More Coverage of our Party Discussion

Now Stephen Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican weighs in with commentary on and quotes from our recent discussions about Governor Richardson and the Democratic Party here. You can read it with comments at the New Mexican online:

https://www.freenewmexican.com/news/14138.html

Or read it plain on Terrell's website:

https://steveterrell.blogspot.com/

When I posted the intial item that criticized the Governor on his $3 million plus in fundraising to date for his 06 race in comparison with the relative poverty of the state and county Parties, I had no idea such a ruckus would be raised. Overall, I think it's a very healthy development. Unlike the lockstep Repubs, we have opinions and aren't shy about sharing them.

There's a related discussion going on over at MyDD that delves into the merits of the DNC funding activities in the states as opposed to the state or local Parties. If there is a good time to debate these kinds of things I think it's now, BEFORE election season kicks in again. What we're really analyzing is how the Party presently functions at various levels and what optimum functioning would look like -- natural after the kinds of frustrating losses Dems experienced in 04 despite all that money and all those volunteer hours.

I hope to soon be proposing some positive ideas for improvements being made by fellow NM Dems. These are meant to help create more transparency and accountability within the Party structure so we can do our jobs. And I hope the powers that be will realize we're not just whiners -- we actually have constructive suggestions to make. We'll be making them as we contemplate all that tedious door knocking, precinct walking and phone banking that has already begun in some neighborhoods.

We ARE the Party on the ground and I think we're passionate and creative and willing to work hard in the often thankless gruntwork jobs. The goal is not to be devisive or counterproductive. But we believe some changes are necessary in how things work so we can WIN next time.

The emails are flying. More to come.