Monthly Message
July 2010
Fellow Democrats
Happy 4th of
July! For all that we're going to enjoy
the fireworks displays this weekend,
events in the political sphere are at least as
exciting, if not as well illuminated.
You've read many times already in this space
that the 2010 elections are possibly more
important than the 2008 election even though
there is no national ticket to rally
around. This means voters will have to
concentrate on candidates and elections that
are much more focused and which elude the
scrutiny or understanding of the national
media. Indeed the national media are
floundering trying to find a narrative that
will explain, between commercials, the American
political landscape. They are likely to
fail because this year, more than is typical,
elections will be won or lost on the quality of
the candidates and the degree to which they
address the specific concerns of the people
actually voting rather than broad concerns
about "the direction we're going in." At
the same time, this year's elections will have
far reaching consequences. At the
national level, Democrats must hold or expand
their majorities in Congress if we are to see
legislative action on global warming,
immigration reform and energy and environmental
policy. The legislative accomplishments
of this Congressional session represent the
most sweeping change in national policy in this
generation and are particularly notable because
they occurred at a time of the greatest
economic setback in three generations. We
need to maintain the momentum. Similarly,
we need to retain and expand our hold on the
Wisconsin legislature. The next
legislative session will have to grapple with a
difficult biennial budget (with incredibly
difficult choices if the U.S. Congress fails to
enact the second wave of the Reinvestment and
Recovery Act,) with redistricting (with new
districts locked in for the next ten years) and
with education reform (without which
underfunded Wisconsin schools will soon be
every bit as good as those in Alabama.)
You do not want the Republicans in charge of
these efforts.
We
are seeing well funded, tireless advocates from
both the Republican party and the Tea Party
group (to the extent that they can be
distinguished) saying that what we need now are
lower taxes, private sector initiatives, and a
reduced federal deficit. This sounds very
appealing and sensible, but we might recall
that the last Republican to actually implement
such policies found them to be heavy
going. You might have heard of this
guy:
(It's
Herbert Hoover--his policies proved
unsuccessful and ultimately distasteful to the
electorate.) In that light, the policies
of Democrats that have actually staunched job
losses and have actually started the U.S. and
the Wisconsin economy on the road to recovery
might deserve another couple of years.
Perhaps Democrats, not denying the likelihood
of global warming, have the best chance of
passing legislation that will help us reduce
carbon emissions. Perhaps Democrats, not
so sure that the age of American Empire is upon
us, will continue to do a better job of
managing the complexities of relations with
other countries. And perhaps Democrats,
realizing that when 1% of the population holds
one third of all private wealth, will continue
to recognize and address the distortions that
this inequity creates.
If
we want to see these sensible policies in
action we have to elect Democrats at every
level. We in Columbia County must do
everything we can to return Tammy Baldwin to
the U.S. House and Russ Feingold to the
Senate.
We
also once again have the privilege of sending
two outstanding people to the Wisconsin
Assembly. Trish O'Neil has launched her
2010 campaign for the 47th Assembly District
(thanks Tammy, for appearing in support of
Trish's kickoff event). Join Trish in the
Columbus parade on the 4th at noon.
Fred
Clark is earning the close attention of the
Republican machine as he seeks a second term
for the 42nd District. You can show your
support for Fred by joining Clark supporters at
the parades in Portage (July 3, 230PM) and
Pardeeville (July 4, noon)
And
watch the Columbia County Democrats website for
more information on canvassing, lit drops, etc
in the coming weeks. We are also looking
for volunteers to staff our booth at the
Columbia County Fair, which runs from July 21
through July 25 (contact Joan Zavoral at
608.592.7806. We also expect to open
campaign headquarters again in both Portage and
Lodi--this requires substantial volunteer to
keep these sites manned, so now is the time to
start thinking about when you can
volunteer.
Thanks
to everyone for the support you have given to
your Columbia County Democrats and to
Democratic candidates; this year we'll need to
work harder than ever.
Democratically
yours,
Ray Frey
Chair
June
2010
Fellow
Democrats
The November elections are
exactly five months away and the many campaigns
are now well under way. You'll have no
shortage of campaigns deserving of your time
and money, especially now that Trish O'Neil has
announced that she will be running for the 47th
District Assembly seat against Keith
Ripp. It remains exceptionally important
that Democrats continue to hold the Wisconsin
legislature and to elect Tom Barrett as
Wisconsin's next governor. In the face of
an economy that is recovering more slowly than
we would wish, the next Wisconsin biennial
budget promises to be a challenging
one.
We
do not want Republicans to be in charge of this
challenge--if they're in charge, they will have
no problem gutting our educational system, our
human services safety net, or our legacy of
environmental stewardship. The federal
health care reform act tasks the individual
states with putting that reform into action--we
don't want the Republicans in charge of that
either. None of this is going to be easy,
but we want Democratic ideas and initiatives
put forward to solve these looming
problems. None of us are opposed to
making the necessary sacrifices to get our
country and our state on the road to recovery,
but we are opposed to policies that beggar
working families and further transfer wealth to
corporations already not paying their
way.
Your
contribution will be more important than
ever: the campaigns for Feingold,
Baldwin, Barrett, Hassett, Clark and O'Neil
will all need volunteers. The Columbia
County Democrats will once again have two
campaign headquarters. There'll be
canvassing, lit drops, hours of headquarters
time to staff and phone calls to make.
We'll need everyone to help. We'll be
kicking off the campaign season in earnest with
a summer picnic, this year to be held in
Lodi. Look for lots of candidates
and networking with your fellow Democrats and
activists. Exact date to be announced
soon. It's time to get involved and get
busy.
Enjoy
Fathers Day, June 20, at Noah's Ark with other
Democratic families. Call Anne Zimmerman
for details 608 745-1530.
A last minute
note: It's not too late to join us for
the Democratic Party state convention this
coming weekend. Check out the speaker
roster online at http://www.wisdems.org/,
where you can also register. We'll look
for you there.
Democratically
yours,
Ray Frey
Chair
R_frey_65@verizon.net
May 2010
Fellow
Democrat,
With the spring part of this
year's election cycle over, we'd like to
congratulate member Matt Foster on his victory
in the Portage School board election. We
didn't see all the results we wanted in the
county board elections, but were pleased to see
a substantial number (in contrast to 2008) of
county board seats being contested. We
expect this election will change permanently
the perception of county board seats.
They are not long term entitlements. They
are political positions and their
incumbents should expect to be regularly and
meaningfully accountable to the
electorate. Much work remains to be done
before the next local elections: we need
to continue to identify people with progressive
values who would serve effectively and help
them get elected, and we need to make sure
voters understand how much impact local
governments have on their daily lives and how
progressive values can inform decisions in
local government.
Those same progressive
values loom large in the soon to be here fall
elections. The conventional wisdom holds
that the party holding the presidency will lose
seats in so called "off year" elections.
That may well prove true this year, but the Tea
Party fueled narrative that America hated the
Obama presidency beginning in February of 2009
may well prove overstated. For one thing,
Obama remains personally popular and the public
likes his policies even better. In fact
this administration can boast an impressive
list of accomplishments in a mere fifteen
months. Health care reform stands tallest
(and was the hardest fight) but cushioning the
blows of the worst recession in eighty years,
and the pending financial reform legislation
may prove equally consequential. Less
talked about are many other
initiatives--reforms at the FCC and the FDA,
student loan reform, a Title IX rework, new
agreements in Europe on nuclear weapons, the
list goes on. Not to mention the U.S.
government's timely and effective response to
the Haitian earthquake. Not to mention
the appointment of Justice Sotomayor. And
so forth--quite a record and quite a record to
run on. That the Republicans plan to
regain power on a platform of immigrant bashing
and cozying up to banks and insurance companies
seems, to put it mildly, delusional. A
more pointed question is how they expect to
last as a political party at all.
With all that noted, complacency would
be a mistake. Off-year elections are
fundamentally local, decided less by the large
national issues than by the quality of
candidates and their campaigns, by issues of
local importance and by the willingness of
activists (that's us) to work hard to help
Democratic candidates. We do not want to
see the good work of the last two years undone
in the Wisconsin legislature and we certainly
do not want to see Wisconsin return to the days
of sketchy budgets, teacher bashing, and crony
government that the Republican administered for
many years. We face an additional
challenge this year with the recent Citizens
United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court
that in essence opened the floodgates for
corporate spending on elections. Mike
McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign will
be addressing that very issue at our May
membership meeting on Thursday May 20.
The meeting begins at 630PM at Poynette City
Hall (upstairs meeting room.) Find
out what we're up against and what we can do
about it. Let's get to
work.
Democratically yours,
Ray
Frey
Chair
April 2010
Fellow Democrats
You remember that change we wanted in 2008? It's started. It's taken fourteen months, but we've taken the first big step with the passage of health care reform. It's not everything many of us hoped for, but it's still a big part of realizing our vision for change. The Republicans would have us believe that its passage somehow betrayed democracy (perhaps that's the million dollars a day the insurance industry spent on lobbying talking,) that health care induced poverty(!) will ensue, and that the American people have sold their birthright for universal medical care. Their claims may be exaggerated. In fact the passage of health care reform will not only prevent needless death and disability, but will help America become more globally competitive, will help align investment capital with truly productive enterprises and will probably enable thousands of new businesses to start as their proprietors need no longer to worry about the ruinous cost of health care coverage. Health care reform passed with a majority vote in both houses of the national legislature and no more trampled on states rights than did the Defense of Marriage Act. Their exaggerated rhetoric suggests instead that the Republicans' biggest worry is how popular health care reform will prove to be. That is a reasonable worry for them. Not a single Republican voted for it and they are in fact likely to pay a long term political price for their obstruction.
The Republicans reacted within hours to the passage of health care reform. It would be a mistake to minimize the part of that reaction that included violence directed at Democrats or conversely to worry overly about the suit by Republican attorneys general to turn back this legislation in the courts. The speed of their reaction suggests that they expected to lose, but it also implies extensive planning and generous funding.
Republican obstructionism won't stop with the health care bill. They'll fight us on financial reform, global warming, labor rights and tax policy. They'll use their well funded (seehttp://www.cgkfoundation.org/ ) Tea Party shock troops to get media coverage and feed their sense of grievance and then complain that the Democrats aren't looking for bipartisan solutions. Our response needn't be complicated: make sure that our representatives keep enacting good policy and keep winning elections. We don't need to worry about the Tea Partiers. They're the creeping charlie on the American lawn and you'll recognize their previous incarnations—Birchers, Klan members, Dixiecrats—but they don't come close to reflecting what the American people have said they want.
We do face, however, face real challenges in this election cycle. The recent Supreme Court decision effectively nullified controls on election spending and the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (the body that enforces election laws in Wisconsin) stated last week that they would no longer be able to enforce the ban on corporate spending on elections because of the court decision. We'll be hearing more about the implications of this change when Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Campaign for Democracy addresses our May membership meeting, but we should expect big changes in the way campaigns are waged and the money it will take to win them. Russ Feingold's reelection campaign is likely to be deeply affected, particularly as Tommy Thompson considers entering the race. Thompson's years of “consulting” for a variety of corporate interests since he left government service suggests that he would attract a lot of money from sources that have no more attachment to the interests of Wisconsin voters than they do to my grandfather's ceramic pig collection. But we're likely to see the effects in other races as well including the races for Attorney General and Governor and for legislative seats. Fred Clark, our Assemblyman in the 42nd District has clearly been targeted and we might well see (as we did in the 47th in 2008) spending that exceeds $50.00 a vote. As alarming as these developments are though, we can take heart in understanding that elections are won by good candidates, good policies and grass roots support. This may be the election where your financial contribution (still important) will matter less than your willingness to make phone calls, knock on doors and talk politics to your friends, coworkers and neighbors. It starts here with your local Democratic party. We have a lot to do this year and we need your help.
For Your
Calendar
- March 31 630PM Feingold House Party at the home of Charles and Susanna BradleyW11551 State Rd 33 (West of Portage)
- April 1 700PM Baraboo Civic Center, 124 2nd Street. Room 26 (second floor) Elevator access is available at the 1st Street entrance of the building Combined membership meeting with Sauk County Democrats featuring Peter Rickman, chair of the 2nd CD Democratic Party who will answer your questions about the organization and goals of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
- April 6 VOTE!
- April 17th All day. 2nd CD meeting, Madison. We're still looking for people to attend and the deadline is fast approaching. The party will cover the cost of your timely registration and we will surely car pool. Registered attendees are automatically registered for the state convention in June (also in Madison.) Please contact me if you would like to attend.
Three additional
notes:
-
Thanks to everyone who attended the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner/Silent Auction. We raised approximately $1300 that will help us support candidates and stage campaign headquarters. As you probably know, Tammy Baldwin was needed in Washington to vote on health care reform (Thanks, Tammy) but our chance to hear from candidates for appellate judge, lieutenant governor and AG left us freshly impressed and pleased with the quality of people who call themselves Democrats. And congratulations again to those honored at the dinner: Trish O'Neil for Democratic Hero and Blanche Murtagh for the Better Place award. Thanks to both of you for everything you've done.
-
The Tom Barrett campaign for governor is searching for someone to coordinate their campaign in Columbia County. Contact me if you would like to take this on. (The Columbia County Democratic party does not endorse any candidate until it is established that they are to be the sole candidate for a partisan office)
-
If you haven't sent in your 2010 membership, please do right away.
Democratically yours,
Ray
Frey
Chair
March 2010
Fellow Democrats
One election down, three to go. And whatever you read here earlier about a busy election year, understated what's happening. Four of us attended the County Chairs meeting this weekend and came away with two important lessons. The first is that this year's elections will occur at a time when voters are feeling discouraged and deeply uneasy. Virtually everyone knows someone who has lost their job or suffered economically. Our political leadership, particularly at the national level, seems to have convinced themselves that it politically dangerous to act on the courage of their convictions, even though that is exactly what is needed to clean up the mess of the last eight (some would say thirty) years.
The teabaggers, in the rich American tradition of Know Nothing movements, have now appeared on the political horizon. They have convinced themselves that unvarnished greed, denial of facts and barely disguised racism represent the way forward. They are well bankrolled and have thus managed to capture a good bit of (not very insightful) media coverage. We need not let the teabagger narrative dominate the nation's political discussion. Our focus must lie with the second lesson of yesterday's meeting which is that we have a great message, a message we need to repeat over and over in every possible forum. It is not a complicated one:
-
respect for the dignity of every human being,
-
a realization that we share good fortune when we have it and an expectation of help when we don't
-
a commitment to the reasonable resolution of conflict whenever possible
-
an understanding of the world as it is rather than the way we wish it to be
However we communicate this message is less important than our obligation to never stop and never apologize. You don't even have to be a paid up Democrat (though it helps) to get the word out. But letters to editor, conversations with neighbors, friends and family, working on campaigns, and keeping yourself informed, it's all important. There's plenty to do as well, even more than usual in the coming weeks:
Feingold Canvass
Saturday March 20
Go to russfeingold.org for more information.
Jefferson-Jackson Dinner/Silent
Auction
Saturday March 20 530PM Northern Edge, Lodi
Join the Columbia County Democrats for their annual fundraiser and silent auction. This annual event helps us support candidates, have a campaign headquarters and keep getting the word out.
The
Keynote speaker is Representative Tammy
Baldwin, and we featuring Assemblyman Fred
Clark, State Senator Mark Miller and candidates
for statewide office.
Consider
a donation to the silent auction as well—the
silent acution is what makes this even such a
great fundraiser. Contact Charles Bradley at
608.742.7644 to arrange your donation.
You
will probably get your invitation in the mail
on Monday. If it does not come by
Wednesday, please print off the newsletter from
our web site at
ColumbiaCoDems.com.
April
Membership Joint Meeting
Thursday April 1, 700PM Baraboo Civic Center, 2nd floor 124 2nd St. This joint meeting with the Sauk Democrats will feature Peter Rickman, chair of the 2nd CD Democrats who will talk about the nuts and bolts of party administration, decision making and platform creation. We've worked closely with the Sauk Dems in the last few years and we're hoping this joint meeting will help cement our already close working relationship.
Election
April 6th—all day and you can vote at your leisure up to two weeks ahead of election day. We've noted many times before that the historically low turnout for spring elections makes every vote extremely important. Make yours count!
Lastly: make sure
you've renewed your 2010
membership.
Democratically yours,
Ray Frey, Chair
February
2010
Fellow
Democrats:
We are less than three weeks
from the first of four elections this
year. As inspiring and fun as the 2008
campaign was, the 2010 elections look to be
more consequential. Far more offices,
especially in Wisconsin are in play.
They're the elections that will determine
voting districts for the next ten years,
as redistricting for U.S. House,
Wisconsin legislature and country board seats
follows after this year's census. Most
importantly, they represent our best chance to
achieve the change, in detailed and meaningful
ways, that we voted for in 2008. It's
abundantly clear that one or two years will not
be enough time to undo the damage, to push back
against entrenched, well funded, interests, and
to fashion the necessary policies to restore
fairness, inclusion and, frankly, sanity to
this country and this state.
Political
analysts will trot out their well worn
narratives to explain or predict ourselves to
us. They'll tell us that the party in
power loses seats in the midterm. They'll
tell us that the tea party movement represents
some form of authentic voter anger.
They'll tell us that the Democrats don't have a
clear message. Their
time would be better spent predicting the
results of the Super Bowl (Colts by ten.)
What they almost never find time to note is
that our votes go to candidates who have the
best chance of effectively representing our
most deeply held values. Despite efforts
from Republicans and various pundits to claim
that our values are misplaced, our message
misguided and our intellects misinformed, we
needn't apologize for our values or our
message: we value our individual
freedoms, we recognize that our most pressing
problems require a shared solution and we
expect that some reasonable portion of our
shared resources need to be devoted to
improving life for all of us. Our job as
political activists is to make sure we elect
candidates that have the wit and the courage to
stand up for those values and the skill to
communicate that message effectively to
voters. The wider meaning of the
Massachusetts Senate race, for example, has
probably been overstated by those
aforementioned political analysts. I tend
to think that the lesson is far simpler:
there are no slam dunks in
politics. If we want to win, we need to
have great candidates and we need to work hard
to elect them.
Opportunity
is at the door. Several county board
seats are up for grabs, in contrast to 2008
when only one was contested. This can
only be good for a county board that has let
complacency and lack of transparency lead it
into some bad decisions in recent years.
Even with this renewed interest though, turnout
in these elections tends to be low and some of
these contests are likely to be decided by
single vote margins. It is important that
you vote and even better if you can help out
candidates from your district. Look for
some familiar names on your ballots--your
ColCoDems are getting active and involved and
you can too.
We
won't be stopping after the spring elections
either--with the races for governor, lieutenant
governor, attorney general, Wisconsin
legislature, U.S. Senate and U.S. House the
pace will only pick up. As the
Massachusetts Senate race made clear, we can
take nothing for granted; Senator Feingold, one
of Wisconsin's most popular politicians noted
this months ago about his race this year, that
he had no intention of taking his reelection
for granted and planned on campaigning harder
than ever. This warning applies to every
race. Let's get to work.
Your
political calendar is starting fill up as
well:
General Membership
Meeting
February 11, 6:30,
Pardeeville Library: General
membership meeting. We'll be joined by
Amy Handler from Wisconsin Progress (their
motto: "Don't get mad, get elected") who
will talk about how they support progressive
candidates for local offices. We're also
at the time of year when we can develop and
forward resolutions for possible inclusion in
the state party platform and also when you can
sign up to attend the 2nd CD convention.
Bring your ideas (under 100
words)
Spring Primary
Election
February 16, all day.
Vote!
CCA Training
February
27/28: The Democratic Party County Chairs
Association will be holding their annual
training in Stevens Point. Though
intended primarily for county party officers,
anyone is welcome to attend. If you think
you might be interested in being involved in
party leadership in the future, this training
could give you a running start and in any event
will add skills to your political
toolbox. For details, contact Chuck
at cdgoranson@gmail.com
Jefferson-Jackson
Dinner
Saturday, March 20, 5:30 at the
Northern Edge Restaurant in Lodi. Representative
Tammy Baldwin keynotes. Once again
Sen. Mark Miller will make the
introduction. Assembly Representative
Fred Clark will also speak. Expect to meet
local and state candidates, silent auction (get
those
items you want to donate to Charles Bradley,)
fun. $30.00 Watch for your mailer
at the end of the month.
Be
sure to get your 2010 membership in soon and
enjoy the many benefits of membership in
America's best political
party.
Democratically yours,
Ray
Frey
Chair
R_frey_65@verizon.net
January 2010
May this message
find you having enjoyed a delightful holiday
season and ready for a wonderful new
year. With the beginning of 2010 the next
election cycle begins in earnest. Though
so-called off-year elections tend not to
generate as much interest from the electorate
or the media, we've noted many times in recent
months that the elections this year are
especially important. For one thing there
are far more offices in play in Wisconsin and
in Columbia County than was the case in
2008. Locally we'll see races for several
partisan county offices, all of the county
board, several school board seats and two state
Assembly seats. Statewide we have
contests for governor, lieutenant governor,
attorney general, and the U.S. Senate.
This represents a very large number of contests
and candidates to contend with in coming months
and though they are split between spring and
fall elections, we'll need to stay focused and
mobilize early.
The
experience of 2009 has presumably made it clear
that Republicans will resort to virtually every
obstructionist tactic to stall meaningful
change. For example: when Senator
Franken introduced an amendment that would
allow employees of defense contractors to sue
their employers in cases of sexual assault or
discrimination, thirty (out of forty)
Republican senators voted against it. Is
there anything else we need to know about their
values or their tactics? If bipartisan
solutions are becoming ever more unlikely (and
it is hard to believe otherwise,) then our task
will be to construct an unstoppable majority so
we can get the people's work done. It's
not going to be particularly easy, especially
in a year when voters are restive, uncertain
about their own futures and the future of the
country. We do, however, have a message
that does not depend on fear, displaced anger
or misplaced jingoism; it's about equity, good
governance and responsibility to future
generations. It's not a message that we
can proclaim without hesitation or
embarrassment, without deference to entrenched
interests and without worrying that it's too
complicated for voters to understand. It
is a message of hope, possibility and
change. We need to keep the offices we've
already won and win more, but it's going to
take all of us and we'll have to work very hard
to succeed.
It
all starts this month. The Columbia
County Democrats will be kicking off this
important election year with a Political New
Year Social Event on Saturday January 23rd
600PM to 900PM at Margo Miller's home in
Portage. We'll send out another notice
soon, but mark your calendar now.
Bring snacks/munchies to share and a
beverage of your choice. There's likely
to be lots of good political talk, a chance to
acquaint and reacquaint and hopefully just
fun. I look forward to seeing all of you
then.
Democratically yours,
Ray
Frey
R_frey_65@verizon.net