Often times in politics we are forced to make difficult decisions. When a race is interparty, these decisions are magnified ten fold. In the race for Chairman of the Utah Democratic Party I find myself choosing between two candidates who have served me, and the organizations I care about, well over my political career. Each has provided me with advice, encouragement, and opportunities I would not of otherwise had access to had they not been so kind towards me and my groups.
In this situation I am forced to look at the ideas each individual is proposing and base my vote not on who is or is not popular, but on what ideas each has to advance the party I love.
During my own race for Second Vice Chair of the Salt Lake County Democrats, I formed many ideas that were focused specifically on improving Salt Lake County; however, they also were drawn from the areas of improvement I felt the Utah Democratic Party needed to implement in order to grow and thrive. I would soon come to discover that Bell’s plans about taking back and defining our message, implementing strategy, recruiting and incorporating volunteers, and giving candidates the tools they need to succeed were very similar to my own.
To use his words, we must educate, communicate, and evolve.
We must educate people on what the Democratic message actually is and not let us be defined by our Republican counterparts. Furthermore this means that we must actually put teeth into our Democratic Party platform so that both the public and our own candidates know what we as a party stand for.
We must do a better job of communicating our message once it is in place. Though we may own the high ground when it comes to issues such as education, ethics, and heath care, we have yet to be able to find traction in these fields when Election Day comes around. This does not mean that we create a monolithic message – candidates must be free to adapt to the realties on the ground, what it does mean is that we must not only be stronger, we must also be smarter.
We must also evolve to take advantage of the ever-changing realties of modern politics. For far too long we as a party have assumed an “if you build it they will come” attitude towards recruitment. But, the simple fact of the matter is, people don’t choose parties, therefore parties must choose people. We must ultimately make the Democratic Party accessible in order to increase both the quantity and quality of our interaction with potential Democrats. Bell feels, and I agree, that this is achieved by holding more free and low cost events across the state. A free hamburger at the park is much more inviting than a $250 seat at a table for a political event to someone who is interested, but not committed.
Finally, I was forced to consider results of the current chair during the past election cycle. Last year we gained three House seats: Laura Black, Jay Seegmiller, and Trisha Beck. All three of these candidates had prior experience in running races in their area and it can be argued that all three would have succeed regardless of direct assistance from the Democratic Party. We also gained a Senate seat with Karen Morgan taking the lead in the Cottonwood area; but, again, Senator Morgan has run numerous campaigns and is well known in the area and we can, again, argue that she would have succeeded based on her own merit.
The facts that tend to get glossed over is that we lost Mike Dmitrich’s Senate seat in Price – a seat that was held by Democrats for 36 years – and that we failed to unseat Chris Buttars despite having a good candidate and community support.
We must also look at the balance sheet for the Party. Last year the Party received $475,000 more than it expected in its miscellaneous section – it can be assumed that these funds were used by the Party to set up Utah Common Values. UCV was specifically designed to win races an increase Democratic turnout. With a net gain of three House seats and no net gain in the Senate, it can be said that the party spent $158,333 each on three House races, and only three house races. Keep in mind that this is all while the Obama campaign was running in the background and making people come to the polls that have never voted before. Yes, we may have pushed the ball forward, but was the money spent as well as it could have been?
It is for these reasons that I support and endorse Jeff Bell in his bid for Chairman of the Utah Democratic Party. I both respect and admire the hard work and dedication that Chairman Holland has done to grow the Party under his reign, however I feel that Jeff will do more for our party in our current political climate.
I encourage you to do your research on both candidates and to make an informed decision from there. Jeff’s campaign website can be found by clicking here. I am currently unaware of a formal website for Wayne Holland, however I will update this post as soon as I am informed of it. Wayne’s Facebook page can be found by clicking here.
Curtis,
After working with you on Becker’s campaign I can honestly say that you have just proved what others on the campaign were saying, but I tried to ignore because you are a nice guy. But, being nice and educated doesn’t mean you have any common sense, which is the complaint that I heard when we were both working for Ralph.
Because I liked you I hoped you would win one of the many elections you have lost, but now I can see that the voters in those elections were better informed than me.
I wish you the best, but I can see why more and more smart Young Democrats just don’t want to work with you. You just don’t get it, and a nice smile can’t hide the fact that you make poor decisions.
Danni
Dannielle,
That’s a pretty nasty and low comment. You hint at some nasty rumor, without talking about anything substantial. You’re here to put Curtis down on a personal level, because you apparently can’t refute his endorsement of Jeff Bell. That’s so very juvenile. If you disagree, I would think you should give reasons why you support Wayne instead, not try to sling mud at Curtis because he supports Jeff.
I’m glad Curtis’ politics are not based in that sort of crap.
– Misty
Mr. Bell gave great speech at the Weber Convention (Cache Convention state candidate speeches online soon). Video here:
Candidate, Jeff Bell
Incumbent, Wayne Holland
Apparently links are disabled here, so take two (cut and paste):
Jeff Bell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVW4n89k5Yg
Wayne Holland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40osg-IZ9E
Danielle, whoever you are, you are a horrible person. I’ve known Curtis a lot longer than you and can refute everything you’ve said. I hope no one listens to you ever either.
Misty,
Calling me nasty is ironic considering the things I have heard you say after a few beers.
Davis,
I like Curtis too. That doesn’t change the fact that Curtis has poor judgment.
Danielle,
Although i disagree with my friend Curtis on what direction the party should go in, i do not believe that that means he has poor judgment or no common sense. Curtis has looked at the issues and come to a decision.
That does not mean he has poor judgment that means he has done due diligence.
I for one looked at the issues and came up with a different perspective, but i do not think that Curtis or anyone else is going to question my judgment because of it.
If anyone here has shown poor judgment or a lack of common sense it is you for coming on to someone’s website and attacking them personally, I am sure Curtis would respect your opinion if you came on and disagreed with him (witch i do), but making personal attacks is in bad form.
Justin
Thanks Justin for the comment. Danielle, I agree. Let’s keep it civil.
I feel that I had to weigh in on this endorsement discussion due to the fact that Mr. Haring uses me and my race.
First it is important to know that I feel that Curtis Haring, Jeff Bell and Wayne Holland have all made much appreciated contributions to Democrats and our Party. We, as a party, should be looking at ways to keep them all doing what they can to keep our party moving forward. There are some people that are impatient about the progress we are making. The thing to remember is that we ARE making progress.
Mr. Haring states that I would have won my election regardless of what help the party gave me, simply because I was an experienced campaigner. I respectfully disagree, Mr. Haring proves my point later in his endorsement when he points out that Brad King, a well known past minority leader, lost in a to a newcomer in a Senate seat that had been held for as long as I can remember by a democrat. Having experience and being well known helps win races but it takes a lot more that that. Certainly Republicans Greg Curtis and Carlene Walker can also attest to this as well.
I believe that without the tremendous help that I received from the State Democratic Party, the County Democratic Party, the Young Democrats, Labor, and the many individuals that donated time and money to my campaign, I would have been hard pressed to win. I worked hard all three times I ran. Winning political races takes much more than effort from just the candidates, it takes teamwork.
It would be wrong headed to focus on one idea or one candidate. Candidates in Utah County have different issues and different constituencies, than Candidates in Salt Lake City. We need someone heading our party that understands this. I believe that Wayne Holland has proven that he understands this with the multi-pronged approach that he and the Party took in the last elections. We are definitely headed in the right direction. Obama won Salt Lake County the first time for a Democrat Presidential candidate in how many years? The Republican Speaker of the House lost his reelection bid. Salt Lake county council now has a Democratic majority, and several Democrats running for the legislature in Utah County received over 40%, where in the past it was really big news if ONE Democrat received 30%. Now is not the time to change course.
Jeff Bell has a chance to do a tremendous service for Democrats in the state by not only continuing his radio program “LEFT OF THE DIAL” on KSL radio but hopefully he can grow his listener base and get a larger and better time slot. I would hate to see the party loose this progressive radio show on the biggest radio station in the state. I am afraid that is what would happen if Jeff were to win this election.
If we want to continue to grow the party we need to continue to find ways to work together, stay motivated, and all give what we can to the effort, including time, services, and money. The current game plan is working and gaining momentum lets stick with it.
We Democrats can win back the majority in Utah, because we care about others and we are truly more fiscally, morally, and environmentally responsible than the other major party in the state.
Representative F. Jay Seegmiller
[...] short time ago, as many of you know, I endorsed Jeff Bell for Chairman of the Utah Democratic Party. Soon after I posted a KCPW interview with Jeff discussing what he wants to do for the party. [...]
I was just googling for Utah Common Values and your post was near the top.
A correction on your accusation about Utah Common Value costing X, getting Y results and then dividing those numbers to say therefore each seat cost Z. UCV was setup to be a long term program to gain votes, it wasn’t designed to be a quick vote catcher but a sort of slow schooling.
So pretty much, the payoff isn’t just based on one year. The results will slowly build over each election cycle.