In the last two years I’ve received hundreds of emails, phone calls and had conversations with citizens who are concerned about the future of our Utah State Democratic Party. We have candidates who feel disenfranchised and ignored, and party members that have grown alarmed at the tone and the message coming from Party Headquarters.
After a great deal of prompting and peer pressure, and in spite of my deep respect for current Chair Holland, I am now a candidate for Chair of the Utah Democratic Party in 2009.
The constant call of “Democrats don’t win in Utah,” has been transformed from a GOP punch line into a Democratic Party mantra; it’s embarrassing and it needs to stop. The Democratic Party in Utah is hurting. We have consistently conceded the debate in the battle of ideas. It is time to evaluate our situation and make some momentous changes.
It is critical that we reverse direction and reclaim our narrative. For too many years, the message coming from Democratic leadership has been that we need to move to the right, compromise our values, and let the Republicans have their way. It was believed that this would help us win more elections. Sadly, it hasn’t. We played the game by Republican rules, operated at a self-imposed disadvantage and we’ve lost.
“Go along to get along,” is not a party platform, it is surrender.
I know that there are superior, more economical ways to support our party members and win votes, and I know how to get it done. From the Internet to digital television, from radio to print, our options to deliver our message are limitless. In order to win, we must abandon the antiquated strategies of 30 years ago and embrace innovation.
It is time for the Party to educate Utah voters about who we are, what we stand for, and deliver the message that Democrats are more than a watered down alternative to the empty, harmful policies of the Utah GOP – We are the best choice for Utah voters.
As your Party Chair I will work to bring that message to the people of Utah, and in doing so will help us return to a position of strength where, defining ourselves once more as Democrats, we can bring real, progressive leadership to the great state of Utah
As we move forward in this process, this website is where I will be laying out my strategies and ideas, based on my experiences from years of political work, advertising, and marketing on what the State Party can do and must do, to rebrand ourselves, and start winning again.
Sincerely,
Jeff Bell
April 2009
May I be the first to officially endorse you? 🙂
Jeff, you’ve got my vote 🙂
Seems to me that your letter is possibly the most dishonest letter I may ever read. I’ve never heard the Chair ever say, “Democrats can’t win in Utah.” I also think your statement that prompting or peer pressure had anything to do with you running. I think you decided to run, and now you’re going to act like a Republican and lie, and spin, because you covet what others have earned.
The Democratic Party in Utah has made amazing strides recently, and what I’m wondering is how does the party raise the money to do your messaging when everybody knows that you’re no fundraiser.
If the party is hurting it is because of people like you and Misty. People who think grieving is activism.
I’ll be voting for Holland.
Thank for stopping in, Lawrence. I’m sorry you took off on such a negative jag. My reasons aren’t because we haven’t made strides – I recognize a lot of things that the party does very well.
My reason concern the other things.
Like strategic messaging – a month of targeted television vs. one day of full page ads that, while smart and funny, should have been run months before the election.
Like actually saving candidates money by teaching them to use the internet as more than a 5% appendage to lawn signs and expensive direct mail.
Regardless, you seem comfortable with the status quo – and that’s great for you. I see things differently; I think we could do more – better, smarter and cheaper.
And lastly – I guess you missed the Tribune article I’m paraphrasing in the “don’t win” quote.
Best of luck, man.
Jeff,
Isn’t it improper to use quotations when paraphrasing?
I have to agree. Your so-called paraphrasing is exceptionally dishonest. As a self-proclaimed journalist, you should know that.
I cannot support your bid to take over the state party. Holland has done a fantastic job, and I regret that you don’t have the guts to admit it.
However, I am interested in why you think Democrats have conceded debate over the battle of ideas. It seems to me that Democratic issues have taken center stage in Utah politics, much to the chagrin of the GOP. Education, Ethics Reform, Human Rights and Equality. What more do you want?
A piece of advice: give credit where it’s due before tearing down others.
Wow, Mark, I don’t even really know what to say other than what freakin’ state (of mind) are you living in? Education? Yeah, they cut that. Ethics reform? Yeah, they pushed that onto the back burner. Human rights and equality? Well, non of those bills passed.
Why? There aren’t enough Democrats winning elections.
There is a lot of room for improvement, whether a person support Bell or Holland, but rewriting history, and ignoring the reality just makes you sound like a very poorly informed douche bag.
Maybe that’s just me. 🙂
Yeah, Jason, it is just you.
The point is not that the legislation passed. My comment was clearly in reference to the “battle of ideas” that Jeff says Democrats have “conceded.” The point is that Democrats successfully controlled the agenda. We won on vouchers. We pushed ethics reform and equality to the front of the public consciousness. Republicans were forced to spend their time working on our issues, campaigning on our issues, and explaining to the public why they aren’t acting on our issues. All the polling shows that the vast majority of people care most about our issues. That’s no small feat, and it didn’t just happen overnight.
Since Wayne was elected, Democrats gained seats in every election. Is that enough? No. There is still much work to do. But you act like we are worse off, and look rather childish moaning and groaning about how bad it is.
Regardless, if Bell’s supporters are all as tactless and disrespectful as you responded to me, I don’t see how he expects to make much progress.
@Mark
Bringing up legislation as a response to what the other side is doing isn’t winning a battle of ideas. Nor were republicans forced to spend time on our issues, they were quickly shot down so that republicans could get back to what they deemed to be the important issues.
There is a disconnect between the state party and the voters of the state. If all the polling shows the vast majority of people care most about our issues, then why aren’t democrats winning enough seats to actually pass some legislation? Why aren’t they winning enough seats to stop a veto override? It took a public vote to stop school vouchers, because the democratic party didn’t have the votes to stop the republican run legislature from doing whatever they wanted with or without the governor’s consent.
So we have no legislative power, and little if any election wins, and yet you claim the public is on our side. That smells of poor management to me. But I disagree that the public is on our side, they are on an issue by issue basis. When you put names on a ballot with party affiliation, they are no longer on our side. That is where the battle of ideas has been lost, and that is why we are still talking about everything in terms coined by republicans. By fighting on their terms we have conceded, and until we define what this party stands for, not in response to what the other side stands for, but what our ideals are, we will continue to see people supporting our issues, and voting for republicans.
Moral victories aren’t enough in politics, a look back at this last legislative session is enough to see that. It’s time to get the people who would support us if they knew what we stood for on our side, through identity, messaging, and strategy that can only come from the office of the chair of the party. We need candidates running that are informed, supported, and assisted by the state party so they can engage voters. This isn’t what we have now, and it’s results are seen in every bill that passes through the legislature.
Grieving? LOL. Right.
Hey Jeff, this is Cyil in St. George. I have worked with Wayne Holland and his administion for four years as local party chair. I have seen the party grow under his administation.so there no reason that I would vote for you . So if you see me campaigning for Wayne you will know why.
Cyril – That’s great. I think Wayne has done a massive amount of good for the Party in the last four years. More than anything, I’m trying to put forward the idea that we can do good, but do it on a much larger scale, at a much smaller budget and with a significantly improved rate of return.
In my opinion – we do as much as we currently can, locked in the habits of campaigning as it was 20 years ago. Those are solid foundations and we should keep at working in the best practices of tradition.
I propose that modern technology, and I’m talking about much, much more than just the internet, make it easier to communicate at and above the level of – for example – the Republicans in the Utah Senate.
It’s not that Wayne’s bad, he’s a great guy, he’s been a great chair and he’s done a lot of good. I just don’t think that he’s up to speed on the changes in political messaging. He’s afraid of television, radio, the internet, social networks, anon, anon.
Since I let the party know I was running, the Party’s online activity had increased nearly 500%. There. I already did a good thing, just by filing to run.
Griever is a better word Misty.
Bell, what elected officials are supporting your effort?
Jim Matheson?
Peter Corroon?
Ralph Becker?
Jay Seegmiller?
Is my Representative, Phil Riesen, supporting you?
What about Jenny Wilson?
Who is Misty anyway?
Still waiting…
Great, Jeff. Good luck, I’ll get everyone I can out to vote for you.
Hi Jeff,
You have an interesting blog going here. On April 8th I posted a comment in your “6 Bloody Years” section in which I mentioned an AP story about 550 tons of yellow cake found in Iraq a couple of years ago that was sold to Canada and expressed that it was interesting that you and the rest of the left wing media had ignored it. My comment just sits there with no response–I assume that the reason is that neither you nor much of anyone else has visited that part of your blog for the last couple of months.
Also, I heard part of your radio program a few weeks ago in which you expressed some dismay about the status of our health care “system”. I am also dismayed, as health care costs are in the stratosphere. I would like to know what you think we should do about it.