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South Baldwin Democrats June meeting. Comments about Pitt in bold. Draw your own conclusions. SOUTH BALDWIN DEMOCRATS JUNE 26, 2005 MEETING FOLEY CIVIC CENTER 4PM Frank Camp called the meeting to order shortly after 4:00 PM. Following the welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance, Massey Lambard gave a Treasurer’s Report. The SBD currently has $2072.98. Petitions to ask the State Legislature to call a Constitutional Convention to reform the Alabama State Constitution, written in 1901, were available for signing. To obtain a petition contact Frank Camp, Helen Bain, or Peggy Cunningham. Contact Linda Madsen for information on the formation of a Faith-Based Democrats Group. The Baldwin County Democratic Executive Committee recently elected new officers. They are Chair--Jim Sears, Vice-Chair--Kathryn Thompson, Secretary--Helen Camp, and Treasurer--Frank Camp. The SBD is contemplating contributing funds toward keeping the Democratic Office in Foley open. We are currently accepting earmarked funds for both office expenses, and campaign funds. Frank then introduced the speaker, Jim Spearman. Spearman is the new Executive Director of the Alabama State Party administering the day-to-day operation of the party. He has served as the chairman of the Lamar County Democratic Executive Committee for the past 17 years.For the past 4 years he has served as the Vice-Chair for County Affairs for the Alabama Party. Last year he was Alabama political director, first for Wesley Clark and later for John Kerry.
Jim Spearman said that the State of the Party in Alabama is good. Democrats control 75% of the offices in the state, although most of these are on the county level. Still, the state legislature has a majority of Democrats. The 2006 elections coming up are very important for the state party. The Democrats traditionally do better in off-presidential year elections in this state. A large number of offices will have races. Spearman then listed a number of candidates who have informally indicated that they will enter state races.
Governor: Democrats--Lucy Baxley, and Don Seigelman; Republicans--Roy Moore, and possibly Bob Riley . Lt. Governor--Jim Folsom . George Wallace, Jr.--Rep. Terry Butts--Rep. . Other probable candidates are: Julian McPhillips, Luther Strange (B’ham attorney). Mo Brooks
For Treasurer: Kay Ivey ; for Attorney General: Troy King, John Dyson , for Secretary of State: Nancy Worley , and Beth Chapman Ron Sparks, Agriculture Commissioner currently has no opponent. Congressman Jo Bonner has no opponent. There are seats available on the Ala. State School Board. All members of the state legislature are up for reelection. The Republicans badly want to take over the state legislature in the 2006 elections.
The Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee meets twice a year, in Birmingham in the Fall, and in Montgomery in the Spring. There are two delegates, one male and one female, from each Congressional District, as well as some members--at--large. A racial balance is kept. There are approximately 256 members. Our representative covers House districts 94, 95, and 64. Neither Spearman nor us knew who are representatives are. Anyone can run for the State Committee by putting themselves on the ballot in the Democratic primary, which will be next June. A qualifying fee must be paid to the County Executive Committee. Qualifying opens March 1, 2005 and closes April 6, 2005.
Other candidates for state and local offices also must adhere to these deadlines. Spearman himself got on the Committee through popular election.
The Chair of the ASDEC is Redding Pitt. His position is paid, but a paid chair is expected to be abolished in the next few weeks or months. The Vice-Chair is Amy Burke. Other officers are Joe Reed, Jeff McDaniels, and Jim Spearman. The state committee does not take a position in primary elections. They do have a Statement of Principles . And are working on a “Southern Message” with careful attention to wording.
The financial state of the party in Alabama is poor. Spearman is serving as Executive Director without pay, and his only staff member is a technology expert who handles the computer. Jim Wyre is managing the Democratic Caucus in the state legislature, as the funds for his old position as Field Director dried up. Spearman was picking up a delegation from the DNC on Monday, June 27, to discuss funding of local staff members by the DNC. They have indicated that instead of sending professionals from other parts of the country they will be hiring locally in Alabama. No funds are available from either the state or the national party to help candidates in our local areas. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee , headed by Nancy Polosi, funds Congressional Campaigns, and did commit some funds to an Alabama Democrat in the 2004 election, but television ads funded in this way were pulled after 3 weeks because the money was needed more badly in New Hampshire. This Alabama election was lost by only a few thousand votes. When asked how we are supposed to fund campaigns, Spearman replied that most candidates raise their own funds. He comes from an area that is heavily Democratic, where most candidates have a reasonable chance of winning elections.
On the topic of County Committees, Spearman said, that as you would expect, some counties have active committees, and some don’t. He provided us with copies of model by--laws for County Committees, drawn up by the state party. . In election years, County Committees are required to meet monthly; in other years, quarterly. County Committees can engage in service projects, and also sponsor local clubs, like the ESD and SBD. Democratic Clubs on college campuses have exploded in the last year. Alabama took the largest delegation of college students of any state to the 2004 Democratic Convention. They stayed in dorms at Boston College. Spearman stated that he might be able to get us some student volunteers to go door-to-door. Democratic Clubs sometimes come from unexpected sources. The “Over-the-Mountain Club” in a prosperous area of Birmingham was formed by one enthusiastic Democrat who drove around his neighborhood cataloguing the Kerry Yard Signs during the election.
The Kerry campaign did extraordinarily well in Alabama, in spite of the loss. Kerry’s results were over target in the 2004 election. By noon, in Birmingham, they had reached 150% of their target, and Kerry received more votes than any past Democratic candidate in the history of the state. Unfortunately, the Republican vote was 200% over their target, largely due to the Christian Evangelical efforts in the state. The Alabama Democratic Party will be raising funds nationally, on the internet, to combat the candidacy of Roy Moore in the 2006 election.
Spearman urged us to run candidates for every office in the 2006 elections. His belief is that “even a poor candidate is better then no candidate.” Running Democrats for office increases the credibility of the party, costs the Republicans money to finance their own campaigns in those districts with an opponent, and increases our visibility. We asked Spearman if there was any chance of our getting a “Camp Yellow Dog” in Baldwin County to help train us to campaign. “Camp Yellow Dog” cost $25,000, and is therefore not possible, but he might be able to arrange a “Yellow Dog Day” here that would be a workshop on campaigning.
Resources for fundraising include FundRace.org--list of donors to the DNC with names by zip code. The Alabama State Party also now has a Website with a BLOG at www.aladems.org. It has info on fund raising. And other info.You can reach Jim Spearman at his e-mail address: jamesbspearman@ bellsouth.net.
Submitted by,
Helen Camp
Co--Chair, South Baldwin Democrats.
P.S.: On July 13 the Mobile Register printed a story announcing Redding Pitt’s resignation. He will continue to serve until the Ala. Demo. Executive Committee meets in the fall. He is concentrating on getting the DNC to provide more money for Republican-dominated states like Alabama.
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