If you weren't there --- You really missed it!

Written by: Paul Rola on Aug 18, 2006 3:40 PM EDT

Blue Missouri Conference 2006
August 12, 2006 Columbia Mo.

Attending from the Kansas City area: David Avila, Ada Gebhardt, Jim Herrmann, Joe Medley, George Melby, Stan Moody, Carol Ann Peterson, Anne Pritchett, Julie Rola, Paul Rola, Phyllis Sheaks, Katia Silva, Pamela Smith, and Jim Walsh.

This will be a much abbreviated summary of the full day Columbia meeting. Detail will be cut and limited to those subjects we feel will be of interest and value to DFA'ers. Read on:

Shortly after 10:30 AM, our host Bill Monroe of Democracy for Missouri (Columbia DFA) kicked off the meeting. Bill welcomed all, presented an outline of the days events and then rolled right into the introduction of Jim Dean.

Jim Dean pointed out "Political activism is what we're all about". Jim is heartened by the growth he is seeing through out the 50 states. Meetings he has attended in California, Ohio and Iowa showed him that activism is firmly in place. There are 700 DFA type groups now, where there were only 350 when Howard's campaign ended. Jim stressed that training is sooo key. We need to be smarter about how we work on campaigns. He then related a story about Howard's run for Lt. Gov. in Vermont; Howard called on patients for help and even enlisted a group of Republican college students to work on his campaign for independent study credits. We need to work hard and smart, but we need to have fun too.

Q & A session:

Q. What works best for state organization?
A: Ground game / voter contact / work w/other organizations, phone banking, door knocking … keep your eye on the ball … leafleting, door knocking, phone banking (letting it go does NOT work)

Q. What differentiates a political activist from a crackpot?
A. We're all here because we're not normal, according to Howard. Between the mainstream media & DC folks, the battle is between the culture of activism & incumbency. Activists work hard for candidates, but must be willing to work hard for the winning nominee, even if the nominee doesn't support your position on a particular issue.


Q. How do we move a conservative Democrat (like Mrs. Clinton & Dennis Moore) Eg. Murtha toward progressive values?
A. Concentrate on other races which ultimately work to keep Democrats in office.


Q. How much coordination is there between the DNC & DFA?
A. The DNC is a federal PAC & DFA is a non-Federal PAC. They cannot cooperate in any way with financing, and even talking is somewhat limited … Though Jim does admit he can send Christmas card to Howard, but only after he fills out the required 2 page disclaimer. DFA concentrates much more on more local politics, whereas the DNC works more at the federal offices level.

After this question and answer session each of the visiting organization gave a quick summary of what they were working on:

Andrew Cling, Kirksville: is running a campaign for Rebecca McClanahan, D - Kirksville - Truman University had only a 22.1 % voter turnout in 2006 & this is the highest number in recent years. Andrew thinks activating the students could help his candidate to win.

Joe Medley GKCDFA described the programs our group has taken on, including the Book Club, the Sept. Democratic Values Picnic, and our link to the Drinking liberally group to bolster attendance. Joe also outlined the upcoming programs featuring Alvin Brooks, and coalitionbuilder.com for Sep. and Brett Shirk (ACLU) talking about Voter ID's in October

Jo Etta Alwood from St. Louis gave us the sad news that the St. Louis DFA group has not had a meeting for about 6 months due to ill health of their leader. Jo Etta is maintaining the St. Louis blogsite, to keep up communications and interest in the group.

Jim Herman, DFHA announced the formation of their new group on this past 4th of July. There message is one of Progressive Values and activism needs to be fun.

Through out the day there were various speeches by, and a forum for, local candidates and leaders of various group, For the sake of brevity we will cite those facts, thoughts, ideas and suggestion gleaned from the various talk that we feel might be of value in your activism. They will be presented in bullet form.

• Politics is show business for ugly people (Duane Burghard Congressional candidate 9th)
• Why aren't more people questioning Republicans about the 1.3 trillion debt, the vast majority of which is financed by overseas banks? (Duane Burghard)
• Republicans talk about ethics. Veteran issues are the hugest gap in ethics. 40% of our military people do NOT have health care coverage. 262,000 veterans were denied health coverage by Bush last year. $2.7 billion DECREASE in veteran benefits passed by our legislators (Duane Burghard)
• Immigration (Jul. 26, CNN.com) Under the Bush administration, in the first 4 years, 318 fines were imposed against employers who hired illegals. During the 8 yr. Clinton administration, there were 5,587 fines against employers (698/yr.). Bush didn't impose but 3 fines during the election year 2004. (Duane Burghard)
• It was the GAO that stated we're no safer than we were on 9/11., not just some left wing activist. (Duane Burghard)
• Know the numbers before you make a decision. Wellsville Mo. Democrat thought it was hopeless in Wellsville. He didn't know a single Democrat till the MPV 06 provided him with a list of 600 other lonely Democrats in his area. First meeting, 4 Dems showed up. (Mike Alfoni, MPV06)
• Gotta work with the Democratic party even when we don't agree with their stand on every issue. (Ron Barry, Pro Vote)
• People are tired of chicken dinners. Try something new: How about a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a late night rock concert! (Jeff Smith, Mo. Senator elect 4th)
• It's NOT just about money, but also about energy, tenacity, passion, belief in our values! (Jeff Smith)
• As activists, we need to support challengers … they're team players and will remember us as people who supported them before they were "somebody". (Jeff Smith)
• On the issue of the Religious Right in a political campaign: "It's so tempting to argue with them", just mark them a 5 and be done with them. Jake Zimmerman congressional candidate 83rd )
• Know your audience before delivering your message. (Ron Barry)
• Harassment = turnout. In order to get people to "do" things, you must completely, repetitively contact them. E-mail can be a tool, it is not the whole answer, to say the LEAST! (Ron Barry)
• Gotta' pick your battles; cannot work for every candidate; can not work on every issue. Select strategically. Gotta' provide workers with a purpose. (Ron Barry)
• Message … message … message. Stick to your message. Once you've won, you can talk about other things. (Ron Barry)
• How do we move from being an asterisk to being recognized as a force to be reckoned with? Reject the message of Democratic Leadership Council. Reject DC power brokers. If you are dead serious about cleaning up our government; don't' start with DC, start with middles of nowhere … or middle of Mo. grass roots! This is a New form of politics where activists can get word to broader audience … thru' Internet, thru' DFA-type of organizations. (Del Miller/Wayne Brekhus or maybe Jeff Smith?)
• "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead, Ms. Mead unfortunately could not attend our meeting… But years ago she made this statement to be used on this occasion; and we thank her for that!)


Charles Chamberlain, Our DFA guest speaker and new regional director (of something I can't remember) offered an in depth look at the value of DFA Link. Charles points out that nothing beats face to face communications; on the other hand when that's not possible we need to stay in touch with our group by publishing our plans and experiences through our website DFA link. By the end of this year it is expected that 40,000 people will be signed up on DFA Link…By 2012, 10 million. There are 550,000 DFA members only 30,000 signed up on DFA Link thus far.

Tips for making DFA Link vibrant: Blogs should change regularly (not be static). Announcement of up coming events should be posted and updated regularly. Constantly moving content is interesting. Comedy is okay … fun and interesting. Encourage new bloggers, have them write what they feel. Encourage comments in response to blogs and then respond to the responses - politely. 4 paragraphs is a good rule, but not ironclad. Try to stay away from just posting already published articles. Write your own stuff. Make subject line interesting but not too revealing. Use the event's link, keep people aware of what is going on. Send out emails with important announcements. Back up announcements with phone calls. Try to get RSVP's and confirm their receipt, this is a good time to send an agenda. Use personal emails rather than blanket emails to contact those people you don't know. Per Charles If they've made their phone # & address known to us, they've given us permission, in a WAY, to contact them. Use polls periodically for fun and interest. Migrate people from meetup and dump it. Get people linked to DFA Link as it links us all together.

The remaining time was spent in sort of a round robin discussion on whether we should try to put together a state organization, if so, what would it look like, what would it do etc. There were no clear cut decisions made at this point except for a resounding YES we need to work towards a statewide group that will raise our overall profile and at the same time help each individual group. The details will have to be hashed out as we proceed. All interested in watching the state wide group grow, please link into the new website: www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=165...

I would like to again extend our thanks to the Democracy for Missouri (Columbia DFA) for all the work they put into developing this conference. The food, arrangements and facility were all great. The content and tone of the meeting was even greater. Here's to moving forward toward a bluer Missouri through the efforts of a statewide DFA effort.


Written by Paul, from notes by Julie

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Location: Kansas City, MO 64110