The election results are in, the talking heads, for the most part have stopped, so the question remains now what?
At one time I was a very active Broward Democrat. I would take the days approaching election day off from work. I would spend eighteen to twenty hours each of those days working towards the election of "good Democrats". I would do what it took from thousands of phone calls, to sign placement, to door knocking. The largest push of any election is the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. From what I witnessed this midterm cycle there was very little if any GOTV effort. I received lots of e mails, but I received ZERO phone calls. Not even my precinct captain got in touch with me to make sure I voted.
In past elections the Broward Democratic Party had a plethora of GOTV offices, including one specifically for the LGBT identified voters. From what I can tell there were just three, two of which were not focused on the entire Democratic slate, but on two specific races on the west side of Broward County. Where was the Broward Democratic Party this election cycle?
After 16 years at the helm, I am in the opinion, as are many "silent" active Broward Dems, that Mitch Ceasar needs to step aside for new pro active leadership. The Broward Democratic Party needs a full time leader who will groom future candidates for office and leadership. Mitch at one time was the darling of the Broward Young Democrats and the Broward Democratic Party as a whole, but alas your time has passed. While you are at it Mitch, please take Diane Glasser, Mike Moscowitz, Lori Glasser, and Percy Johnson with you. You have all failed in your leadership capacity.
There are some very bright stars within the B.D.P. Names that come to mind are Tim Ross, Franco Ripple, Elroy John, Ryan Terrell, and Anne Gallagher just to name a few from the Broward Young Democrats. The so called "party base" out of Kings Point, Century Village Sunrise Lakes, etc. are no longer there. The few that attend the monthly meetings do so for the free coffee and cookies. The real workers are now more centrists, younger and professional. These are the future of the B.D.P. There are so many more, but the current BDP Leadership want to stifle their voices to the detriment of Broward Democrats.
Now is the time for a clean sweep. Now is the time to reorganize, reenergize, revitalize the Broward Democratic Party so that in 2012 we can be the powerhouse of the State as we used to be.
One reason that you didnt hear from your precinct captain is that we were locked out of the VAN - the data file with the voters' phone numbers. The system re-sets your password every 30 days and the Broward Party has to re-activate your account. I made numerous calls and emails to Tammy, the "executive director" at the Broward DEC office, but my VAN access was never granted. I ended up using the neighbor to neighbor tool on BarackObama.com to place calls. Unfortunately, the numbers I got from the Obama site were not specifically my precinct. , and I did go the polling place on election day and hand out palm cards, but didnt see any other volunteers or precinct captains there. Several other precinct captains told me that they too couldnt get into the VAN and call their voters. Many precinct captains said that their area leaders have never contacted them to do anything. One wonders if the organization serves any useful purpose - except to generate revenue for its upper management.
ReplyDelete