From the President's Desk, January - by Rich Piper

Now that the holidays are behind us, it is time for us to get really geared up for the 2012 election campaigns. 

The good news locally is that our club member, Belleair Bluffs Commissioner Joe Barkley, has won re-election without opposition, since no candidate filed by the deadline to run against him in the March 2012 election.  Not only does his automatic re-election give the community his outstanding services for another term, but it also frees our club members to devote attention to other worthy election projects.

Another well-known local Democratic officeholder, Seminole City Council Member Patricia Plantamura is seeking re-election in March.  In contrast to Joe Barkley’s situation, the Seminole race features five candidates for two city council positions.  The other incumbent in Seminole is a Republican, Leslie Waters, who withdrew recently from a race for the Florida Senate.  One other registered Democrat, Sheryl Goff, is among the five Seminole candidates in this formally nonpartisan election.   

Beyond the local council and commission contests, I believe that the most important task for us right now is to get as many Democrats as possible registered to vote in Pinellas County.  This effort is already under way on a major scale.  More than twenty club members became certified in November and December to register voters under the new Florida legislation, and over 100 OFA volunteers have received such certification county-wide under the auspices of Obama for America.  If you are not already certified, I strongly urge you to complete the two-hour course offered by OFA to become certified and assist the voter registration drives that we are mounting.  Our club members have already canvassed most of Ridgecrest, as well as St.Petersburg College Clearwater, the Seminole Library, sections of South Greenwood in Clearwater and a number of shopping centers in Mid-Pinellas County.  We have so far registered over 100 voters, most of them Democrats, just in the past few weeks.  On January 16, we’ll be moving forward with a really major effort to sign up voters at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Parade in St. Petersburg. 

Right now, we Democrats hold a voter registration lead of about 6,500 over the Republicans in Pinellas County.  Our goal is to increase that lead dramatically over the months leading up to the 2012 election and then to get out the vote for our candidates.  OFA registration drives in 2008 in Florida added nearly 200,000 voters to the registration rolls.  Of these, 75% voted on Election Day (compared with 59% of those who were registered by the Supervisors of Elections or other non-OFA groups).  If we can expand the electorate even more dramatically than we did in 2008, Democratic victory chances in Pinellas County and Florida will be dramatically enhanced.

When I ask people to help out with voter registration and in other ways, quite a few say, “Later,” and indicate that they don’t see the need to get involved “this early.”  However, I believe strongly that we need to move our campaign forward NOW.     

Of course, we can and must support the Democratic campaign of 2012 in other ways beyond voter registration.  We are staging phone banks every week to reach out to past supporters and recruit new volunteers for 2012. Joe Barkley and Mary Lou Ambrose have generously allowed us use of their Insurance Agency on weekends, greatly boosting this effort.  We are also seeking to expand the membership of the Pinellas Democratic Executive Committee to strengthen the party organization in our county.  The Pinellas County Democratic Party will be holding its Kennedy-King Dinner and Fund-raiser at Banquet Masters on Saturday, March 10.  Tickets are $75 each.  Our club hopes to fill two or more tables with our members and give the Democratic Party and its candidates a major financial boost going into the campaign. 

Whether through registering voters, making phone calls, building the Democratic organization or giving money through the Kennedy-King Dinner and otherwise, we can all contribute our part!  Please contact me at rpiper3404@aol.com or 727-588-0891 if you’d like to get involved. 

Please also remember to pay your annual club dues (still just $10 each) at our next meeting, Monday, January 16, 7:00 PM, Balla’s Steak House, 776 Missouri Ave. North, Largo 33771.