| Some of you of course know that a few days ago, when the Federal Election Commission reports came out, I was a bit gobsmacked by the amount of money that the congressional campaigns of our New York representatives went through, even in an off year. Most of their quarterly expense sheets would have paid for a house in my home town. And together, it's even more impressive. I did the math so you don't have to: the 26 Democratic members of the New York congressional delegation are burning through roughly a combined $910,000 a month.
Eleven million dollars spent on upkeep in an off year. And that's just for the campaign, not for their Congressional office, staffers, etcetera. That bill goes on the federal rolls.
Now from the perspective of these campaigns, that's not necessarily a ton of money. It's just what they have to spend to keep running. Maybe they'd like to spend less, maybe not. But I'd like to offer them a different perspective.
I am, obviously, a rural Democrat. What's more, I'm a rural Democratic activist. That means that like all my fellow party members out here, I have learned the fine arts of survival the hard way. Some people may scorn us, or disregard us, since the population centers are where you find Democratic votes. But rural Democrats are among the toughest and most persistant group of activists that you'll ever meet. We've learned how you remain effective with next to no money. We've learned what battles to fight, and what ones to walk away from. And we've continued chipping away at the Republican edge day by day, like a man digging his way out of prison with a belt buckle.
Most of all, not having money to waste has taught us the value of making every dollar stretch. President Obama proved that on the national stage last year, showing that small donations can have very big results. And I'm here to tell you there's a way that that upkeep money could stretch a whole lot farther.
If the Democratic members of the New York congressional delegation were to dedicate five percent of their off-year expenditures--not even their fundraising, just expenditures--to grassroots party building via organizations like the Democratic Rural Conference, I don't think I'm exaggerating in the least to say that it would revolutionize the political landscape in New York State, to the great benefit of the Democratic Party as a whole.
Five percent of those expenditures is $45,500 per month. To judge from the expense reports, many of those campaigns probably spend as much on sticky notes and ball point pens. The Democratic Rural Conference has 41 member counties: the 41 counties in which Democrats are most in trouble in this state. If they cut every member county a check for $1000, every month, and used the rest for their own discretion... Well, it's not going to give anything away about the financial status of the Wyoming County Democratic Committee to say that $12,000 a year would dwarf all previous funding that we've ever had.
It would be hard, if not impossible, to overstate the impact of that kind of money on rural Democratic committees. That $1000 a month may be a mote of dust as far as a congressional campaign goes, but used properly, it's a potent weapon to change the face of this state. It's weekly voter registration drives on the streets of Warsaw and Oriskany Falls. It's "meet the candidates" events in Machias and Westfield. It's mailing fliers about healthcare in Coventry and Prospect.
It would be, in short, a massive shot of adrenaline to party building in the rural areas of this state. With a large and growing area of upstate represented by Democratic congresscritters, it's in their best interest to make their seats as safe as possible. And "safe" downstate representatives reap the other benefits of party growth: such as a more stable and functional state legislature, safer statewide races, and upstate goodwill for any future campaigns they might want to run. A large and fractious state party is bonded more closely together, and all the citizens of New York are better served by being given a genuine two party system even in the most rural of regions.
For one small investment, those are some big rewards. |
