TNDP Personnel Situation Explained

By Kleinheider Posted on November 11, 2008 at 8:42 am

Ilissa Gold reported last night of a personnel massacre at the the state Democratic Party. While it true that Communications Director Wade Munday’s “last day” is December 1 and that the field director and most of the field staff will no longer be in the employ of the party, the situation is not quite that simple.

The news came down in the last week that all “State Partnership” position funding is coming to an end. These positions are currently funded by the DNC (not the TNDP) as part of Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy. Dean is stepping down as Chair of the Democratic National Committee so whether this funding continues to flow to the state party will ultimately be determined by the new chair of the National party. It could be temporary, it could be permanent.

Either way, in January, a new chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party will also be chosen. Presumably, at that point, the new TNDP chairman will have some idea of where his funding will be coming from and whether his payroll will be benefiting from a continuation of of the Dean policy or not.

At that point he will hire up and replenish the staff. The TNDP will not go without a communications director for more than a month and the “newly hired” communications director could just as easily be Wade Munday himself as it could be whomever the new Chair decides.

Yes, Chairman Sasser and Executive Director Hayden will have their jobs past the date that Munday’s DNC funding faucet shuts down but it isn’t for long. As stated previously, a new chair will be elected in January and will choose staff to serve at his pleasure.

So while people are losing their jobs at the TNDP most of the positions are directly related to the Tennessee Victory ‘08 effort which has obviously come to a close. The others, such as Munday, have been subsidized by the DNC for the past two years with money that is no longer forthcoming from the national party for the time being.

This shedding of staff is essentially just the natural order of the campaign cycle and a symptom of the unique funding mechanisms the party has used to staff its positions — and not much more.

SEE ALSO:
Braisted
Grantham Is Talking
Newscoma
Aunt B.
R. Neal
Silence (Part II)

permalink | 5 Comments

Tags: 50 State Strategy, DNC, Gray Sasser, Janet Meek, Kim Sasser Hayden, Michael Gass, TNDP, Wade Munday  

Perpendicular Prospects

By Kleinheider Posted on September 21, 2008 at 2:54 pm

New voters energized by Barack Obama will likely not help Obama win the state here in Tennessee but they may not be useful in turning the tide in crucial down ticket races either:

Robin Smith, who heads the Tennessee Republican Party, doubts that enthusiasm for Obama will help legislative races. Most of the new voters are in urban areas and college campuses, she said, while many of the key legislative races this fall are in rural areas.

“I think the state Democrats are in a very tough quandary, because the top of their ticket message is absolutely perpendicular to what their state party is trying to pull off,” she said.

Hayden acknowledges that Tennessee is generally not a state in which state candidates benefit from top-ticket turnout, because “our voters split their tickets, and they do so a lot.”

permalink | Comment on this post

Tags: Barack Obama, Becky Ruppe, Kim Sasser Hayden, Randy Camp, Robin Smith