The new MCDP Executive Director, Kurt Hatcher

Mark Owens, MCDP Chairperson, has named Kurt Hatcher to be the new MCDP Executive Director. This is a paid position, but is not full time. Kurt is replacing Sarah Greathouse. Kurt was the campaign manager for Scott Dickerson in the OHD-42 contest that re-elected Republican Niraj Antani.

Kurt —

Congratulations for being named as Executive Director for the MCDP. I am pulling for you to a successful director. As a member of the Central Committee who is concerned about the disorder of the January 17 Central Committee meeting, I am requesting that you address the following:

• Central Committee members should be given advance notice of each meeting with agenda.
• There should be a requirement and a procedure for all attending Central Committee members to sign in.
• In Central Committee meetings, Central Committee members should sit together in a more condensed setting as an identifiable group — and non-members would sit in a designated adjacent area.

In addition,

• Minutes should be taken at each Central Committee meeting and each member should be provided with a copy of these minutes within a reasonable time.
• The minutes of the meeting should include the names of the members who are present at the meeting.
• A registry of the Central Committee — showing the precinct along with contact information for each member — should be provided to each Central Committee member, in either a paper or electronic copy, according to his or her preference.
• This registry should include the job description of each elected officer, the Executive Director. It should include a list of members of committees should include a statement of each committee chairperson.

Another area that I hope you will address is the fact that the MCDP website seems in complete disuse. Anyone visiting the site would think that the MCDP is a pretty lame organization.  Everything is out of date. The new MCDP Constitution, for example, that was approved in June 2018 has never been posted. There is no invitation to make comments or to dialogue. I hope you will develop a 21st century vision of a transformed MCDP web-site.

I’m betting that will make a big effort to bring big improvements to the MCDP. There is lots to do. Two areas of focus that I am suggestion that you address are: 1) Empowering each member of the Central Committee to be effective and 2) Transforming the MCDP website into a website Democrats can be proud of.

Thank you. Sincerely,  Mike Bock, Kettering 4-J

John Kennedy inspired Americans with his Big Hairy Audacious Goal of going to the moon

I keep coming back to this — Thank you Donald Trump — I’m gripped by the conviction that we are in desperate need of a strong Democratic Party. We need a sense of urgency that maintaining the Democratic Party status quo is not good enough — doing more of the same, but with greater enthusiasm, is not good enough. We need an inspiring vision of a twenty-first century Democratic Party. I like the notion of a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) — a concept that has been around for a while.

The MCDP already has a big goal: Fulfill the MCDP mission — inscribed in the new MCDP Constitution — to:

• Empower representative democracy within our party and throughout the county
• Expand membership in the MCDP to include all interested Montgomery County Democrats
• Connect Montgomery County Democrats within an extended MCDP community where every member has a voice,
• Advance candidates of the people who are dedicated to public service and whose principles align with those of the Democratic Party.

The MCDP needs to distill these ideals into a visionary BHAG that stretches the MCDP to achieve greatness.

What is a BHAG?

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras first coined the term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) in their 1994 book entitled Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. They describe a visionary BHAG as a compelling goal that stretches your company to achieve greatness. It should be a huge, daunting task, like climbing Mount Everest, which at first glance, no one in the company knows how on earth you will achieve. Examples of BHAGs:

• Become the most recognized & respected consumer brand in the world (Starbucks)
• Become the Harvard of the west (Stanford University)
• Land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth (1960’s America)

Here is the BHAG that I’m thinking that the MCDP should embrace: Become the very model of what a strong and successful twenty-first century Democratic Party county organization should be. The MCDP goal, in another words: “We choose to BE BEST” (as inspired by Melania).

I think it would make an interesting Request For Proposal:

Request For Proposal: The Very Model Of a Modern MCDP

The MCDP, the controlling committee for the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, is in need of a five year plan for system transformation. The Montgomery County Democratic Party seeks a plan that will implement the ideals affirmed in our MCDP Constitution and will, over time, transform the MCDP into the Democratic county organization that is widely considered the best organized and most successful in the nation, one that other county organizations will want to emulate. The MCDP is seeking to become the very model of the best that a Twenty-first Century Democratic Party county organization can be.

The MCDP is accepting proposals in response to this RFP in order to find a qualified source to write a five year plan that shows a vision of a fully actualized MCDP and shows the steps and process for bringing that vision to reality.

Russ Joseph just lost his election to remain Clerk of Courts. Now he is asking the MCDP to appoint him County Treasurer to complete Carolyn Rice’s term

Russ Joseph is seeking to be appointed Montgomery County Treasurer, the office vacated because Caroline Rice was elected Montgomery County Commissioner. The Democratic Party is empowered by state law to make the appointment. In a letter sent to Central Committee members, Joseph wrote: “I humbly ask for your support for the appointment to Montgomery County Treasurer and hope you’ll attend the MCDP meeting on January 17.”

Joseph has a long-time relationship with Mark Owens, the MCDP Chairman. For over ten years, Joseph served as Mark’s Chief Deputy Clerk. Mark was appointed Clerk for Dayton Municipal Courts in 1991 and has been regularly reelected.

This is the second time that Russ Joseph has asked the Central Committee to name him to an office vacated by a Democrat.

In 2017, Central Committee selected Joseph to to serve as Montgomery County Clerk of Courts, when the office was vacated by Greg Brush. The party thought that Joseph, as an incumbent, could win election in 2018 — but, Joseph lost to Republican Mike Foley by 841 votes — out of over 200,000 votes cast. (Joseph: 100862 votes to Foley: 101603 votes.)

Now Joseph is asking the Central Committee to trust him again to keep Democratic a county office long held by the Democratic Party. Joseph is asking the Central Committee to appoint him County Treasurer so he can run as an incumbent in 2020.

Joseph has managed to antagonize some loyal Democrats. His support in this election was much weaker than other county-wide Democrats. He was strongly criticized for his questionable attacks on his opponent in the 2018 campaign.

Evaluating the 2018 election, David Esrati writes:

The Ohio Democratic Party needs to have a housecleaning- as does the Montgomery County Democratic Party who have let our county go from Blue to Red over the last 10 years thanks to their protection of the “Friends and Family” plan.

Russ Joseph is a prime example. His 10 years of experience and believed “political acumen” lost him a job he should have been a shoe in for. He raised more money- but instead of talking about issues, talked about a man’s family. Of course, he won’t be unemployed in January- the Party takes care of it’s own.

Although the Central Committee is a public body subject to the Sunshine Laws, according to Ohio Revised Code, by majority vote, the body can choose to make appointment selections by secret ballot. I’m wondering if a secret ballot would be the best choice. I’m wondering if there are other candidates that the Selection Committee is vetting?