Please help us get organized in Las Vegas

[Nevernose]

So. I’ve inadvertently been elected as temporary president of a local coalition of people who would like to be more active in the Nevada Democratic Party (between six and nine as a minimum, depending upon who’s asked and what the alignment of the planets is). And to be honest, the main reasons I’ve been chosen is that that I not only have copious amounts of free time after the alleged President decided to lay me off, but I have a talent for googling obscure topics.

What do I do now? I don’t even know how our state party is organized, other than the fact that our state chairman is, I believe, Adriana Martinez. How do “the clubs” thing work? From what I hear from various sources, the Paradise Club (“the oldest and most prestigious” according to the lady who picks up the phone for 737-VOTE) is mostly social. The only other Democrat’s club I’ve heard of is the gay Dem’s club, and the gay people I know who are interested don’t want to join a gay club (they’d rather be considered human beings regardless of their sexual orientation – fancy that ;) ).

We are all very progressive, and we all have ideas as to where we want this party headed – locally, state, and nationally – and want our voices heard, as we’re all feeling a little frustrated. We have other ideas as well, such as sponsoring events, donating to candidates, letter/phone campaigns, simply forming a Yahoo email list, and a host of other topics. We are, above all, dedicated.

However, we have no idea how to get our ideas heard or how to get them off the ground. So my questions are:

• How is the Nevada Democratic party organized?
  
• How can we get our voice(s) heard?
  
• What’s the best way of going about our (admittedly small) organization?
  

Our little group has not met officially yet, at least not as a group. I was thinking that the best way would be to organize a “meet-up” or “house party” or whatever euphemism you would like to use. So far I have numerous things on any potential agenda, and we are considering forming a new Democratic Club in Las Vegas, something both more active and more vocal. And what other options do we have?

We’d certainly appreciate any input or interest you have. Responses via DU would be handy for the bulleted questions for those not in Nevada (I’m certainly at a loss), and those in Nevada (specifically in Las Vegas) should please feel free to email/pm me, as I will not only contact you via computer, but am happy to give you my address and phone number.

[TankLV]

1. What you have suggested is what I've been wanting for quite some time.

Only problem with me has been work related these past couple years, and I kinda "dropped out" because if I can't be dependable, then I don't want to disappoint and be the cause of any failure.

Now I am more inclined to become involved again.

The persons you described all could describe me.

There are a couple of other DU'rs I've read about who are here, too.

Weekends or evenings would be best for me.

What you said about the Paradise Club and the Stonewall Club is very accurate - but I was introduced to the Stonewall Club by a person who lamented that only the older persons were attending that club and it was "social" club and wished more younger persons would join to turn it around. From the years I've been attending, even at that club, there are subsets of like-minded individuals.

I've started a thread here on the very same subject, but no takers.

[NPDC]

2. Progressives in Vegas

Just joined after hearing about the interest in progressive groups in the Vegas area. Please check out www.pdamerica.org to explore and then click on Nevada. There you will find the Nevada Progressive Democratic Caucus. This group was formed in May, 2004 and has been active and is growing. Please email or call us if you would like to be involved. We are planning a Southwestern Regional Conference in Phoenix Feb.11-12th for anyone interested and we will be having planning meetings before that. Check out our page on PDAmerica for updates or give us a call. Hope to hear from you, D in Vegas