Official Candidate Announcement

(This email was originally sent to the DFL State Central Committee on 12/17/2010.)

Fellow DFLers,

I am writing to you all tonight to announce my candidacy for Secretary of the DFL State Party. I believe that I am uniquely qualified to take on this role and that I have a strong vision of how I can help shape our party in the coming years.

I have served the DFL in the following ways:

• Secretary of St. Olaf College Democrats (Fall 2003 – Spring 2006)
• Secretary of Senate District 44 DFL (2008-2010)
• Secretary of Congressional District 5 DFL (June 2009 – Current)
• Secretary of Minnesota Young DFL (January 2010 – Current)
• Campaign Manager for Rep. Steve Simon (May 2010 – November 2010)
• Volunteer on various campaigns in 2004, 2008, 2010

I spoke with Sue Rego earlier this week to understand the position and the ways she went above and beyond. The requirements of this job include recording and archiving the meeting minutes, maintaining SEC rosters, and tracking SEC attendance. Sue took on two other large duties as Secretary, managing the list serve and ensuring DFL activists were remembered when they passed away. I wish to continue and hopefully expand upon the great work that Sue has done for our party.

Since the election in November there has been much discussion about how we can move forward and grow an even stronger party. I believe that a key piece of that puzzle comes from engaging the young Democrats around the state.

I want to be an ambassador to young DFLers. Just as the Chair and Associate Chair will travel around the state to meetings and events, I plan to visit college campuses to inform students of what’s going on at the state level and to listen to their ideas and concerns. I want to be a role model to those interested in getting involved and possibly taking on a leadership role of their own.

To fully engage Democrats today we need to understand the power of technology in moving our party forward. The Internet has made the world a smaller place and we can use it to do the same for our state. The Secretary is charged with communicating the minutes, but I see a potential to have the Secretary lead a communications charge with the Internet including the DFL website, Facebook, Twitter and whatever newer form of online interaction is waiting in the wings.

Of course not everything happens online, the DFL is a community which I am so proud and touched to be apart of. I am in a place in my life where I have the freedom and resources to travel to all corners of this state to meet, discuss and celebrate with other passionate DFLers. In the past few years I have been fortunate enough to travel throughout the state for DFL meetings and conventions and I pledge to attend many more if elected to be your Secretary.

I want the next Secretary to be qualified and passionate, I know I would be great for the job and I hope to earn your support.