DNC Funds Used to Strengthen County Parties in NC

Editor's Note: Here's a piece on how the the North Carolina Democratic Party is using its money from the DNC to strengthen its state party and, perhaps even more importantly, its county parties. I think it raises some issues we would do well to ponder here in New Mexico, with the DNC assessment visit happening later this month, followed by an anticipated investment of DNC funds in the DPNM.

My name is Jerry Meek, and I'm the head of the North Carolina Democratic Party. I'm the one spending your money.

Many of you have given money to the DNC recently to go to state parties. Giving is not always easy in the Bush economy. Thankfully, my job is not to give, but to spend what you have sacrificed to build a better party. North Carolina was the first state to be 'assessed' by the DNC, and we're about to receive our first slug of money to spend on organizing. As someone who's spent years in the party, and who has given my fair share to candidates, I don't see giving money as a 'gift', actually, but as an investment. And since this time I'm not giving, but spending, I owe you a report on how we're using the resources you provided.

The money you gave is helping us organize our state. We are hiring three regional organizers -- an Eastern, Central, and Western Political Director. The Western Political Director is on staff, and the others will come on board in the next few weeks. All three of them are on the DNC payroll. The goal is to address some longstanding weaknesses that we've had in the North Carolina State Democratic Party.

First, I need to give you some background on Democratic party politics here in my state. The last several years have been spent rebuilding our party infrastructure and building a strong state organization. The fruits of this showed in 2004 when North Carolina was the most successful state in the South for Democrats--we re-elected a Democratic Governor, the Democrats captured control of state House and increased our majority in the state Senate. These are proud achievements and show that North Carolina has all the makings of a "Blue" state. But we can do better. Like the national party, the North Carolina Democratic Party is challenged by the need to move the party outside of Raleigh and go back to the grassroots. For the last several decades, county parties have been starved of resources, talent, training, and data. This is showing up in a lack of effective outreach, poor lists, and a sense of alienation from the party among grassroots activists. I ran to become the North Carolina Party Chair earlier this year on a platform of changing the culture of centralizing political power in this state, and moving it out to the people on the front lines. This was the first competitive election for the party chair position in recent memory, and grassroots activists made their concerns very well known. We have been successful at the state level, but with strong grassroots organization, we can make North Carolina a state that the Democrats carry in presidential elections -- something that hasn't happened since 1976!

This is not pie-in-the-sky thinking. North Carolina is a state that could go Democratic in a few years in Presidential elections. Despite our cultural conservatism, the electorate is slowly shifting away from the Republican party because of demographic trends. The "research triangle" is attracting out-of-state residents who vote Democratic on a national level, and I believe that with hard work, effective outreach, and a strong identity, we can make this a swing state.

What we're going to do with the organizers you paid for is work on upgrading the county organizations so that they can become the focal points of political activity. Many of these organizations do not have a good technical infrastructure, or the knowledge of how to use data to contact voters. The people who staff them are great volunteers, dedicated, and eager to work hard -- I want to make sure that when we push resources and data out to them, they are prepared to use those resources and data to maximum effect. The organizers will spend a great deal of time on training. First, they will help us assess what each organization needs, and then will help create training platforms around the unique needs of each county. As we build the party, we will modify the training programs accordingly, and swap best practices around the state.

What you gave will have real, tangible effects in organizing North Carolina. There will be more Democratic Board of Education members, Mayors, Legislators, and Governors. More people will be involved in politics because of the investments you made. The greatest change that you are helping foster, however, is not just electing Democrats in North Carolina. That is an outgrowth of what you are really paying for, which is allowing people who never thought they mattered to come into politics and prove that it is the people that make this country run. That's what the Democratic Party stands for in North Carolina, and that's what all of us are helping to build.

Thank you for your investment, and we here in North Carolina hope to steward it wisely.