After the jump is a letter from Don Bivens to members of the State Democratic Committee
To: All State Committee Members
From: Don Bivens
Friends,
I am running for State Party Chair in the election to be held on March 7, and I ask for your vote and your support. It is time to unite our party and to take the fight to the Republicans!
I heard the message loud and clear on January 24, and I get it. In the ’08 election cycle we attracted record numbers of volunteers, grew our ranks, and raised substantial funds, only to see losses– painful losses– in Legislative races on which we all worked so hard. It is time to make a hard study of our legislative results and, as you know, we started that process in December with plans to report in April. We must learn from our mistakes, build on our successes, and start anew with winning strategies for 2010.
With the Governorship no longer ours, we have lost a bully pulpit. The Chair of the Democratic Party must carry the unfiltered message of our values and priorities to the people of Arizona. I bring the energy, the knowledge and the experience to do that job with effectiveness and care.
We must also improve our internal communications with each other. The County Chairs have worked for many months in crafting ideas to improve communications in our Party state wide. I am fully familiar with, and support, every aspect of these recommendations.
The heart of our Party, and our future, surely rest in the energy of our committed activists. For that reason our strategies for 2010 must take advantage of local knowledge in shaping our message and our spending in Legislative races. And we must direct at least some resources to all of our Counties and Districts, while at the same time targeting races in which we have the best chances to win.
The battle lines are already being drawn for 2010. Already the Republicans are trying to mischaracterize and to discredit Arizona’s hard-won gains in education, smart economic growth, a woman’s right to choose, worker protections and a host of other issues. The Republicans want to set Arizona back.. Their supposed “budget process” is really an ideological agenda to kill government’s role in creating equal opportunity for all of Arizona’s children.
We cannot sit still for this. It is time for Democrats to push back with a unified voice and take our message to the people of our great state.
I am ready to lead this fight. I am empassioned for our cause. I bring the experience to get the job done. I have a proven track record in attracting and raising the funds required to realize our goal to make Arizona Blue.
It is time for us to produce a truly coordinated approach for 2010 by working with Party leaders from every County and Legislative District. It is time for us to get started, together!
I ask you to join the list of activist leaders whose names appear below in support of my candidacy. This is a list in progress. I ask you to join it, which you can do by reply to this e-mail. Let’s get our Party back on track to victory in 2010!
Onward and upward!
DON
ALL OF US SUPPORT DON BIVENS FOR STATE CHAIR OF OUR PARTY. THERE IS MUCH WORK TO BE DONE. PLEASE JOIN US IN UNITING OUR PARTY AND TAKING THE FIGHT TO THE REPUBLICANS.
(LIST IN PROGRESS)
Bob Bland, Cochise County Chair
Kara Kelty, Coconino County Chair
Chris Tilley, Gila County Chair
Susan Breen, Greenlee County Chair
Ann Wallack, Maricopa County Chair
Patrick Gonzales, Mohave County Chair
Brad Carylon, Navajo County Chair
Jeff Rogers, Pima County Chair
Yvonne Raglund, Santa Cruz County Chair
Ben Furlong, Yavapai County Chair
Gail Beeler, Yuma County Chair
Harold Holmes, LD 6 Chair
Evan Bejar, LD 7 Chair
Laura Copple, LD 8 Chair
Shirley McAllister, LD 9 Chair
Susan Ransdell, LD 10 Chair
Jane McNamara, LD 11 Chair
Jeff Farias, LD 14 Chair
Carlos Avelar, LD 16 Chair
Lauren Kuby, LD 17 Chair
CJ Briggle, LD 20 Chair
Stacy Hettsmansperger, LD 21 Chair
Suzzane Newton, LD 30 Chair
Harriet Young, Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party
Bree Boehlke, Vice Chair, Arizona Democratic Party
Ruben Gallego, Vice Chair, Arizona Democratic Party
Jo Kelleher, Vice Chair, Arizona Democratic Party
Matt Capalby, Vice Chair, Arizona Democratic Party
Lois Pfau, Secretary, Arizona Democratic Party
Rick McGuire, Treasurer, Arizona Democratic Party
Anne Greenberg, Education Coordinator, Arizona Democratic Party
Judy Kennedy, Democratic National Committee Member
Fred Duval, Democratic National Committee Member
Carolyn Warner, Democratic National Committee Member
Luis Heredia
Dennis Burke
Beverly Fox-Miller
Kelly Paisley
Patricia Atlee
Ward Wallingford
Carol Pearsall
Glenda Walker
Jim Woodbrey
Debra & Robert Boehlke
Margaret Hogan
(LIST IN PROGRESS)
9 Comments
Give me a break! Bivens got beat by someone who decided to run for state chair on the drive up to Phx.
The “message was loud and clear,”(?), yeah and it was “you stink and you did a lousy job in ’08!”
I hope for the good of the party, that someone with common sense and an agreeable personality will challenge Bivens. If not I will…
Walk the plank Bivens and take your list in progress with ya’!
RRRRRRRRR!
Great! I cant wait to see him lose twice.
I see Pima folk volunteering their signatures. Why?
Good question, Marianna. Could it be that they were unaware that Bivens might have someone running against him and thought it was important to show party unity?
That was the case with one of the district chairs I just spoke to on the phone. He told me that he will support Bob Lord, if he decides to run and that he had no idea that anyone was considering opposing Don when he got the call from Bivens asking for his support.
I believe that Don is sincere in his desire to take the fight to the Republicans. I reserve my endorsement until the Committee meets in March, however. The vote in January was 60% Eckerstrom inspiration 40% repudiation of the Bivens regime, in my estimation. If someone emerges from the crowd who can inspire the delegates, I’ll go with them in support of that sentiment. I am surprised to see Jeff Rogers’ name on this list. That’s not the sense I got from him the other day.
Well, he’s got my support, if for not other reason than he is the only one I ever remember staying on until the end of his term, since I’ve been involved in this party.
The republicans are defining the agenda in this sate, and we’re just dickering.
http://draftboblord.blogspot.com/
Well, I voted for Eckerstrom the first time around, but this time I will vote for Bivens.
He’s a smart guy and he learns from experience, which we need. And as far as losing and picking himself up and getting back on his horse, that’s a role model we all need, looking ahead to next year instead of dwelling on what we could have done better last year.
I believe that this year, now that the true colors of the GOP legislature are becoming clear even to ordinary mainline Republicans, we have a sterling opportunity this election cycle. But we’ve blown six weeks of it thanks to the mistake that I and others made last time.
I won’t make the same mistake again. This time I’m going with a guy who knows how to do the job and is committed to doing the job, which is Don Bivens.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
I’ve heard that Bob Lord wants to run for Congress again. If that’s true (and it’s gossip at this point though not out of left field either) then there’s no way he can run the State Party too.