California Eye » Nye County Democratic Central Committee

Suggestions for Nye County Democratic Central Committee

Featheriver — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:23:44 +0000

In April the Nye County Democratic Party will elect new members to the Central Committee. I’d like to address this to the eight-thousand+ members of the Nye County Democratic Party and solicit their support for a suggestion I have for the new Central Committee to pursue.

I’ve lived in Nye County for about eight years now and have been sporadically active with the Democratic Party since.

When my wife and I moved to Pahrump from California in 2003 I had just retired. I decided I wanted to get actively involved in the Democratic Party. But, I couldn’t find the party anywhere. I looked in the phone book, some community registers, and kept an eye out reading the local newspapers seeking a clue as to where they were. No success. I began to wonder if there were any Democrats in Nye County at all.

I stumbled onto them by sheer accident. I was driving to Ace Hardware in Pahrump when I saw the word Democrat out the corner of my eye. I slowed and looked more closely. I had found their office! They had it neatly tucked away on the side street running up to Ace Hardware. I finished my business at Ace and stopped at the Democrat’s office on my way back home.

Fortunately the office was open and I entered, introduced myself, and spent a few minutes with the two or three people inside the office. Thus began my immersion into the Nye County political scene.

In the years following that first office visit it became apparent to me that there was no means meaning utilized for Nye Democrats to communicate with each other. Nye Democratic Party activity was limited to the town of Pahrump for the most part, except for a handful located in Tonopah.

Communication consisted of telephoning one another to remind them of the next monthly meetings of the Central Committee, or perhaps a hamburger fry, and such, all of which would take place in Pahrump.

To make a long story short it was evident that Democrats living in the other communities of Nye County were basically ignored. The geographical distance of those communities from Pahrump discouraged anyone living in Amargosa, Beatty, Tonopah, Round Mountain or Duckwater from attending a monthly meeting in Pahrump.

As a result the known universe of Democrats could only be found in Pahrump. The other communities remained isolated and basically ignored.

Not until the Democratic presidential caucus in 2008 did I realize just how many Democrats existed, not only in Pahrump, but in those other Nye County communities. There were thousands of them that participated in that caucus.

The campaign offices of the Clinton and Obama camps, located in Pahrump, drew hordes of Democrats to vote in that caucus. Why? Because it was a Presidential election and because the Obama and Clinton campaigns exerted great effort to contact and communicate with all those Democrats, seeking their support for their respective candidates.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that it was the efforts of the Obama-Clinton campaigns that brought all those Democrats out into the sunlight.

How did those campaigns manage that? They used every communication tool available to contact those Democrats—the Web, e-mails, telephone, mailers and meetings.

But when the Presidential election was over those campaigns closed up shop and went home. That left a huge void. Democrats that had been awakened and were actively politically involved rather rapidly disappeared from view. Communications with them had ended.

All those e-mail addresses used by the Obama-Clinton campaigns disappeared with them. That database of information was lost—forever—for use by Nye County Democrats to continue in touch with all those Democrats.

That is where we are currently in 2011. We’re back where we were in 2008.

So how can all that interest of Democrats be rekindled? In a word, I submit, communications. Why a communications system for Nye County Democrats?

There has to be a better way for all 8,000+ Nye County Democrats to be able to know what is going on within the Nye County Democratic Party. There has to be a way, I believe, for all those Democrats to be able to communicate with each other about Democratic Party political affairs. Interactive communications engender interest and, over time, fosters a closer adhesiveness of us all as a group.

For example, a Democrat living in Duckwater doesn’t have a clue what we’re doing here in Pahrump, nor do we have a clue about what they do in Duckwater.

The Central Committee is essentially the official focal point for Nye Democrats to cluster about. But, I daresay, no one in Duckwater could name a soul on the Central Committee. They’re isolated. Each community in Nye County is basically an island.

I think it is one of the duties of the Central Committee is to reach out to all those 8000+ Nye Democrats by communicating with them—and them communicating with the Central Committee and other Democrats in the rank and file.

If we want to establish a communications link to each other, how can we do it?

A start is to come up with every means one can think of to set up an interactive communications system than can reach Democrats county wide. So here are my suggestions:

Website: The Central Committee needs to inform the 8,000 Nye Democrats of its existence and how they can contact it. The Nye County Republican Party uses a website. Why doesn’t the Nye County Democrats?

One of the best Democratic websites in the state, I think, is that of the Washoe County Democratic Party . Washoe even has a page where their rank and file members can make monetary donations via cash or credit card to the Party.

That beats the Nye County system of a donation jar. That’s fine, except I think a message board within their website would be a good addition so that rank and file Democrats can read what other Democrats are saying.

Additionally it would be beneficial if individual rank and file Democrats could communicate enmass with other Democrats, like we do on Facebook.

Newsletter: Another way to communicate with large groups of people is e-mailed newsletters. Sent out periodically to the 8000+ democrats from the Central Committee is a good way to inform them of party business and events, etc, and induce participation of volunteers in the activities. Of course one has to have an e-mail address for each of them. The only way to reach those without an e-mail is snail mail, which costs money.

Twitter: Twitter is an internationally means of communicating instantly with anyone—totally free. Almost all major corporations use Twitter. I use it daily as a news feed to help me keep up with events.

Blog: A blog (like what you are reading now) is sort of a specialized website. I’ve run this one now for going on four years. A blog is free. If the Central Committee would use a blog in connection with a website and a newsletter it would provide a means for the Central Committee to communicate with the rank and file and the rank and file to communicate back via the comments section of the blog.

E-Mail: We’re all familiar with e-mail as a means of communication. Best thing about e-mail is that it’s free and virtually instantaneous.

Facebook: Another communications tool that is free. See Nye County Nevada Democrats for an example.

So, what do you think?

Nye County Democratic Central Committee

Featheriver — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:22:23 +0000

If you are a Democrat who lives in Nye County, Nevada here is some information for those of you who may wonder whether there is an organized Democratic Party in Nye County or not.

I don’t profess to try and tell you the Democratic Party of Nye County is “organized” but it still exists, quietly, almost anonymously. I have resolved to myself to try to improve keeping you advised about the party and what goes on in it, else it may simply become extinct.

Last night the Nye County Democratic Party’s Central Committee met in Pahrump. The main topic of discussion, at least from my perspective, was the election of members of the Central Committee for the next two years. Unless you happen to live in Pahrump or subscribe to the Pahrump Valley Times or the Pahrump Mirror you probably weren’t even aware there was a meeting of the Nye County Democratic Central Committee last night.

It is important for you to know that not a single member of the Central Committee announced their intention of running for re-election. So, Nye County Democrats have a golden opportunity to seat an entire new Central Committee.

The election of the 2011-2013 members of the Nye County Democratic Party Central Committee will be held on Monday, April 25, 2011, at Papa Willie’s Italian Eatery, 900 W. Highway 372, Pahrump, Nevada at 7:00 p.m. by secret ballot.

Now that you know when and where the election will take place the next question you must ask yourself is, are you eligible to run for a seat on the Central Committee? Bear in mind there are 8,907 registered Democrats in Nye County, according to the Nevada Secretary of State, as of February 1, 2011. (It is handy to also know that there are 198 Libertarians, 3,862 Non-Partisans, and 11,138 Republicans in Nye County.)

Out of the 8,907 registered Democrats in Nye County only a handful are eligible to vote for a member to the Central Committee. The list I saw this morning of eligible voters is 29. Consider that! Only 29 Nye County Democrats are eligible to vote out of the 8,907 registered Democrats. Why is that, you ask? Well, it is because you must have paid $25 to get a membership card before you can vote. Does that make sense, you ask? No, but that is required by the by-laws adopted by the current Central Committee in January 2009. In fact you can no longer run for election to the Central Committee because last night was the final opportunity to even run for a seat on the Central Committee. If you didn’t attend last night’s meeting you’re out of luck, whether you knew about the meeting or not.

So, if you live in Round Mountain, Beatty, Tonopah, or Amargosa you are out of luck, unless you had notice of the meeting and it’s importance. Why weren’t you informed of the meeting? You weren’t informed because the Central Committee does not have the wherewithal to notify you. No website, no blog, no e-mail mechanism, and insufficient money available to snail-mail you about the meeting exists. No Twitter account, no Facebook account is maintained by the Central Committee either.

So, you ask, who’s running even though you can’t run yourself or vote? Here is the ballot list:

Chair of the Central Committee: Harry Schiffman; Jan Bearss

1^st Vice Chair: Tim Murray

2^nd Vice Chair: Margery Behrens-Hanson and Laurayne Murray

Secretary: Debby DePreta

Treasurer: Cles Saunders

That’s the crop. Here we are in 2011 and the Republican Party marching forward with an aim to end collective bargaining, determined to represent corporate interests, and continue to squeeze working Democrats, reducing the economic classes to two categories: those who have and those who don’t.

If you are happy with the Nye County Democratic Party then it will be easy for you. Do nothing. If you aren’t happy with the Nye County Democratic Party, then you are going to have to raise hell because if you don’t nothing is going to change. It is up to you.

Nye County Democratic Central Committee Meeting

Featheriver — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:45:05 +0000

If you are a registered Democrat you should be interested in attending this February 28 meeting. If you are happy or not happy with the current membership of the Nye County Democratic Central Committee you need to attend the meeting because I think you will be able to find out about how and when the election of the Central Committee members will be conducted this time.

Remember how it was conducted the last time? Know what the current by-laws says about who will be eligible to run for election to the Central Committee?

Source: Pahrump Valley Times

Nye County Democrats Meet

Featheriver — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:05:04 +0000

The Nye County Democratic Party will be meeting Monday, January 24 at 6:00 pm at the Democratic office located at 1201 S. Highway 160 across the street from Saddle West in Pahrump.

That is reported in the Pahrump Mirror. I have no idea what is on the agenda for the meeting. I do expect that the question of whether or not the Nye County Democratic will vote to establish a presence on the World Wide Web. The party has not had a web presence for the past few years. I’m not sure why, except there seems to be a lack of interest.

Oh well.

Update January 25, 2011: I attended the meeting last night, at 6:00p.m. Two people were there. David Bennett, Vice-Chair of the Central Committee, and his mother, Marie Bennett and me. Also attending were Loyal Watkins, former Chairman of the Central Committee, and a new fellow I’d never met, Paul Holder. No one else showed up at the 6:00 p.m. time specified in the newspaper. Seems the meeting time was really 7:00 p.m. I wasn’t interested in sitting there for an hour until 7:00 p.m., so I left, came home and watched Governor Sandoval delivering his “State of the State” address to Nevada.

The Central Committee runs a tight ship. I don’t know who it was that had the meeting time set for 6:00 p.m., rather than 7:00 p.m. but that is what happened. No wonder there are fewer Democrats registered in Nye County than the Republican Party.

I give up.

The Nye County Democratic Party

Featheriver — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:20:06 +0000

As of October 2010 the Nevada Secretary of State reports that the number of active registered Democratic, Republican and Non-partisan voters in Nye county are:

Democrats	Republicans	Non-Partisan
8,634	10,697	3,690

In December 2008 the number of active registered Democratic, Republican and Non-partisan voters were:

Democrats	Republicans	Non-Partisan
9,168	10,458	3,550

The differences between 2008 and 2010 shows:

Democrats	Republicans	Non-Partisan
- 534	+ 239	+ 140

Active registered Democrats declined by 534 voters.

Active registered Republicans increased by 239 voters.

Active registered Non-Partisans increased by 140 voters.

Viewing those figures raises a question. Why has the Nye County Democratic Party lost 534 members while the Nye County Republicans have increased their number by 239 and Non-partisans by 140?

What is it that the Nye County Democratic Central Committee is doing, or not doing that is resulting in this apparent trend?

Is the Central Committee communicating with all the registered Nye County Democrats?

Is the Central Committee working at registering voters?

Is it because Nye County is losing population? If so then why aren’t the Republicans and Non-partisans also losing members?

In the last mid-term election only one Dem0crat was elected to county-wide office – Brian Kunzi.

How much assistance did the Central Committee afford to Democrats who ran for local offices in this last election?

How many of you can even name anyone currently on the Nye County Democratic Central Committee?

How many of you even know how to contact a member of the Central Committee?

When is the last time you’ve ever been contacted by the Central Committee?

Have you been kept informed by the Central Committee about Nye County Democratic Party meetings or events?

The 2012 election cycle is already underway. What preparations are underway by the Nye County Democratic Central Committee for the 2012 election?

Anyone know?

Insider Candidates vs Outsider Candidates

Featheriver — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:09:53 +0000

The Nevada Senate Democratic Caucus announced it will back Tammy Peterson in the race for the state Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Barbara Cegavske.

She is, in the view of the Senate leadership, a “gold-plated candidate,” one state Senate insider said.

But she is not the only Democrat running for the state Senate seat. Another Democrat, Mark Brandon, a former college football star who has an insurance business in the district intends to run for the same seat.

I thought the rules precluded the Democratic Party from endorsing a candidate when two Democrats are competing in the primary election. (Note: The Democratic Party is a separate and distinct entity from the Democratic Party. I don’t know if the rules of the Nevada Senate Democratic Caucus prohibits endorsement of a candidate or not.)

For the official Democratic Party to announce it is backing a candidate in the primary phase of the election process makes it darned near impossible for another Democratic to run successfully.

If Democrat A is recruited to run by the NSDP then Democrat B, who wasn’t recruited by the NSDP, wants to run, then B is virtually out of luck, even if B is the more competent candidate. (Note: So far as I know the NSDP (Nevada State Democratic Party) does not endorse a candidate during the primary election.)

The NSDP, having recruited A, will put their resources behind A and ignore B, putting B at a huge disadvantage.

Of all things, the Democratic Party should be democratic, shouldn’t it?

A similar circumstance occurred here in Nye County last spring. The incumbent members of the county Central Committee decided not to run for re-election. Some “grassroots” Democrats, having toiled diligently in the Obama vs. Clinton primary election campaigns and awakened to political activity, wanted to run for seats on the Central Committee. It is a long story, but suffice it to say, the “old” Central Committee blocked the would-be candidates from eligibility to run for the offices, then endorsed for election the current members of the Central Committee who took office last April. Additionally the “old” Central Committee imposed such stringent voting restrictions that hardly any of the 9,000+ grassroots Democrats in Nye County were eligible to vote for new members of the “new” Central Committee.

The result of the actions of the “old” Central Committee has been a deep resentment and split in the Nye County Democratic Party which still persists.

Hardly the way to run an organized political party.

It is a sticky problem, however. Recruiting good, competent candidates for elective office is one of the most difficult goals of organized politics.

Witness the difficulty of the Republican Party trying to find a viable candidate to run against Senator Harry Reid. Or finding someone to run for Governor when Jim Gibbons says he’s going to run for re-election. The Republican Party is stuck with supporting Gibbons, an incompetent, when there are other Republicans intending to run against Gibbons.

The problem doesn’t help the voters, who, theoretically, are interested in electing the best possible and competent people to office. When either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party tie their hands with rules that closes the possibility for good candidates to even run it shrinks the field for voters to pick from.

There is a lot to be said for recruiting candidates but on the other hand there is a lot to be said for letting candidates bubble up on their own. At the same time allowing anyone and their dog to run allows any wingnut to run.

And, considering how poorly voters perform in making their voting picks, it leaves all of us in a precarious position.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Pahrump Town Hall Meeting on Healthcare Reform to be held August 30

Featheriver — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:43:44 +0000

Dan Schinhofen

Received a phone call from my friend Dan Schinhofen this morning. Dan is a conservative and writes a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. He espouses the conservatives view of politics.

Jack Wood

I am a progressive Democrat. I also write a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. I espouse the progressive view of politics.

Dan and I can take different views and argue about them without either of us having a handgun strapped to our waists or an AR-15 slung over our shoulders.

Dan phoned me this morning to inform me that since no one else in Pahrump has done so, he has arranged with the Pahrump Nugget to hold a Pahrump Town Hall Meeting on the timely question of Healthcare Reform, here in Pahrump, Nye County, Nevada.

Nye County, for those of you who don’t live in the county or the state of Nevada, is a bright red county, as opposed to blue. The Republican Party owns it, runs it, and holds the political power.

It is as good a place as any for our own Town Hall Meeting. I tip my hat to Dan for getting it set up. The Democrats sure didn’t.

Here are the details:

When: Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 3:00 – 5 p.m.

Where: Pahrump Nugget, intersection of Highways 160 and 372

Moderators: Dan Schinhofen and Jack Wood

Master of Ceremonies: Yet to be determined

Everyone is invited to attend and participate. Dan has undertaken to invite Senators Harry Reid, John Ensign, Congresswomen Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus and Congressman Dean Heller.

The event will be televised on Pahrump local TV channel 30.

Your chance to support a Clean Energy Plan

Featheriver — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:02:08 +0000

Show your support for a Clean Energy Plan

Let our elected officials know we need green jobs.

Host: Nevada State Democratic Party

Type: Meetings – Informational Meeting

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

Location: Steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus

Street: UNLV campus at Tropicana and Swenson

City/Town: Las Vegas, NV

View Map

Email: kirsten@nvgreenvote.org

Description

Friends,

Last year, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change, including an energy policy for the 21st Century.

Members of Congress are working to jumpstart our economy and create new, green jobs in Nevada by passing a historic Clean Energy Plan. Unfortunately, big oil and gas companies are using scare tactics to stall this work and are organizing a protest Monday against any sensible reform to our nation’s outdated energy policy.

PLEASE JOIN US — Monday, August 10, at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus — to let our elected officials know we need green jobs and a Clean Energy Plan now! It’s important that we show our support for a Clean Energy Plan.

Join other Nevadans to send a public “thank you” to Sen. Harry Reid for the work he is doing to support a Clean Energy Plan in Congress and call on other senators to vote in favor of jobs that can’t be exported overseas. Sen. Reid recognizes that we must harness Nevada’s vast solar, wind and geothermal energy potential to stabilize our energy costs and create much-needed jobs!

Free parking is available in the Cox Pavilion parking lot on the UNLV campus at Swenson and Tropicana. For more information, please go to www.rebuildnevada.org. To RSVP, please email kirsten@nvgreenvote.org.

Anyone think that perhaps the Nye County Democratic Party ought to hold a Rally in Pahrump? After all Nye County is a perfect spot for “green jobs” rooted in alternative energy sources of wind, solar and geothermic. Why not ask your Nye County Democratic Central Committee to put on a rally here in Pahrump.

Dina Titus targeted by GOP

Featheriver — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:18:41 +0000

The GOP is not letting any grass grow under it’s feet. It is busily identifying freshman and sophomore members of Congress it will target and seek to oust from their elected office. [Blue Jersey]

One of those targeted by the GOP is Representative Dina Titus who represents Nevada’s Congressional District #3. Titus isn’t alone, there are 70 on the targeted list. Republicans are working together in their grassroots organizations. The following statement from the GOP says:

Hi friends, Below you will find a list of 70 districts that the NRCC is targeting this cycle. As Chairman Sessions stated earlier this week at a pen and pad briefing, “There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.” With that said we have the opportunity to focus on many more districts and some unusual districts that haven’t been targeted in a long time. We are very excited about our prospects in 2010 and look forward to having your support! If you have questions about a particular district please shoot me a note.

Here in Nye County, Nevada in Congressional District #2. The only grassroots endeavor I am aware of that is working to unseat Republican incumbent Dean Heller (ProjectVoteSmart) is the national Organizing for America organization. I’ve heard of no such local grassroot effort being mounted by the Nye County Democratic Party.

Cindy Trigg, a Democrat, in Northern Nevada had announced she was a candidate for District #2, but dropped out about a month later.

Paul Reeves, of Pahrump, announced he is a Democratic candidate for District #2 last Monday, August 3 at an event sponsored by the Pahrump Chapter of Democracy for America.

Jack Schofield, of Las Vegas, has indicated he is also a Democratic candidate for District #2, and is expected to publicly announce his candidacy soon.

So far as I know both Reeves and Schofield are running on their own without encouragement or assistance of the Nevada State Democratic Party or the Nye County or Clark County Democratic Parties. Nor have I heard of any recruitment efforts by the state or local Democratic organizations to find a competent, viable and electable candidate to run against Dean Heller.

Heller, being the incumbent, has the full GOP organization behind him. Makes it very lonely and difficult for a Democratic Candidate.

Heller increasing his Twitter Tweets

Featheriver — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:39:16 +0000

I follow Dean Heller on Twitter. He follows 679 people. He is followed by 497 people.

Just today he has issued five tweets to his followers. They are:

CBO just admitted that its 250 professional economists have yet to figure out the full cost of the bill the committee is marking up today.
This is a massive unfunded mandate that will increase billions in new taxes on working Americans.
Approximately 114 million Americans will lose their health insurance under the Democrats’ plan.
The proposed government run health care program is estimated at $1.5 trillion or greater.
Government run health care will result in fewer choices and the rationing of health care.

There is a steady evolution, or perhaps revolution, going on in politics. Politicians are using Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their constituents. Using Twitter and Facebook also allows their constituents to communicate right back. There are millions of people using Twitter and Facebook.

Starting with the use of the Internet in a political campaign by Howard Dean, its use has was refined and improved by the Obama campaign. It is still evolving. Obama uses websites, Twitter, and e-mails to keep in touch with his supporters. He keeps them informed about what he thinks and what he is trying to do.

Obama is elevating use of the Internet to call his supporters into action.

Dean Heller is no dummy, he sees the way of future politics and is using it.

The way politics is conducted via the Internet will continue to improve and broaden its reach to the masses as the technology expands and as more and more people discover the value of communicating using the Internet.

Those politicians and political organizations that continue using the status quo techniques will soon fade out of sight, for failing to use such social sites as Facebook and Twitter.

Let me give a for instance. The Nye County Democratic Central Committee is in need of a way to communicate with the 9,332 registered Democrats in Nye County, who are spread over hundreds of square miles. Their current means of doing so are (1) newspaper ads, (2) telephone calls, or (3) snail mail. Each of those means are either expensive or time consuming and labor intensive.

Moreover, it takes volunteers to to accomplish communication by phone calls and snail mail. Volunteers are in short supply.

Yet, to be a viable political organization the Central Committee must find a way to interactively communicate with those registered Democrats, else their organization will degenerate into an impotent entity. The emerging younger generation operates in a cyber world uninhabited by older Democrats. It is that younger generation that is the future of the Nye County Democrats. The Central Committee must find a way to bridge the gap between the older status quo Dems to the younger progressive Dems, else fail to be an effective political force.

It is with interest I watch to see whether the Nye Democratic Central Committee can meet the challenge.