Friends, yesterday we added 46 names to the 33 we already listed…for a total of 79 elected officials listed and categorized in the first phase of the Booman Tribune Electoral Politics Project. (Phase 2 will list candidatesand Phase 3 will list organizations.) To those who contributed, thank you so much.
79 is great. But it’s not enough. I know we can do better…and if names 73 and 77 were Gavin Newsom and Ted Kennedy…it’s a safe bet that there are many, many more progressive elected officials we’ve been missing. And that’s the point, at the end of the day this project isn’t about some arbitrary number or goal, but about great elected officials who deserve to be mentioned.
I have two points to make to you this morning.
First, anyone who is concerned about the issues we listed in our progressive platforms should be very concerned about adding names to this list. Are you for Election Reform? Then help us make the most complete list of elected officials who fight for that issue. Care about one or another of our Progressive Planks…the environment, education, tax reform, corporate reform, anti-war…but don’t know more names off the top of your head? No one does. I’ve worked with people who do projects like this for living…they use existing databases, they use the net, they use trusted resources…hell, they use google! Which brings me to point two.
Second, we can all help by doing some research. It’s easy. There are so many more great officials out there on ALL of the issues we’ve mentioned…and, to leave them off the list is just not fair. When I set the goal at 250, the “kid oakland challenge” it was because I just know that good things will come if we go deep and make this list as comprehensive as possible. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface…there are so many local elected officials who are deserving of wider recognition and a place on this list.
Let me talk about how we can add more names…
First, right off the bat, I want to encourage BooTrib researchers to use these resources and add their own:
Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute
Verified Voting endorsement list (Click on elected officials.)
Midwest Progressive Elected Officials Network with list of members.
Washington Post Congressional Voting Guide(h/t kansas)
Common Cause on Election Reform and many other reform/accountability issues.
Progressive Punch. (A great resource for tracking national officials)
Politics 1 (A great State by State resource.).
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (We’ve got a good number of these Reps listed, but worth a look.)
the Urban League Mayor profiles
People for the American Way Young Elected Officials Network
Progressive Democrats of America
Now, you may ask me, if I don’t know the politician up and down, how can I list them? First, many of these elected officials ARE well known. But, for myself, when I’m not fully familiar with someone…I research, I look up newspaper articles and provide links, I use referrals from progressive organizations. This process won’t be a “perfect” expression of pure politics, that’s not what it’s meant to do…it’s meant to generate a broad-based list that can be a resource for all of us.
Our goal is here to get as deep a list as possible. We want local names. We want “small fry” people that others might not have heard of, officials who we may well here much more from in the future! And since we’re looking to teach each other, where we can…provide a link. So, an entry might look like this:
1. Lupe Valdez, Sheriff, Dallas TX, Equal Rights, Gay Rights
I know that I look stupid for setting a goal of 250 after only getting 33 names last Tuesday.
Well, I’m still here and we’ve got 79 names today…well within striking distance of the “small goal” of 100 names.
If you ask me, we will hit 250 and pass the “kid oakland challenge” today.
Now, that won’t be because I’m a nag. (Okay, let’s face it, it will partly be because I’m a nag.) We’ll hit 250 names because this is a good project and we owe it to ourselves to put our netroots efforts where our politics are and leave no progressive elected official fighting for our platform behind.