News Item: : DemocracyAction Enters a New Era
(Category: Club News)
Posted by ErikWood
Monday 27 April 2009 - 02:18AM:00
On Thursday, April 23, 2009, DemocracyAction held its 5th Annual Membership meeting at the San Francisco Quaker Friends Meeting House in San Francisco. Born from the frustrations and loss of the John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004, DemocracyAction was founded with the mission of helping Democrats regain Congress and the Presidency. After four years of hard work - supporting Congressional candidates, walking precincts, registering voters, visiting red states, raising money, tuning our voters, and more - Democrats now control both houses of Congress and Barack Obama is President.
The hard work of the last four years has paid off for DemocracyAction and the Democratic party. The question now is, what comes next? The theme of this year's annual meeting was intended to answer exactly this question, with a panel discussion of special guests: "Moving from Opposition Activism to Activist Governance."
The transition from Democrats in the minority in Washington, D.C. to holding all the reins of power is matched by an equally important transition in DemocracyAction itself. After four years as President of DemocracyAction, Alec Bash has stepped down and been replaced by our new President, Catalina Ruiz-Healy. We showed Alec our thanks for his steady leadership with champagne, movie tickets, restaurant certificates, even a Barack Obama watch. Alec was a fantastic President, whose unflappable good spirits and hard-working attitude led DA to accomplish a lot: in the 2005 California elections, where we turned back Arnold's conservative statewide initiatives; in the 2006 mid-terms where Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives; and in the historic 2008 elections that put Obama in the White House. We all wish him well and send him off with deeply-felt and well-earned thanks.
As for our new President, Catalina led a panel of special guests in discussing the transition to activist governance, including Catherine Dodd, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Deputy Chief of Staff; Raven Brooks, Netroot Nation's Excecutive Director; Kenya Wheeler, Organizing for America (formerly Obama for America); and Tara Schubert, also of Organizing for America. The disucssion was lively and covered the importance of building relationships, the intricacies of tracking bills through the legislative process, 21st Century technology and its usefulness in supporting activist causes, and much more. DA thanks all of our participants for your energy and your support!
This news item is from Democracy Action
( http://democracyaction.org/news.php?extend.34 )
(Category: Club News)
Posted by ErikWood
Monday 27 April 2009 - 02:18AM:00
On Thursday, April 23, 2009, DemocracyAction held its 5th Annual Membership meeting at the San Francisco Quaker Friends Meeting House in San Francisco. Born from the frustrations and loss of the John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004, DemocracyAction was founded with the mission of helping Democrats regain Congress and the Presidency. After four years of hard work - supporting Congressional candidates, walking precincts, registering voters, visiting red states, raising money, tuning our voters, and more - Democrats now control both houses of Congress and Barack Obama is President.
The hard work of the last four years has paid off for DemocracyAction and the Democratic party. The question now is, what comes next? The theme of this year's annual meeting was intended to answer exactly this question, with a panel discussion of special guests: "Moving from Opposition Activism to Activist Governance."
The transition from Democrats in the minority in Washington, D.C. to holding all the reins of power is matched by an equally important transition in DemocracyAction itself. After four years as President of DemocracyAction, Alec Bash has stepped down and been replaced by our new President, Catalina Ruiz-Healy. We showed Alec our thanks for his steady leadership with champagne, movie tickets, restaurant certificates, even a Barack Obama watch. Alec was a fantastic President, whose unflappable good spirits and hard-working attitude led DA to accomplish a lot: in the 2005 California elections, where we turned back Arnold's conservative statewide initiatives; in the 2006 mid-terms where Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives; and in the historic 2008 elections that put Obama in the White House. We all wish him well and send him off with deeply-felt and well-earned thanks.
As for our new President, Catalina led a panel of special guests in discussing the transition to activist governance, including Catherine Dodd, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Deputy Chief of Staff; Raven Brooks, Netroot Nation's Excecutive Director; Kenya Wheeler, Organizing for America (formerly Obama for America); and Tara Schubert, also of Organizing for America. The disucssion was lively and covered the importance of building relationships, the intricacies of tracking bills through the legislative process, 21st Century technology and its usefulness in supporting activist causes, and much more. DA thanks all of our participants for your energy and your support!
This news item is from Democracy Action
( http://democracyaction.org/news.php?extend.34 )