Texas State News

Vol. 2, No. 1--Pre-Summit, January 2005

Activities of the Texas Progressive Populist Caucus (PPC) include the introduction of a weekly progressive issues radio program by our regional affiliate in Corpus Christi/South Texas.

In North Texas, a new leadership group (which includes members of the Dallas area DFA group) held a planning meeting to re-invigorate the North Texas Regional PPC group with regular meetings and a prioritized set of local Party reform activities. One such activity will focus on assisting the Dallas County Party in both recruiting and training activities for new precinct chairs.

The statewide PPC steering committee, developed in 2004 by the Houston regional group called "Winning One Precinct At A Time," provided a precinct chair organizing and training template. Bob Turney was elected the new chair of the Houston/SE Texas regional group. The Houston regional group is concentrating on assisting the county Party in recruiting and training precinct chairs.

The PPC steering committee launched planning activities for its February annual meeting, which will be held in Houston on Saturday, February 26, 2005. A new slate of caucus officers will be nominated and elected at the meeting. In November, a nominations committee was formed and nominees are being solicited; many experienced Democratic and progressive activists agreed to accept nominations. Ronnie Dugger, founder of the infamous, muckraking 50-year old liberal publication, "The Texas Observer" will give the keynote address. National progressive writers such as Mollie Ivins and Jim Hightower served as editors at "The Observer," with Ronnie Dugger as their mentor. Mr. Dugger, who frequently publishes articles on progressive issues, has written extensively on the political lives of Ronald Reagan and LBJ, among others. His most recent work deals with the "insecurity" of electronic voting systems. He is a co-founder of the Alliance For Democracy, which is currently embroiled in the Ohio recount legal battle.

The PPC is engaged in several reform initiatives. The upcoming January 10 State Party Executive Committee meeting will include initiatives urging the Party Chair to convey the state Party's support for Department of Peace legislation authored by Dennis Kucinich and supporting the creation of a State Executive Campaign Committee (SECC) to share power with grassroots representatives. The SECC would participate in planning and overseeing Party-sponsored campaigns.

Stan Merriman, Chair
stan.merriman@sbcglobal.net

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