Congratulations, Cynthia Moore Chestnut, the new Chair of the Alachua County Democratic Party, and Richard Powell, Recording Secretary! So proud of our party. — with Richard Powell, Terry Fleming, Cynthia Moore Chestnut, Don Herget and Suzanne Beville Kiker at Alachua County Board of County Commissioners. Her acceptance speech brings us home to our values of Unity, Compassion and Mobilizing to elect Democrats. DEC Chair Acceptance Speech Cynthia Moore Chestnut July 9, 2014 My heartfelt thanks to each one of you for your vote of confidence this evening. As your Party Chair, I promise to work every day to make it a great day for Democrats. A very special thank you to Terry Fleming for putting the Party above his own aspirations and throwing his support to my candidacy for Party Chair. Thank you Terry for your very unselfish, courageous action. I surmise that Terry feels as I do – that through unity – we are stronger. Unity is strength – and the difference between success and failure is an extraordinary team. And, as we work together as a Team, I would like to concentrate on the three R’s or R to the third power: Re-energize our base Election after election we are disappointed by the low turnout of our base – why? We may speculate, shake our heads, wring our hands, remark on Facebook, but we must take sustained positive actions to reinvigorate our base in order not to lose ground locally and re-capture the Governor’s Mansion in 2014. A successful bid in 2014 bodes well for 2016. There is an African proverb that says, “Until I see you, you don’t exist.” Until I see you, you, you don’t exist. Fellow Democrats the message is clear, in order to re-energize our base, we must reach out and touch our base on their territory, whether it is in their housing complex, their church, their business, or their neighborhoods. We must take the meeting to them on their turf and not wait for them to come to us. We must meet them where they are! Because we realize that GOTV is a 24/7 proposition; not something we do for every political race. For Democrats, the race is always on – we have not finished the race! I am reminded of the excellent grassroots GOTV effort run by Pat McCollough for the Obama Campaign. Get Out the Vote is a 24/7 proposition! Pat was in churches, at family reunions, fish frys, holiday Parades, forums, ribbon cuttings, name the Event and she was there! And, her message was clear – that your issues are important, and the Democratic Party is the inclusion party and will insist that your concern is addressed by our elected leadership. It is our responsibility to Educate our base on issues, Train them how to decipher the code language of politicians, Empower them with knowledge and constantly Reaffirm the undeniable fact that they can depend on the Democratic Party to always be their voice, their passionate advocate. The race is not finished. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a political forum full of doublespeak. For example, what is a politician saying when he says, “I would not have supported the Farm Bill.” Translation for Democrats, it means, I do not support food nutrition for school children, I do not support the SNAP Program, food stamps.” When a politician says, I support school vouchers, translation, “I am not a supporter of public schools.” Unless, we take the time to inform our base of the message – or the mixed messages, they may be swayed into believing the rhetoric. The race is not finished. Reclamation. We must reclaim members who have become disenchanted with the Party. We need the time, talent and resources of All to be successful. After all, we are the Party of the Big Tent, where all people are welcome, even those with divergent opinions. We must work to make all of our caucuses robust, with a constant outreach to broaden our participation. Ben Meyers saw the value of the Big Tent and decided to leave the Republican Party and join us; where his ideas, time and talent are welcome. In the next few weeks, I will appoint an exploratory committee to explore the viability of a Business Caucus. The business community is welcome under the Big Tent. As Phil Jackson said, “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” And, Helen Keller added that Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. Simply – Unity is strength. The race is not finished. Recruit Candidates. Candidate preparation and on-going training is a requirement for successful policy makers. Active citizen participation coupled with someone sitting on the dais with the power to cast a vote is the position we should aspire to, at all levels of government. Therefore, we must recruit, train and prepare Candidates for All Races. We must have candidates ready and willing to throw their hat in the ring for the City Commission Race in 2015, County Commission and Constitutional Offices in 2016. The bases for citizen participation is at the local level. Terry and his Committee have done an excellent job in recruiting candidates and my excitement builds as his committee continues their excellent efforts. As you can glean from my enthusiasm, I am looking forward to serving each of you, our beloved Alachua County, all our citizens and the Democratic Party – making our county the absolute best that it can be. My administration’s theme is clear: R to the third power – Re-Energize, Reclaim and Recruit. Louisa May Alcott said it takes two flints to make a fire. Teamwork is the only manner that we will succeed…only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong. The race is not finished and I am ready to begin, are you? Thank you!
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:31:29 +0000
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