Did We Mention The Fundraising?: Grasstops Endorse Chuck Bob For Chair
Posted on December 22, 2008 at 7:02 amKen Whitehouse reports that Gov. Phil Bredesen, Congressmen John Tanner, Jim Cooper, Bart Gordon, Lincoln Davis, former Congressman Harold Ford Jr., and former Democratic party chairmen Randy Button, Dick Lodge, Houston Gordon, Doug Horne, Bob Thomas, and current chair Gray Sasser have all endorsed Charles Robert Bone over Chip Forrester for TNDP Chair in a missive to the state executive committee. From the missive:
It is essential for our next party chair to be a strong leader with a demonstrated record of success. We need someone with proven fundraising ability and a plan to re-take the legislature…
…Charles Robert has worked in political campaigns on the local, state and national levels. He has played an integral part in various campaigns throughout Tennessee, from Al Gore to Governor Phil Bredesen, and served as Harold Ford, Jr.’s Finance Chair in his 2006 U.S. Senate race - a campaign that raised an unprecedented amount of money. In addition, since March 2007, he has served on President-Elect Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee.
We have talked with Charles Robert and are excited about his plans for our party and its future. It is essential for the Tennessee Democratic Party to broaden our fundraising base and establish an organization to win back control of the legislature. This task will require a unified party and a strong leader. We strongly believe Charles Robert Bone is the right person for this job and ask you to support him for chairman.
SEE ALSO:
Bredesen lays hands on Bone
Sean Braisted
Comments
4 Responses to “Did We Mention The Fundraising?: Grasstops Endorse Chuck Bob For Chair”
[...] Did We Mention The Fundraising?: Grasstops Endorse Chuck Bob For Chair [...]
Yup. the very people who have led the TDP into the abyss want to keep control of the party, regardless of how poorly they’ve done.
This is MORE of a reason to support Forrester, IMO.
Agreed, Cracker. Taking direction on party chair selection based on the endorsements of that bunch is like taking anger management classes from John McCain (hey-oh!)
I spent a big part of my weekend sending emails to the Shelby County delegation of the General Assembly and Exec Comm members asking them to support Chip on January 24. Staying the course at this point would be the worst possible course of action for the TNDP, and you would have to be blind not to see it. Chip bears some of the responsibility–he was Treasurer after all–but Bone’s candidacy is the most brazen kind of backroom deal-making and self-important power-brokering.
They’ll either listen to the grassroots, take advantage of our good ideas and energy… or they won’t.
A 34-year-old has more “proven” fundraising ability than a 50+ y/o who has already successfully brought the TNDP out of debt in the 1980s?
The idea that Chip can’t raise money, or volunteers, or passion, is just ludicrous. The fundraisers ought to be our party stalwarts - Bredesen, Davis, Ford, Gore, etc. Why aren’t THEY doing a better job bringing in the campaign cash? And why, oh why, did Bredesen tell Obama NOT to campaign in TN?