Always a lot of fun. Missing my friend and brother-in-law, Jimmy Dunaway

April 20, 2009 — Hard to believe that ten years have gone by since the passing of my friend and brother-in-law, Jimmy Dunaway. Jimmy was 71 and had been a minister in the United Methodist Church for about fifty years. I am missing Jim especially today, and especially also missing my sister, Carole, who passed on May 19, 2014. Their grave site is nearby — in David’s Cemetery — I rarely visit, but today I will cut a few tulips and place on the grave.  I love you Jimmy. I love you Carole. So sorry you had to leave us so soon.

Love is a song that never ends

Life may be swift and fleeting

Hope may die yet love’s beautiful music

Comes each day like the dawn

Love is a song that never ends

One simple theme repeating

Like the voice of a heavenly choir

Love’s sweet music flows on

See:

• Sometimes, God Gives Us Great Favors, April 22nd, 2009
• Love Is A Song That Never Ends, June 15th, 2009
• Spring Flowers At Centerville Church Are In Honor Of My Friend And Brother-In-Law, Jim Dunaway, April 30th, 2013
• Some Day When I’m Aw-f’ly Low, May 19th, 2016

Mark Owens, Chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party and Clerk of Courts

Yesterday, I had a cordial and productive 80 minute meeting with Mark Owens, longtime Chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. One outcome of the meeting will be the establishment of a “Strategic Planning Committee” that will be “charged with developing recommendations for discussion and action in the Central Committee concerning how the MCDP can advance the goals established in the preamble and statement of purpose established in the MCDP Constitution.”

The new MCDP Constitution talks the “pro-democracy” talk. The purpose of the Strategic Planning Committee will be to make recommendations of how these high-minded words can be translated into a long-range action plan.

• The new preamble says that the MCDP should seek to be “a strong party organization that empowers representative democracy within our party and throughout the county.”
• The new statement of purpose says: “The purpose of the Montgomery County Democratic Party is to represent and to serve Montgomery County Democrats. The MCDP advances this purpose by connecting Montgomery County Democrats within an extended MCDP community where every member has a voice, and by advancing candidates of the people who are dedicated to public service, and whose values align with the principles of the Democratic Party.”

These new additions to the MCDP Constitution indicate huge pro-democracy goals that, if accomplished, would make the Democratic Party in Montgomery County a true grassroots organization. The Strategic Plan that is needed would show how to engage within the Democratic Party organization many more of the 58,000 registered Democrats in the county than the small number of county Dems who are now engaged.

A huge issue for the MCDP is simply getting Democratic voters to turn-out and vote. Regardless of yeoman efforts by the MCDP, strong Democratic precincts have a turn-out much smaller than the county average. This problem of Democratic turn-out is a state-wide and national problem. There seems to be a GOTV ceiling. Unfortunately, it seems we are reaching the limit of what can be done through knocking on more doors and mailing more literature efforts to break that ceiling. The new preamble and statement of purpose point to a different strategy — one of building grassroots communities where voting is highly valued.

It was because of Mark’s recommendation that the goals for the MCDP outlined in the new preamble and statement of purpose in the MCDP Constitution were approved at the quadrennial “Reorganization Meeting” last June. Now, I am encouraged that Mark supports taking the next step and establishing a plan for implementing these goals. Advancing these goals, points to a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for the MCDP. The more that the MCDP can accomplish these goals the more it will become a model of the exemplary — dynamic, twenty-first century — Democratic Party county organization so strongly needed throughout the state.

One evidence of a “pro-democracy” MCDP would be an active and committed Central Committee. Mark agreed to place on the agenda of the next Central Committee meeting proposed changes to the MCDP Constitution that, if approved by two-thirds in attendance, will make the Central Committee a stronger group. (See below)

Anyway, it was a good meeting and I am encouraged that there is an avenue open for the MCDP to grow into the strong organization that it needs to be to organize and empower county Democrats. And, I’m encourage to see how I can make a good contribution to the MCDP efforts to prepare for the crucial 2020 elections.

Proposal to Amend Section 7-4 of the MCDP Constitution:

Email notice of Central Committee meetings shall be provided to all Central Committee members who have email service. Written notice by U.S. mail shall be provided to all members who request such notice. Members shall receive notice of meetings at least five days prior to the date of the scheduled meeting. This notice shall contain an agenda of the meeting and shall include minutes of the previous meeting.

Proposal to Add to MCDP By-Laws:

• Minutes of Central Committee meetings shall include a record of all members in attendance at the meeting and shall identify the precinct that each attending member represents.
• Each Central Committee meeting will include a review of the minutes of the previous meeting for changes and approval by vote of the Committee.
• Each Central Committee meeting will include a Treasurer’s report.
• Each calendar year, the Central Committee will discuss, vote on changes, and approve the MCDP budget for that year.

See:  Why Do Strong Democratic Precincts Have Absurdly Weak Voter Turnout? The MCDP Central Committee Should Seek Answers

The agenda for the March 28 Meeting for the MCDP Central Committee indicated a very short meeting — it amounted to twelve minutes of announcements and reports. The you-tube video of the meeting shows that after this agenda ended, I addressed the group starting at 12:42. My goal in speaking was to make a motion that the Central Committee form a subcommittee, of everyone in attendance who would want to join, to meet with the chairman and discuss making deliberation a big part of our Central Committee meetings. I start my remarks by telling about the paper that I already had distributed to the group — a copy of a letter to MCDP Chairman, Mark Owens. In this letter I outline a list of six topics / issues that I’m urging that the Central Committee to deliberate — to research, discuss, and reach consensus about.

My name is Mike Bock. I represent the Democrats in Kettering 4-J. I first became a member of the Central Committee in 2006, was reelected in 2010. Did not seek election in 2014 and was elected in 2018.

I am very concerned about the party and I think we all should be. How do we create a strong party that has unity? This is the question we need to think about. How do we make these meetings of the Central Committee the kind of meetings that members want to attend?

I checked the sign-in sheet and counted about 60 members in attendance this evening. That’s out of a total membership of about 240. Thanks to Alison and Tim Benford about 110 new members have been appointed to the Central Committee since the Reorganization Meeting last June. This big increase is great, but it’s not going to matter unless as an organization we do better. We should be alarmed that in 75% of our Central Committee members are absent tonight. This is a tiny turn-out. We are not doing anything in these meeting that gives any member a good reason to attend.

I’d like for everyone to have a copy of an email I sent to Mark Owens. In this letter I am saying that the Central Committee must become a deliberative body and we must begin talkinga bout important things. We need to do the hard work of researching and dialoging about questions of real importance. In the letter I suggest six issues for deliberation. In this meeting, nothing of consequence has happened — there only has been announcements and club reports — nothing that would interest the 75% of the members who chose not to attend.

The Central Committee needs to discuss and deliberate important questions. We need to come to grips with what a twenty-first century Democratic Party should look like. Last May at the Democratic Primary, Democrats elected a new Central Committee. At the June Reorganization Meeting there were three big changes to the MCDP Constitution — pointing to a new direction of the party. The new Preamble says: “We the Representatives of the Democrats living in Montgomery County — in order to form a strong party organization that empowers representative democracy within our party and throughout the county — withing our party, and within the whole county — do establish the Montgomery County Democratic Party Constitution.”

I think we will become a strong party when we become a champion of democracy — when we become known as champions of democracy. I like the idea in the movie “American Creed,” that Alison referred to, that citizens need to work together to find common ground. What really unites Americans is our love for America. We love America. We all want our system of government to succeed but it is falling apart right now. We have no unity, we are pulling against each other.

Ralph Nader famously said that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are like Coke and Pepsi. They are both trying to sell you something. People are cynical and sick of politics as it is now. We shouldn’t make it our goal to become better politicians. We need to stand for something. We need to stand for something as a party that transcends politics. We need to let people know that we are champions of democracy. We need to do the hard work of deliberation. We need to show our devotion to democracy by what we are doing in this room, by what we talk about in this room, by how we empower ourselves in this room.

There’s only 60 people here this evening. What does that poor attendance say? It says most members saw no value in coming to this meeting. We didn’t have an agenda for this meeting. We are not operating in a professional way. These remarks might sound negative, like I have some animus in my heart. I love you all. I want the party to be successful. How to make the party successful is the question.

Here’s is what we need to do. In most organizations, the real work is done in committees. Deliberation works best in small groups. Right now, this organization has no active committees, except, maybe, finance. (I turned to Kurt Hatcher and he verified.)

Where is the committee to do what our constitution challenges us to do? Where is the committee — “To connect Montgomery County Democrats within an extended MCDP community where every member has a voice…” That’s a big deal. Montgomery County has 60,000 registered Democrats. Why are we not brainstorming and making a plan for engaging our base?

Where is the committee that is studying the 2018 election in Montgomery County? There has been no report. Montgomery County voted for Trump and for DeWine. Why did we allow that to happen? Why won’t Democrats come out and vote? We have precincts that voted 90% – 95% for Cordray. It’s amazing. But these strong precinct only had a turn-out of 40%. What can we do to make 2020 different? Why aren’t we talking about this? What is our plan?

So, I’d like to make a motion …

See:  Ironic — Speech At Central Committee Meeting Calling For The MCDP To Be “A Champion Of Democracy” Interrupted By ‘Non-Debatable’ Motion To Immediately Adjourn