Alan Clendenin

Good evening Democrats!

Wow, what a great time to be a Democrat in Florida.  We are standing on the edge of what will be a 20-year growth period for our party.  This growth, along with an increase in Black, Hispanic and minority voter registration will help us elect Democratic Alex Sink as our Governor, a Democratic State Cabinet, a Democratic Majority in our State House and Senate, Democratic County Commissions, Democratic Majority City Councils, Democratic Majority School Boards, Democratic Congressional Seats and we will take back our Senate seat by electing Kendrick Meek to the United States Senate.

I am FIRED up about the fall elections!  We have a slate of outstanding candidates running for office.  Right here in Hillsborough we have the potential of taking back at least two Florida House Seats!  I don’t see us electing a Democratic majority in the Florida House in 2010.  With the success and take away seats we’ll get in the fall, 2012 will be our time to take back Tallahassee from the special interest

Budget and Finance Committee

The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) Budget and Finance Committee met on Tuesday February 2nd in Tallahassee.  The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss and pass a budget for FY 2010.  As many of you will recall from my previous updates The FDP operation now includes not only the operation of our state party, both Senate and House victory are budgeted and by the party.  FDP Executive Director Scott Arceneaux presented the Party budget.  Scott along with FDP Finance Director, Christiana Bolton presented a detailed report on party expenditures, projected income and a realistic operating budget.

Senator Nan Rich presented the Senate Victory Budget to the Committee. Ron Saunders presented the House Victory Budget to the Committee.  Senator Rich and Representative Saunders both presented detailed budget and fundraising plans.  After hearing proposals I have no doubt that with the help of grassroots activist, House Victory and Senate Victory the Florida Democratic Party will gain Democratic Seats in both the House and Senate.

FDP CFO Anne Morgan provided information on our financial audit and accounting.  FDP Chair Karen Thurman has done an outstanding job of institutionalizing fiscal discipline and accountability.  Compare the transparency of our funding and expenses to those of the Florida Republican Party!  Our Party is the peoples Party and our budget and priorities reflect that reality.

The Committee approved the FY 2010 Proposed Budget.

In accordance with the FDP Charter, Art. II, Sec. 2.2.7, the Budget and Finance Committee is responsible to review the FDP State Chair’s salary annually.  During this discussion for obvious reasons Karen Thurman excused herself from the meeting.  FDP Vice Chair Rhett Bullard led the meeting during the salary discussion.  The Chair’s salary has been frozen for approximately 10 years.  Many of us on the Committee expressed concern that there has been no index or increase for inflation, longevity or success.  A proposal was made to increase the salary.

U.S. Price Inflation (CPI-U, Annual Average)

2000 = 3.40%

2001 = 2.8%

2002 = 1.6%

2003 = 2.3%

2004 = 2.7%

2005 = 3.40%

2006 = 3.2%

2007 = 2.8%

2008 = 3.8%

2009 = -0.4%

2010 = 2.4%

Cumulative U.S. Price Inflation between 2000 and the end of 2009 = 28.67%

As you can see an adjustment was called for.  The Committee overwhelmingly recommended to submit a recommendation to the Central Committee to increase the FDP Chairs salary.  The story didn’t end there.  Here is the text of Karen Thurman’s letter to the Acting Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.

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Karen Thurman’s Letter

February 4, 2010

Mr. Rhett Bullard

Vice-Chair

Florida Democratic Party

214 S. Bronough Street

Tallahassee, Florida  32301 

Dear Rhett:

On February 2, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Florida Democratic Party met to hold our annual review of the state party’s budget.  Also on the agenda for that meeting, as required by our By-laws, was the Committee’s review and approval of the State Chair’s salary, officer reimbursement policy and DNC member travel reimbursement. During the review process, a motion was made by one of our committee members to raise the salary of the Chair at which point I recused myself from the meeting and turned the chair over to you. 

Afterward, I was informed that the Budget and Finance Committee had voted to raise the State Chair salary for this year by XX% to $XXXXXX.  I am writing today to inform you and the Committee that I must respectively decline the salary increase and ask that it not be forwarded to the Central Committee for approval.

Please know that I am truly humbled by the Budget and Finance Committee’s show of trust and recognition that this raise represents.  I believe that we have accomplished a great deal here at the Florida Democratic Party in my five years serving Florida Democrats, but I also believe that we have much work left to be done.  This election year, 2010, is the most historic and important in Florida in my lifetime.  We must ensure that every dollar available to our Party goes to electing our Democratic candidates.

Electing Democrats has always been my number one goal.  In addition, these are hard economic times for Floridians and the hard working men and women who donate to our Party except that money to be used wisely and efficiently.  To that end, I feel that rather than increase the Chair’s salary in a year such as this that the money should be dedicated to our coordinated campaign in 2010 and our efforts to turn out Democrats across our great state.

Please let the members of the Budget and Finance Committee know that I appreciate their support and the gesture.  I look forward to working with each of them, and our entire Executive Committee, as we work toward building a better Florida in 2010 by electing Democrats up and down the ballot.

Sincerely,

Karen Thurman

Chair, Florida Democratic Party 

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While I strongly believe the right thing to do is adjust the Chairs salary I respect our Chair’s position and will withdraw my support when or if this issue is addressed at the Central Committee.

Two additional mandatory policy reviews were conducted, the annual review of officer reimbursement and the annual review of DNC Member reimbursement.  The Committee made no changes to these policies.

FDP Rules Committee

Earlier in day on February 2nd the FDP Rules Committee met.  Ok it met before Budget and Finance but if I led with rules you would have deleted this email or fallen a sleep by now J.  Most of the proposed amendments were house keeping amendments to clean up inconsistencies and better reflect in the rules what the standard practices are.  One proposal was very pertinent to Hillsborough County and the confusion that surrounded the status of our DEC Chair position when Pat ran for office.

The proposal was:

Charter, Article V, County Democratic Executive Committees, Section 5., Policy and Procedure:

Add the following language, “In the event a County Democratic Executive Committee’s bylaws conflict with or do not address matters covered in the Charter and Bylaws of the Florida Democratic Party, the state party’s rules shall take precedence.”

There was a general consensus (there has always been a consensus) that we must look at our State Charter and By-Laws and the County Charter and By-Laws to work out a long-term solution to this problem.  While the proposal was simple there was some concern that passed as written it would create additional problems for our counties.  This issue was referred to a Chair appointed subcommittee and the subcommittee will report back to the full committee at our next meeting.

On the evening of the 2nd the FDP hosted our annual Legislative Appreciation reception at the Mary Brogan Museum.  This is a premier annual event for our Party.  It gives us an opportunity to showcase our amazing elected leaders and thank them for fighting the fight defending our party’s values and platform.  The reception was so well attended it was tough to move through the crowds.  There were a few friendly Hillsborough faces in that crowd.  Stacy Frank, candidate for State House District 57, Janet Cruz, candidate for State House District 58, Democratic activist (when does she sleep?) Susan Smith, State Senators Charlie Justice and Arthenia Joyner, and State Representative Betty Reed. 

The Legislative Appreciation Reception was my first opportunity to speak with our newly announced CFO candidate Loranne Ausley, this is someone you definitely need to know about.  She is bright, warm, charismatic, and immensely qualified to be our next CFO. 

To learn more about Loranne go to her web site: http://www.ausleyforcfo.com  

And while your surfing her page become her Facebook friend:  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/pages/Loranne-Ausley/182383268803?ref=ts

Reality Check

If you have been listening to talking heads and blow hard radio talk show host you would never know how much our President has done in such a short period of time.  I know there is some frustration concerning the perceived pace of success, but let’s not let that frustration blur the true story.

One of the most telling quotes from the President last week was actually President Obama quoting another great Democrat, President Kennedy: “When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were.” President Obama added his own 2009 truth to the end of President Kennedy’s statement. “When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were. Truth was things were worse.”

President Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Taking over after eight years of failed Republican economic policies and fiscal Republican irresponsibility that left our country on the brink of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  The United States economy was loosing 750,000 jobs a month. The average American household was in decline. And wait there is more, the Republican President and the Republican Congress left a $1.3 trillion budget deficit and two wars.

That is where we were and below are just a few of the successes our Democratic President has realized in just over 12 months.

Transparency, all White House visitors are posted online and lobbyists have been excluded from policy-making jobs as well as seats on federal boards and commissions.

President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the most sweeping economic recovery plan in American history. (side note, nearly every Republican in Congress opposed the Act.)

Under President Obama’s leadership Congress passed nearly a $300 billion tax relief package. 95 percent of working Americans received a tax cut.  Small businesses received tax relief totaling nearly $5 billion.  Nearly $13 billion in new lending to 65,000 small businesses has been generated.  And it didn’t stop there, the Act funded thousands of projects around the country, many right here in Tampa Bay.  These projects put Americans back to work rebuilding our roads, runways, saved schools from slashing budgets and cities form laying off police.  The City of Tampa received $38 million to revitalize the Central Park Village. Hillsborough County received $7,665,200 for energy efficiency.  Florida received more money than any other state, $348 million.  More than $100 million of that will be spent right here in the Tampa Bay area.

It took Democratic leadership to keep America’s financial and automotive sectors from collapsing.  This action prevented millions more from losing their jobs, millions of businesses from failing and home foreclosures.  Our President did what he had to do to fend off the imminent collapse of the financial system.

To stop the unfair and oppressive practices of credit card companies, President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD). 

To prevent tobacco companies from marketing to our children and to improve public health, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.  The Act gives the FDA broad authority to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products.

President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, creating hundreds of thousands of opportunities for people to serve their communities.

President Obama expanded health insurance to four million more low income children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

To ensure scientific decisions are based on facts and not religious ideology, President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding of stem cell research.

Within weeks of being sworn in, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guarantees equal pay for equal work.

The President signed a presidential memorandum that extended federal benefits to the same-sex partners of Foreign Service and executive branch government employees.

President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.  This Act extended federal protections to people who are victims of violent crime because of their sex or sexual orientation.

Has called for the repeal the “Don’t ask don’t tell” law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country that they love because of who they are.

President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 designating almost 2 million acres of new wilderness areas 

President Obama announced new national emissions and fuel efficiency standards for American cars and light trucks. For the first time the standards put limits on greenhouse gas emissions and will be combined with fuel economy standards as a single standard

President Obama’s appointed Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina and the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court. 

President Obama is working tirelessly to restore our alliances and our standing abroad.

One of the most recent examples has been the United States response to the tragedy in Haiti. Our President’s leadership, supporting the people of Haiti, will help restore reputation and faith in America’s promise.

President Obama banned the use of torture.

He has started the withdrawal from Iraq and refocused our military to fight al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It’s easy to be in the minority. You aren’t responsible for governing and the Republican’s have years of experience not governing, even when they were in the majority.  Now all you hear from Republican leadership is criticism and political attacks.  They have no interest in brining solutions to the table because their own political ambition, not the good of our country, is their driving motivation.  To regain control and power they will let our economy suffer, they would let millions of workers loose their jobs, and they would let our health care cost spiral out of control just to get their hands back in the cookie jar.  After all the Republican financial backers have made billions on the backs of tax payers for years and they want back to get their pick pocketing fingers back in your wallets and purses.

Our President needs our help.  When you hear others attack our progress, call them out.  Don’t let the negativity go unchallenged.  The President is making good on his promises deserves our support.

DNC Meeting

So that’s why they call it a “Winter meeting” BLIZZARD.  By now you have probably heard about the Winter DNC meeting in Washington DC and the blizzard we were all stuck in. No subway, not taxis, very few snow plows, lots of wind, snow and downed trees and just about everything closed for days. I can honestly say, if I had to be trapped in a hotel with hundreds of people I am so thankful I was surrounded by Democrats!

This was a three day meeting.  We had two opportunities to hear from the President and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to us during a breakfast meeting on Saturday morning.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was suppose to join us on Saturday but the weather forced him to cancel his plans.

Democratic Party Caucuses and Councils met on Friday and Saturday (regional caucuses, the LGBT Caucus, Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Women's Caucus, Seniors Council, Rural Council, Veterans and Military Families Council, Youth Council, and Native American Coordinating Council)

All the standing Committees met including the Rules and Bylaws Committee This is the committee that get’s the next look at the report from the Democratic Change Commission (this was the panel charged with reexamining and recommending changes to the Democratic Party's rules for the 2010 Presidential nomination and delegate selection process.). During this meeting an overview of the report was discussed. The committee did not act on the report but we expect to see a vote taken at the next DNC meeting where there will be more detailed discussion.  There are many many issues that make this task very complex.  State statutes our Party does not control is one huge obstacle.  One issue may require a DNC Charter change, allocating superdelegates to reflect voter’s preferences.  This may require a change to the DNC Charter and that requires a hard to reach 2/3 vote.  I will have more details after the next meeting.

Southern Caucus

Perhaps the most interesting meeting was our Southern Caucus meeting chaired by SC Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter. We heard from South Florida U.S. Representative and the House Deputy Whip Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.  She did and outstanding job speaking about the 2010 elections.  And her efforts to ensure our party maintains a Democratic majority in the House.

There was one recurring theme over the weekend.  The need for our Party activist to recognize there are elected officials that represent very conservative areas that helps make up our valuable majorities.  While many activists bemoan these relatively conservative representatives, we need to maintain our majority in both the House and the Senate.  Our President needs to maintain a Democratic majority to assist him in moving our agenda forward.  The President and our national Party needs the support from all Democrats.  If you think progress is slow on issues you find important today you don’t have to look back to far to see how our values were dead on arrival in a Republican Controlled Congress.  We need to support those candidates that help make up our majority.  You might not agree with the voting record on all issues but if we loose the majority we will loose the all.  We do not need our own version of the ‘tea baggers’.

Did you know Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama is holding nearly 70 federal nominees confirmations hostage?

The Southern Caucus looking into conducting polling to identify regional specific trends. The next meeting of our Southern Caucus will be in Nashville, TN the second week of April in conjunction with the Association of State Democratic Chairs meeting.

The Southern Caucus established additional subcommittees; Veterans/Military Affairs, Labor, Finance, Communications, Faith, Program, and Youth. I think that was all but I might have missed one.

Saturday Morning with the President

On Saturday morning the President Obama stopped by again and gave us a pep talk on his agenda, where he stands and where we are going.  What moral booster that was! He told us that despite recent setbacks he will continue to move forward on health care. Status quo is not maintainable and not an option. We must have an open and honest public debate on these issues.

After the President concluded his remarks Chairman Kaine started the business meeting.  Here is our take away, 2012 election challenge, turn out!  Build on 2008 and get the youth involved.  We need to keep them in the Party and turn them out to vote.  There were a LOT of young Democrats visiting us during the meeting.  There was even a busload of college Democrats from Florida.  It was great to see so many young energetic faces in the crowd.

OFA and the Democratic Party

There was a lot of frustration surrounding OFA and the interaction with Local and State Parties.  In an effort to address one aspect of the frustration I alone with other DNC members cosponsored a resolution, which passed without dissent

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that OFA will continue to support the efforts of the Democratic Parties at the state and local level in communicating their positions on state issues by the most appropriate method, including sending individuals to state party websites whenever possible.

HUGE THANK YOU

And finally I would like to thank Lisa Montelione for her significant contribution to the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee.  The annual dinner is the largest single event fundraiser for our county.  Lisa stepped up to the plate and tirelessly worked to ensure this dinner would be successful.   Thank you Lisa, we all owe you a HUGE thank you!

Well it’s getting late, my eyes are crossing and I need to get to bed. I’m sure I forgot something and I can guarantee there tons of misspelled words and bad grammar. I usually catch them after I hit the send button.  Don’t forget about the monthly DEC meeting tonight at the Children’s Board.  And if you live in House District 58 don’t forget to vote for Janet Cruz on or before February 23^rd, vote early!