Peter Rousselot, who is running for Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) chair, just sent out a press release about the response he’s been getting from Central Committee members and Local Party Chairs as he calls and meets with people around Virginia. Here’s a sampling of suggestions, all of which he pledges “to adopt if you elect me as the next DPVA Chair.” Go Peter! (bolding added by me for emphasis)
“DPVA must set at least minimum expectations for local Chairs. If a Chair can’t even hold local committee meetings, then DPVA needs to step up and do something to enable Democrats in that locality to realize their full potential.”
“DPVA has got to help local committees recruit and field candidates in elections that are not targeted by the Senate and House caucus leadership.”
“As a local Chair in Southside, I need help in recruiting younger Democrats to get involved with my local committee. DPVA should provide me with tips and suggestions to help me get that done.”
“In order to inspire Democrats at the local level, DPVA has got to communicate a vision that it stands for something more than just electing more Democrats to office.”
“I understand you speak Spanish fluently. We need someone like you as the next DPVA Chair to help our local committee recruit Democratic Latino activists and candidates from among our growing Latino population.”
“Our new Chair needs to be someone who can inspire the people in the back room to believe that the Chair understands what they are facing.”
“With the tremendous job of re-building that DPVA confronts, we need a Chair who can commit to devote full time to the job.”
That last point is crucial. Whatever you think of Brian Moran’s “day job” as a lobbyist for the for-profit “education” industry, the fact is that it’s a full-time position which will leave very little time for Moran to work on DPVA issues. After crushing losses in 2009 and 2010, the last thing we need is a part-time chair. Instead, we need someone who will dedicate themselves 24/7/365 to the job so that we keep control of the state Senate in 2011 and then fight hard in 2012 for Jim Webb, Barack Obama, and our Congressional candidates. Without that effort, I fear that we’ll just be “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And you know what that’s a definition for.
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