Draft Maxey website now up

[NoPasaran]

It's clear: 2006 is shaping up to potentially be a great year for Texas Democrats. In a Travis County district drawn to be 57% GOP, the Democratic candidates received a combined 60% of the recent special election vote. Nick Lampson leads Tom DeLay in recent polls by 8 points, there are Democrats up and down ballots all over Texas, including 31 of 32 Congressional districts, and the Republican culture of corruption is turning voters off and turning them on to the Democratic Party. The time is now.

Possibly overlooked by Texas Democrats this election season is a race that may be more important to the Texas Democratic Party than any other race in the state as it pertains to Party growth. We need to strike while the iron is hot.

During the weekend of June 8-10, 2006, Texas Democrats will elect a new State Party Chair who will man the helm for the next two years. The selection of the leader of our State Party at the convention in Fort Worth is critical leading up to the 2008 elections.

A growing number of Texas Democrats want to see an individual elected who utilizes tried-and-true methods, but also has the vision to think outside of the box – a Chair who uses innovation, technology, and vision to help us compete with the Republican Party, and to stop spinning our wheels.

We believe we have found that individual, and his name is Glen Maxey.

[jobycom]

1. He won't get my support.

Glen Maxey's "innovative" methods include Rovean strong-arm tactics I'd rather see out of the party, not heading it. He destroys all opponents equally, regardless of party affiliation or ideology. In other words, if he doesn't like a candidate, he will use the most underhanded tactics to destroy them, even if they are good progressives. I've personally been involved in campaigns he runs against. I've watched him promote recently converted Republican Democrats over life-long liberal Democrats just because they paid him or somehow convinced him to be on their side. I've seen him viciously attack the will and hard work of well-meaning liberal activists, (yes, me included) to get his way. He has no respect for people, for democratic principles, or as far as I can tell, for party, given some of the people he's backed.

He will strong-arm any candidate he doesn't personally like out of the race, rather than let the Democratic voters decide. He demands lock-step obedience. He set up one young man in my club to take the fall for his own devious conniving. This poor man, almost a kid, was convinced to sabotage a club's endorsement proceedings and was left to face the full wrath of the club when Maxey's henchmen exposed the kid as the culprit. This young man was shaken near to tears after being attacked, and promised his friends he's never do Maxey's "dirty work" again.

Maxey's interest is Maxey. He cares less about Dem wins than Maxey wins. He cares less about liberal ideology than his own personal interests. Ask around Austin. He's got supporters, but he has a lot of bloody enemies. I do not consider him a good person, by any means.

If there's a "draft Maxey" campaign he's probably secretly heading it. He'll probably win, too. And we'll be back to the days of Lloyd Bentsen and John Connally destroying actual liberals like Ralph Yarborough. I won't sign on for that.

[TexasLinda]

3. Boyd Richie for TDP Chair

I don't know Glen very well so I can't agree or disagree with jobycom's comments. But I have expressed some concern in an earlier Maxey post that contained a malicious rumor about Boyd Richie, candidate for TDP Chair. Boyd was a U.S. Senate Page under the patronage of Senator Ralph W. Yarbourgh and has been a life-long yellow dog Democrat. His wife, Betty, is a past president of Texas Democratic Women (http://www.tdw.org) and is on the DNC. His sister, Alica Hux, is the current president of TDW. They have all been working these past few years to bring TDW into the 21st century, using the internet to inform and organize their members. Boyd is actively running for TDP Chair and has been traveling around the state meeting with lots of Democrats. He's personable, politically savvy, internet savvy, and a heck of a nice guy. I have nothing good or bad to say about other possible candidates; competition is good for our democracy. But I'll be supporting Boyd Richie for Texas Democratic Party Chair.

[jobycom]

4. Any supporter of Yarborough gets brownie points in my book

Thanks for the write-up.

[nick_DFT]

13. Huh Part Deux

As far as some malicious rumor about Boyd Richie dropping out of the race, I only read it in the comments of a blog somewhere. I don't think it has any substantial status or even really much merit. I don't think in means anything.

So someone says he is dropping out of the race, and he's not? Provided he has supporters, all he would have to do is say yes, I am running. The convention is months away.

Y'all act like someone mentioning that they "thought" BR was out of the race is comparable to John McCain supporters in SC getting a phonecall about having fathered an illegitimate black baby.

Boyd RIchie out of the race?? MALICIOUS!!

[TexasLinda]

16. So I don't have a Thesaurus

Give me another word to use for a deliberate rumor the intention of which is to harm Boyd's campaign.

[nick_DFT]

17. that's just it...

You're asking for a word to use for a deliberate rumor the intention of which is to harm Boy'd campaign...

and that isn't what any rumor is going on at all about. Sonia mentioned she had heard it, I had heard it on a blog somewhere (I wish I remembered where-I will try to dig it up) but that was just a comment someone made.

What are you so scared of?

The idea that there is a rumor he is not in the race when he may or may not be is just that, a rumor. If he is in the race, there is no problem for him at all. The only way I could imagine it hurting his race if the intent was what you suggested would be that perhaps someone at the state convention would crossover and vote for someone else, thinking that he wasn't running...or that maybe they wouldn't attend because they thought he wasn't running-but does BR have a following that would even notice?

Furthermore, if a BR supporter went to or didnt go to a state convention under those circumstances, I would imagine they must not be too in tune with Democratic Party politics on a state level, or they just have no communication with their chosen one.

At the SDEC meeting when BR was introduced as "the next State Party Chair" it reeked of the same garbage coming out of Washington, D.C.-many times I have heasrd DNC member David Holmes discuss how the election of Terry McAuliffe wasn't even that-that he already had it-kinda like the way Soechting had it in 2004. It's more of the same.

Maybe DraftMaxey.com does nothing. Maybe Maxey has no supporters. Maybe nobody will pledge.

And no offense-I don't know BR and he may be a great guy, probably is-and I really do like Dennis Teal a lot (who is no longer in the race)...but would DraftTeal.com or DraftRichie.com generate this much excitement? Probably not.

[TexasLinda]

19. What are you afraid of?

I didn't bash Glen Maxey. I merely pointed out that the rumor that Boyd Richie was withdrawing from the race for TDP Chair was false. I didn't mean to make you wet yourself.

[nick_DFT]

20. No wetting involved...

...but if there were, it would only be from the excitement of the prospect of a Maxey chairmanship.

[crispini]

25. Ok, TMI, Nick.

:hi: :7

[meg]

2. He's not my first choice

There is another thread that includes discussion about Glen and his nose-in-the-air attitude. Johncoby2 had a similar experience to mine. Sonias admitted that Glen 'can seem stand-offish'.

With Republicans being snooty enough for us all, who wants a snoot (or someone who comes across as a snoot) to represent us? As Johncoby2 says, this is just one aspect to consider, but to me it is an important aspect.

[VelmaD]

5. I like Glen, but...

I don't know that I want him being the public face of the Party in Texas. I've been to too many events he was involved in "organizing"...and I wonder about his actual organizational skills. Ask me some time about the anti-Klan rally we had down here last year and how disorganized THAT was. It was surreal and fucked up in the peculiarly Austin kind of way.


And as unpleasant as it is to have to be the one to say it...someone has to...there is one thing about Glen that will energize the right-wingers. I'm not sure Texas is ready for a gay Democratic Party chair. I don't think the Democrats have a problem with it - but we all know damn well that the Republicans will use it every way they can to scare the bejeezus out of Bubba.

[crispini]

6. Admittedly, my experience with Glen's organizing experience

is mostly at Democracy Fest, but I have been extremely impressed by both Dem Fests I have been to, as well as other DFT functions. Also, his description of the Austin coordinated campaign sounded fantastic. He appeared to really understand how to use technology. Every time I have talked to Glen I have come away impressed with his understanding about how to do what needs to be done.

And as far as what the wingers think of our party chair, who the hell cares? Why does it matter? :shrug:

I think that Glen will have a lot of support from the DFA'ers and also a lot of old guard up here in Dallas as well. The Stonewall Dems are a huge force in DCDP politics and I expect them to exert a similar influence over the party convention.

And honestly, I am ALL in favor of someone who can use "Rovian" tactics and is on our side to help us take back Texas!

[VelmaD]

8. I worked the last Democracy Fest...

and I never saw Glen except when he was speaking at one of the sessions. He didn't really do the on-the-ground, minute-by-minute organization of Democracy Fest in Austin. (I say that only because I want to see credit go where it's due - to Steve V and the other folks who wrangled us volunteers.)

What the wingers think of our party chair matters because they will use his personal life to try to scare people. It's sad and it isn't fair and it isn't right...but it's true.

I suppose it's just a personal thing with me. I've been up close and personal with a too many poorly run Austin events to trust anyone from down here to run anything.

I won't be devestated if Glen wins. In fact I'd work hard for the party with him as chair, just like I've worked hard with him here locally. I just don't believe he's the best we can do.

[crispini]

9. The average voter doesn't know who the TDP party chair is.

I don't think they care, and I certainly can't see them getting exercised about it. After all, they didn't elect him, and he doesn't make policy.

Hell, I'm a political junky and don't know who the Texas REPUBLICAN party chair is. :rofl:

And, dang, girl, the perception from up here is that Austin's got it goin' on! You certainly have WAY higher voter registration rates than we do up here, you actually managed to run a coordinated campaign in 2004, all of the big events seem to happen in Austin, etcetera. I certainly don't think DALLAS has managed (yet) to produce someone worthy of the (somewhat dubious) honor. Maybe we could recruit John Coby from H-Town. He's got plenty of organizing experience! :evilgrin:

[VelmaD]

12. Most people don't know who our current chair is...

but do you honestly think the republicans won't make sure they know if our new chair is *gasp* gay?

[crispini]

15. So what?

I think the kind of people who would let the sexual orientation of the TDP chair make a difference in their voting behaviour towards their local candidates are NOT the kind of people who would ever vote for a Democrat anyway.

I just don't think that sexual orientation matters to voters in the middle anymore. If LUPE VALDEZ can get elected Sherriff in Dallas County, anything can happen.

[sonias]

10. That's being a little harsh VelmaD

"I've been up close and personal with a too many poorly run Austin events to trust anyone from down here to run anything."

You just took a swipe at everyone in Austin! You can't totally discount the fact that we are growing our party in Travis. Hell it's even spilling over into Hayes county. It doesn't matter if you give Glen any credit for it or not. I agree that the team of volunteers that worked the coordinated campaign and the steering committee for Democracy for Texas did the heavy lifting for both the coordinated campaign and DemocracyFest. Glen didn't have to do anything at the event since they worked all the details through the DemoFest steering committee, of which Steve Voytowich was a member. I worked for Steve too at that event.

The person who calls the team together is the strength of the effort because they choose the right volunteers to get the job done. Maybe we're a bunch of roll up our sleeves crazy people here, but we get the job done. That's why Steve was recognized as having the best working crew.

Again my point is that you don't need a person who wants to micromanage everything. You want someone who delegates well. Picks good people and lets them do their job.

Glen's real strength is his massive database and when he puts out a call for volunteers to do something like the voter registration drive - it gets done. Heck I don't care who calls us to work, as long as someone is at least coordinating that effort. I don't know how Glen was chosen to head up the coordinated campaign, but we did a hell of a job with that effort. There were people working in Glen's office until 2-3 a.m. in the morning. If he has people that committed to put in that kind of effort, you can't just throw that away.

Who else do you have in mind now that everyone in Austin is automatically disqualified?

Sonia

[VelmaD]

11. Dang sonia...

it's just my opinion. And I really didn't just pull it out of my ass. I'm not saying there aren't some people in Austin who can get things done. I'm just saying a lot of the time things down here ride the edge of the chaos. There have been some fairly amusing clusterfucks just in the last year.

Were you at the anti-Klan rally? (Where the organizers didn't even bother to find someone who knew the songs they listed in the progrm to help lead the crowd. I'm not joking. We had to completely abandon singing "Shall We Gather at the River" because they didn't find someone who knew it. And the person they grabbed to lead everyone in "We Shall Overcome" hadn't ever heard the song until 5 minutes before. Seriously.)

Do you remember the boondoggle that some of the local marches have turned into?

And we won't even get into how disorganized our County Party Executive Committee meetings can get.

Basically my probelm isn't even really about Glen. It's really just a long term frustration of mine with how scattered people are sometimes. Pay no attention; I'm just blowing off some steam. :)

The truth is, Glen will be definition be better than whoever the party establishment wants. The main thing is to all work together so that the establishment doesn't get what they want because the grassroots is divided. :)

[sonias]

24. Nope I was out of town during the klan rally

But you do know that it was a hastily called event. I think they had 2-3 days to plan that, and if you want to hang someone for not knowing the song lyrics, then it may be someone else in the NNN campaign. Glen is a pretty much, "yes that's a great idea now you go plan it" person. A lot of people where trying to convince them, to ignore the klan. The NNN wanted a response, so the core volunteers there should have organized that better. Yes Glen was the statewide director for that effort but he was mainly doing the fundraising.

The City was also part of the problem in that event, by not letting them have a definite location to protest. They spent a lot of time just trying to pin down a location and get the announcement out to various lists to get a turnout.

Sweetie, if you want to complain about how disorganized we are, then take the lead and show us how. You know that our county party and I'm sure every Democratic county party across the state is hurting for volunteers and direction. Anyone is welcome to take the lead. Complaining is OK, but you also have to contribute to the effort to fix it. And it does start with our county party.

And I know you already contribute as a precinct chair, I'm not calling you a armchair quarterback. I'm saying if you can identify some solutions for the poor organization from the coordinated campaign, take more of a lead. I'm sure you would be put in charge of anything you really wanted.

It doesn't have to be Glen to be the party chair, but it must be someone from the progressive and grassroots community or someone that has that support.

Sonia

[nick_DFT]

27. amen

amen sonia. in fact the city was originally going to only allow protestors to be miles away at waterloo park until glen was on the phone with them letting them know that that would start a riot.

the organization was great for the time allotted-getting hundreds of people together for peaceful protest and trying to diminish on violent reaction is a big deal.

so a little girl didn't know some lyrics. i'm sure that fell on the "least priority" scale.

[TexasLinda]

18. Honesty and decency are so last century

Are you sure someone who uses "Rovian" tactics would be on our side? Yeah, we need to play hardball, but not fast and loose with the truth. It's unfortunate that Rove's "do anything to win" tactics have been working (and winning is very, very important), but do we really want to become Republicans?

Personally, a gay candidate is a plus for me, but I also care about issues and character. Yes, Glen understands how to use technology (another plus), and I've been impressed with some of the things produced by his company. Is he offering to give this stuff to the Texas Democratic Party? That would be great (and another big plus), but if he wants to sell his company's services to the TDP wouldn't that create an ethics dilema if he were TDP Chair?

[nick_DFT]

21. which company?

Which company are you referring to?

[TexasLinda]

23. Glen Maxey Consulting

You can find it on Google.

I know Glen has a pension from his time with the Texas Legislature. Can he afford to put his consulting business on hold while he serves as TDP Chair (an unpaid position)? I believe the Party would benefit greatly from Glen's innovative uses of technology, but I'm a little uneasy with the idea of the Party Chair selling political consulting services. If he sold cars or worked in a grocery store that would be different. I have no objection to Glen making a living, but the ethical issues here are troubling. It would be helpful if Glen could make a statement addressing these issues.

[nick_DFT]

22. Well, kinda..

It's not that I don't agree that Rove is a bad guy. But he's smart. He wins.

That is the weird thing about politics-there's all the warm fuzzy idealistic feelings, and then there is the business end reality side.

So I always think of it like this-if I ended up in a bar fight somewhere, and the guy jumped on top of me and was clawing me and going after the goods and biting me and whatever else way of dirty fighting they could think of, would I attempt to stand it up and say "Come on now, good chap, let's do this like gentleman!" or would you do whatever you had to do to get out on top?

I would choose the latter.

[crispini]

26. Do we want to become Republicans? No.

Do we want to start winning elections? Darn tootin!

I *am* interested in knowing how we plan to pay Glen -- and I hope we can.

But face it, sometimes politics is damn ugly. I got to see that up close and personal right here in Dallas last February. I want someone in office who knows how to cope with that.

[nick_DFT]

14. Disorganized?

The Klan event was disorganized?

[sonias]

7. There is one thing I like about the approach

And it is the pledge aspect of the draft someone movement. For those who would prefer another candidate - my first choice was Dennis Teal, then I think the concept is still a good one. We need to make sure that enough members across the state pledge to support the party monetarily to fund the salary of the Chair. That way whoever gets elected to the job will not be beholden to the outside money interests and can work full time to put our party back in order. The Chair's full time job should be organizing and making our party stronger. That person needs to have the State Democratic party as their number one job focus. This is not a part time effort and we can not succeed with part time effort.

I think that every candidate running for this office should try to make a similar model and bring pledges to the convention of grassroots people willing to build the party with them.

Sonia

[friedcatfish]

28. I'm late to the game

on this post, but if you'll permit me.

As Glen says, "you have to look at the big picture."
 The big picture is getting Dems elected who will set in
motion the vision that encompasses what we believe.  Those
beliefs include helping all those in society for the common
good, to fight inequality, and uplifting those who have
suffered at the hands of republican rule.  Why that sounds
like Glen Maxey.

Difficult to believe we need a civics lesson on this issue. 
The Dems are THE big tent party.  Even though some of us don't
want to hear it, that is why we have the Joe Liebermans and
Ben Nelsons along with the Ted Kennedy's and Russ Feingold's. 
With the diplomats and statemen, the party needs the warriors
who will get down in the trenches and fight.

Does anyone know someone who has given up as much as Glen for
the cause.  Has he had some miscalculations?  Sure, who
hasn't, especially when taking big chances and against
overwhelming odds.
What he has accomplished in his years of service to the party
can only be rivaled by very few.  You can't please everyone,
but Glen has supporters across the state who will join him in
bringing the party back to prominence.  Glen understands the
variables that will have the greatest effect and what will get
us the end point.

Hopefully, none of us still believe that anyone can turn the
approximately 30% in this state who wouldn't even vote for
Jesus if he had a D behind his name.  There are a great many
libertarian and independent voters who are willing to listen
to someone who has strong freedom of choice and social liberal
credentials.

His voter registration and GOTV successes are second to none. 
Let's face it, the Dem party for the most part is a urban
party, and getting city dwellers and the city limit fringes
out to vote for Dems is top priority.  Is there anyone better
than Glen?

[TexasLinda]

29. Interesting...

friedcatfish said:

"Let's face it, the Dem party for the most part is a urban party,
and getting city dwellers and the city limit fringes out to vote
for Dems is top priority."

That's an interesting thought. Does anybody know where I can find the demographics on this, i.e., what percentage of the Texas voter eligibles are urban versus rural? One would think the urban areas would have the largest percentage, but then how did we end up with someone like Tom Craddick as Speaker? If we can get a higher Dem turnout in the urban areas we may be able to take a statewide office or two, but you can't write off the rural areas if you want to increase the number of Dems elected in Congressional, State Senate, and State House districts, especially after that last round of redistricting. The Dems also need to pay more attention to South Texas, and not just at election time. Email and websites won't reach a whole lot of voters down here (yet), but snail mail and block walking will. Of course, the internet is a powerful tool for organizing the people who'll be heading up the snail mail and block walking efforts.

[crispini]

30. I don't know about eligible voters, but it's true

that about 85% of the population is urban/suburban. I just googled "Texas population urban rural" and found this stat:

"Rural population as a whole is growing, but its share of the state’s population compared to the cities, has dropped, simply because urban areas have grown faster. Texas’ non-metro population share fell from 18.9 percent to 15.4 percent between 1980 and 1999."

From--> http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/rural/summary.html

google around, I'm sure you can find more.

The problem is that URBAN voters go Dem, but SUBURBAN voters go Rep. Nevertheless, if we were better at GOTV in our urban areas, we'd do a lot better in Texas as a whole.