Strategic Priorities for the Next DPVA Chair
Having served four years as Arlington County’s Democratic Committee Chair (2006-2010), as a member of DPVA’s 2010 Strategic Planning Committee, and as a current DPVA Central Committee member, here are my recommendations for the most important strategic priorities to guide the next DPVA Chair:
The next DPVA Chair should focus on statewide Democratic strategies—i.e., DPVA’s focus should be on maximizing the ability of Democratic candidates to win statewide races in Virginia. Statewide races captivate and motivate our base, meaning that by focusing statewide, DPVA also will be maximizing opportunities to win in Virginia Senate, House of Delegates, and local races.
DPVA exists to help elect Democratic candidates in Virginia—from the school house to the White House. But, DPVA should never be tied too closely to any single Democratic elected official or candidate. Instead, DPVA should be an independent force for building the Democratic Party in Virginia, drawing on the wisdom and experience of all Democrats from our Democratic elected officials to the grassroots.
Top Priorities for the Next DPVA Chair:
Messaging.
DPVA should play a leadership role in continuously presenting and reinforcing a positive Democratic message and criticizing damaging Republican proposals. To maximize the prospects of fully energizing the Virginia Democratic base, these positive and negative messages need to have both a national and a state component. Virginia Democrats need to have a clear and concise set of motivating principles for which they stand, and those principles and messages need to be highly visible and promoted throughout the Commonwealth.
DPVA should take effective steps to insure that DPVA’s message points are being provided to Congressional District Democratic Committees and to local Democratic committees. These committees are our boots on the ground, and a coordinated message will not be effective unless these committees have the tools they need to communicate DPVA’s message.
DPVA should be a catalyst for grassroots Democrats in all areas of Virginia, with a concentration on the most strategic vote-rich areas.
DPVA’s official grassroots organizations are its local Democratic committees in each of Virginia’s 134 localities. DPVA’s Central Committee is not meant to be a substitute for a local Democratic Committee, nor can it be effective in such a role. Many of our local Democratic committees are doing a great job mobilizing Democratic grass roots activists and reaching out to voters. However, many others could do a lot better.
DPVA’s next Chair should take a personal and pro-active role to help maximize the performance of ALL local Democratic committees in Virginia by leading in the development of committee-specific plans to move each local committee to “the next level.” This means that DPVA ought to have a 134 city/county committee strategy to cover all localities in Virginia. In implementing this strategy, the Chair would work with DPVA’s Political Director and a series of regional organizers hired and paid for by DPVA.
It is not clear that DPVA has sufficient budgetary resources to hire the paid field organizers noted above. If I am elected Chair, until we can raise the money to hire such organizers, I will begin immediately on my own to do the outreach required to understand what the unique needs are in each locality, and to develop strategies to meet them. In doing this, I will work in close consultation and collaboration with the existing Virginia Association of Democratic Chairs (VADC) organization. As the former chair of a very successful local committee, I know what it takes for a local committee to excel.
Here are some examples of the kinds of activities I will pursue personally as your next DPVA Chair:
- Conduct a general assessment in each locality of the most important things that could be done in that locality to improve Democratic electoral performance, and make recommendations regarding how best to implement the changes needed.
- Assist local committees with fundraising ideas and facilitate cooperative fundraising efforts among committees. To the maximum feasible extent, I will personally headline local committee fundraising events.
- Help local committees with candidate recruitment:
- I have a long-term focus on making DPVA the best possible partner to help recruit candidates for local offices like Boards of Supervisors, Boards of Education, and Constitutional Officers—the “farm team” for higher offices like the House of Delegates and the Senate.
- I have a short-term focus on making DPVA a valuable partner with our House and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairs to maximize our Democratic performance in House and Senate elections in 2011.
- Do I favor Democrats contesting every election? In principle, I understand and support doing this. But, if the only candidate willing to run is absolutely unqualified and would embarrass the Democratic Party, then I say “no, it would be better not to contest that race.”
- Act as a senior adviser to candidates and campaign managers regarding “what they need to know” to win their campaigns.
- Organize training sessions for local committees and activists with technical assistance and support from DPVA.
- Facilitate information sharing in a secure place on the DPVA website regarding “best local Democratic committee practices”.
Local Candidate Recruitment and Training.
DPVA should play a leadership role in recruiting and training candidates for local offices: boards of supervisors, school boards, and constitutional officers. These local offices represent the best grassroots sources of candidates for higher offices. DPVA can help local Democratic committees by providing technical expertise and ideas for recruitment and training of prospective candidates for these offices. These plans would also be implemented by the regional organizers as part of the 134 city/county strategy.
Electronic Communications.
DPVA’s electronic communications strategies need to be completely revamped and upgraded to make the best possible use of all the available political organizing tools.
(i.) Technical Expertise
DPVA recently undertook a revamping of its own website, but there are several other ways in which DPVA ought to be playing a leadership role in helping Congressional District and local Democratic committees and Democratic candidates. For example, DPVA ought to be more pro-active in helping these other committees upgrade their own websites and communications strategies. DPVA also should be pro-active in helping Democratic candidates with important technical advice on topics like Search Engine Optimization (SEO). [SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a web site or a web page in search engines like Google. For more details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization ]
(ii.) Netroots Relationships
“Houston, we have a problem.” DPVA needs to repair its relationships with the Democratic netroots. The next DPVA Chair should take the lead in reaching out to the Democratic netroots to help repair this breach. Like most relationships in trouble, this relationship has suffered from erroneous expectations on both sides. From DPVA’s side, the erroneous expectations have centered on excessive fears of public criticism and too great a passion for secrecy. From the netroots side, this relationship has suffered from misunderstandings by some netroots activists about the relative roles of local Democratic committees and the DPVA Central Committee in making certain kinds of decisions.
As the next DPVA Chair works to restore relationships with the Democratic netroots, the Chair should continue to look for ways in which we can all work together to advance our Democratic goals, understanding that agreement will not always be possible, but that the relationship is too valuable to remain in disrepair.
Coordinate Work of Major Stakeholders.
DPVA should play a leadership role in being sure that we are maximizing the resources of various critical Democratic groups with agendas and operations in Virginia, and minimizing the risks that these groups might inadvertently be doing things that are undercutting one another. These groups include the staffs of Senators Warner and Webb, our Democratic representatives in Congress, the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, and the Virginia Senate and House Democratic caucuses.
Money.
DPVA needs to raise more money, and that is more challenging with a Republican as Governor in Richmond. By adopting the strategic priorities described above, the next DPVA Chair will build a dynamic and successful organization in which small and large donors alike will want to invest, paving the way for Democratic victories in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The next DPVA Chair should work with the DPVA Finance Chair and our Democratic elected officials to develop a finance strategy for the next three years that capitalizes on our substantial growth prospects.
