Name: Bill Phillips
Email: BillPhi@aol.com
Web Site: www.opov.org
Current Position in the Party: 21st District Chair
Employer: Currently on leave from my position as Senior Constituent Services Representative for Congressman Rick Larsen.
1. The goal of the Party is to elect Democrats. Describe your campaign experience. What about the experience qualifies you for the position of State Chair?
I have worked with the Democratic Party since 1988, when I volunteered on the Michael Dukakis campaign in Louisiana. I stayed involved and later became Vice President of the LSU College Democrats. In 1991, just three years into Democratic politics, I was involved in one of the toughest races in the country. I was proud to help defeat David Duke as a member of the Louisiana Coalition against Racism and Nazism (LCARN).
After moving to Washington in 1993, I volunteered on several campaigns and stayed active in Democratic politics. I was an alternate National Delegate for Al Gore in 2000, and served on the State Committee from 2001 - 2003. During that time, I was proud to be a key part of Brian Sullivan's campaign in the 21st District. This was a special election held at a time when the state legislature was tied. Brian won that race and broke legislative gridlock in Olympia.
I became Chair of the 21st District in 2002. The 21st was represented by three Republicans at one point. I have been a part of a major transition in this swing district, and we are now represented by three Democrats. In addition to the statewide races, I have overseen an effort to recruit candidates for local races. I know how important it is to build a bench.
I am prepared to do for the State Party what's been done in the 21st - build a bench of local candidates, recruit strong candidates for legislative races, and develop a message that resonates with voters. We must do this if we are to be successful all over the state of Washington.
2. What experience and/or training do you have in running a large non-profit or business operation with strict reporting requirements and deadlines?
I am in my second term as Chair of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization. As you know, this requires strict financial accounting and reporting to the PDC. It also requires accurate financial accounting of everything from membership dues payments to donations, fundraising, and categorized expenses. I have developed a State of the District report which details committee reports, a dashboard summary of our two-year action plan, and a ratio of endorsed candidates to elected officials within our District. I have taken several facilitation and business classes and have valuable experience in various organizations and throughout my career in Mental Health. I have used tracking tools, project management tools, and financial tracking tools to keep operational business compliant.
During my mid-twenties, I was honored to serve as the President of the Louisiana Federation of College Democrats. Reporting included membership, donations, and expenses. It also included process flows for the intra-college communication and work breakdowns.
More than my experience however, is my personal philosophy of successful non-profits. Volunteers come first. If you have powerful and specific plans in addition to an excited volunteer base to carry out the work, you can find and excite financial sponsors. In contrast, if you have powerful and specific plans and financial sponsors but an inactive and uninformed volunteer base, you greatly limit your chances for success. To create and sustain an excited and informed volunteer base, you must offer continuous educational and entertaining training. Areas for training volunteers may include building a volunteer base, making presentations, and improving public speaking skills. Training should be stepped to keep up with volunteer development.
Non-profits work because volunteers with an extraordinary passion come together to try to make a difference. The biggest challenge - and one of my biggest strengths - is maintaining that passion and togetherness through every election cycle.
3. What is your fundraising experience? In your current Party position, what was your fundraising goal and did you meet it? What is your plan for State Party fundraising?
I have raised money for organizations including the LSU College Democrats, the Louisiana Federation of College Democrats, the Kiwanis Club, the United Way, and the Red Cross.
During my tenure, the 21st District Democrats have increased fundraising several times over, including raising over $30,000 in 2001. We have ended every year in the black and have been able to do community outreach - including a mailing for all our endorsed candidates in 2003. We have used donation letters, raffles, and sales of donated items to increase the financial strength of our District.
During the 2004 caucus cycle, we set a goal of raising more money than needed to pay for the caucus. We easily met this goal and I am proud that the 21st District raised more money during the caucus cycle than any District in Snohomish County.
One key to raising money at the State Party level is to have specific areas in which people can invest. The State Party was able to raise nearly $1 million in less than two weeks for the recount effort because that was a specific cause which rallied support. This is the type of enthusiasm we need year-round. We will develop specific areas in which people can invest, such as rural legislative candidate support, and thus give our donors more control over how their dollars are spent.
4. What programs does the State Party currently use to raise money? What changes do you anticipate, if elected Chair, and why?
I will implement a three-pronged approach to fundraising:
The State Party currently relies heavily on high donors, events and direct mail for raising dollars within Washington. We will continue to utilize these approaches when I am Chair, but we will also work more closely with our local organizations. After all, the more active Democrats we have who contribute to our Party the more financially stable we will be.
Fundraising has been consolidated over the past ten years within the State Party. I plan to empower local organizations to raise money to be spent as they see fit within their District. This will allow for increased candidate recruitment, message development within local organizations, and fundraising power that extends to every corner of the state. The State Party can work with local organizations to develop fundraising plans tailored for the demographics of each District and County.
While I do not believe we can outsource fundraising, and I strongly feel that the Chair is the Party's strongest fundraiser, I do plan to hire a Development Director who will have the responsibility of fundraising on a full-time basis. This move, combined with local Party expansion, events, and direct mail, will ensure a Party that is financially sound for years to come.
5. In your current and past Party positions, how have you strengthened the ability of the Party to elect Democrats?
Candidate development has been a key to the 21st District's success. We ran candidates for eight separate local offices from Fire Commissioner to City Council in 2003, and we were proud to help elect five of those candidates. All five have endorsed my candidacy for State Party Chair because they have seen firsthand my commitment to local candidate development. It's not just talk - it's what we've done.
We have created an atmosphere of strong message development, candidate recruitment, and increased opportunity for volunteerism. When we recruit a candidate, we support that candidate. We have doubled our number of PCO's and helped each member of our organization find their strengths. Everyone is a functioning member of the team.
We elect Democrats when we function as a team. We have built a foundation of teamwork and communication in the 21st District that has led to our success. This is the same foundation we will build when I am Chair of the Washington State Democratic Central Committee.
6. What is your plan as State Chair for strengthening county/district organizations and for keeping new Democratic activists involved with the Party? What resources will the State Party, under your leadership, provide to accomplish this?
I will implement a training program that local organizations can utilize to educate activists on how to effectively communicate the Democratic message. In addition, we will educate new members on how the Party functions. Too many new activists are unaware of the structure of our Party and how the District and County organizations relate to the State and National organizations. This is important information for everyone to have in order to feel they are part of a team.
No one volunteers because they have to. Volunteers are passionate about effecting change, and we must keep this passion alive by utilizing their talents, empowering them with a sense of purpose for their activism. Each volunteer must know that they have a unique talent they can lend to the organization and that their efforts are vital and appreciated.
A State Chair must stay involved. I will have a State Party representative at every major Democratic meeting in the state. The representative's role will be to answer questions and hear concerns, contacting me directly for an immediate answer if needed. This is part of an overall communications revolution I will implement within the State Party. We will be more responsive than ever before, and local organizations will be empowered as never before.
We will also support our local organizations through the implementation of regional field offices. Visibility in our communities is essential to our success all across the state. When our local organizations express a need, it will be the role of the State Party to either meet the need or strategize with local leadership to help them meet their needs through their organization.
7. As a leader in the Party, what has been the most controversial decision you have had to make? How did you deal with it?
One job of a leader is to minimize controversy and maximize teamwork. We have done so in the 21st by working together and voting on difficult decisions. The most controversial decisions I have made have involved implementing the will of the District over the will of the State Party, decisions made necessary by the lack of sensitivity on the part of the State Party to the needs of the District.
Recently this involved the 2004 caucus. The State Party demanded that the precinct caucuses be held in many separate locations throughout the District. Our Membership felt it would be better to hold our caucuses in one large location, and voted to do so. Despite heavy criticism from State Party leadership, our caucuses were a huge success. We worked together as a team, increased District participation, and raised a large amount of money from the over 1500 attendees of our precinct caucuses. This decision, while controversial at the time, proved absolutely right given the needs of our District.
8. What is the Chair's role in the selection and support of candidates during the primary? If the Chair becomes involved during the primary, what vetting process would be used?
The Chair should constantly work with local organizations to recruit candidates that are right for the District or County in which they are running. If there is a contested primary among two qualified Democrats when the seat is not held by a Democratic incumbent who supports our platform, it is generally the Chair's role to remain neutral during the primary.
Becoming involved in a contested primary for an open seat tends to diminish the Chair. It creates divisions and grudges that may take years to heal. If the candidate not supported by the Chair should be elected, building a relationship with that elected official is next to impossible due to the poisoned atmosphere.
Neutrality means not providing resources to one candidate that are withheld from others. It means allowing the process to play out and not interfering. If a candidate is vetted for background, votes, and commitment to the Democratic Platform and found to have issue that would preclude a viable candidacy in a Democratic primary, the Chair should privately discourage that candidate from running. Only if the problem is severe should the Chair make a public preference known.
A solid example of interference occurred in the 8th Congressional District. We will never know how things might have been different if an outside candidate had not been actively recruited at the 11th hour. We already had a candidate who had the support of the Congressional delegation, and the interference only led to frustration and divisions within the Party. These negatives far outweigh any justifications given for the interference.
9. What were the top three challenges for the State Party in the past four years? How were those challenges met?
The top three challenges were the primary system, the 2004 election cycle, and the recount effort in the Governor's race. The recount effort was handled fairly well, with David McDonald doing a terrific job of heading up the project, although I firmly believe that the governor's race should not have been that close.
The presidential primary was mishandled, with the Chair taking a very public position without a vote of the Democratic Central Committee. This is a textbook example of why a Chair should remain neutral in a contested primary, as other campaigns complained of having resources withheld while major donors publicly commented on their frustration. There is simply no excuse for this.
As for the rest of the 2004 cycle, we lost an open seat in the Attorney General's office, we lost our challenge to the Republican Secretary of State, we lost our challenge to the Republican Commissioner of Public Lands, we failed to pick up open Congressional seats in both the 5th and 8th CD's, and we came within a hair of losing the Governor's Mansion for the first time in 20 years. We can do better, and we cannot minimize these failures or we risk repeating them. We need a systemic change in our leadership paradigm, one that reaches out all across the state. I have a solid plan for doing so which can be found on my website.
The primary system was successful in court, and I believe a better job could have been done of working with our legislative caucus and educating the public as to what a primary is and why the Party has the right to select its own nominees. Court should be the last resort, not the first plan of action. Nonetheless, I will continue to fight for our right to select our own nominees via nominating conventions or further court actions if needed - but I will also implement a strong public relations effort to compliment that fight.
10. What are the top three challenges for the State Party in the next two years? What is your plan to address them? What single goal would you seek to accomplish during your first 6 months?
Our top three challenges will be retaining Senator Maria Cantwell, keeping the grassroots activists strong and organized while increasing cooperation between local organizations and the State Party, and building/rebuilding relationships with our elected Democrats statewide.
We will work from day one with Senator Cantwell's campaign staff to identify their needs from the State Party. Every resource of the State Party will be open to her and her staff. We will work from day one to ensure our Party has the financial strength and get-out-the-vote machinery to help her hold on to this vital seat.
We will keep the grassroots energized and involved by focusing their energy into local races in 2005, keeping them active and involved for the 2006 cycle. Cooperation with our local organizations is vital to this effort. Every volunteer must know the importance of their contribution and be welcomed into the Party.
Relationships with our elected officials are vital. I will be spending time in Olympia during the session, meeting with our caucus and asking what our legislators need from the State Party. I will also actively pursue our Democratic agenda, as I feel the State Party must be an effective lobby for our Democratic principles. No legislative action happens in a vacuum. If we do not constantly communicate with our elected Democrats, then we cannot expect a high level of cooperation.
In my first six months, the highest priority will be on raising funds for the 2005 and 2006 election cycles while implementing changes in the way the State Party communicates with everyone from elected officials to our local organizations. This is going to require hard work and strong leadership, and I am looking forward to meeting the challenges of the next two years.
Endorsements
11. List five elected officials and five County or District Chairs who support your candidacy.
I am proud to be supported by many elected Democrats, including State Representative Brian Sullivan (21st LD); State Representative John Lovick (44th LD); State Representative Mike Sells (38th LD); Snohomish County Clerk Pam Daniels; and Snohomish Mayor Liz Loomis, who is also the 44th LD State Committee Woman.
As for Chairs, I am honored to have the support of Mark Hintz, Snohomish County Chair; Michael Hughes, 44th District Chair; Dave Somers, 39th District Chair; Phil Mockel, Klickitat County Chair, and Gordon Ellis, Lincoln County Chair.
12. Finally, why would you make the best State Chair? (3 bullet points, maximum of 20 words in each bullet)
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