Democracy For America / Change For Missouri
October 18th, 2005 | Posted in Local, Politics
On Monday night I attended the first steering committe meeting for DFA / Change for Missouri. I should actually describe the meeting as one organized to form a steering committe rather than an actual committee meeting. The group’s organizer, Dyan Ortbal-Avalos, had been bearing the brunt of the workload for some time and decided for the group’s health, and her own, more people needed to take on responsibility. With everything being in the hands of one person certain responsibilities had fallen by the wayside; not because of the leader’s ability but from sheer lack of resources, mainly time.
The meeting was my first, but at it I met a small group of very dedicated and passionate people who’d been involved since before the 2004 elections. We discussed how and under what structure the group should progress. Some of the items covered are listed below, in no particular order:
(1) internal structure
(2) legal status of the organization - should we become a 501(c)3 or 527 PAC?
(3) who would do what
(4) short term goals (i.e. letter writing campaign on Harriet Miers’ nomination to the Supreme Court
(5) long(er) term goals (i.e. supporting candidates, issues, legislation, etc . . .)
(6) communication (within the organization and to our constituents and coalition groups)
I’m excited about what we can do with the people involved in this group. I want to learn from people who’ve been in the trenches. The track record of my peers is impressive, and I want to help add more and more pages of accomplishments. I want to do something instead of bitch about politicians or get a headache thinking about issues. I’ve sat on the sidelines too long, and a few months ago started to get worn out reading the barrage of misinformation and bad news perpetually flowing from nearly every media source. I stopped paying as much attention, thinking it would relieve some of the frustration I was experiencing. But, the exact opposite happened - I grew even more irritated. It was then that I decided to seek out people who could help me act. That brings us back to my attendance at the DFA / Change for Missouri meeting.
While passion isn’t lacking a bit of organization is. But, if we can train ourselves to pick specific targets, develop a concrete strategy with tangible milestones and create a healthy momentum the people messing up this country won’t know what hit ‘em.
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