a future training. rj


RJ Hadley, DPG Vice-Chair of County Parties
rj4dpg@gmail.com