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Arizona State News

Vol. 2, No. 2--March 19, 2005

Steering Committee activities:
We established a working group that will focus on developing the formal structure for the relationship between PDA and AZDPC (Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus). We clarified roles of steering committee members and various directors, and established some new working groups for specific projects, including events and particular areas of policy. We gave additional structure and direction to how our speaker's bureau will function, and added some new speakers. Training will be held for speakers, and for all steering committee members. We viewed the exciting trailer for our fabulous new DVD of the Western Regional Progressive Forum "We The People: Conversations With Progressive Leadership." The DVD is a must-see for all Progressive groups, and is available online at www.azprogressive.us. We also discussed other upcoming fundraisers for the caucus.

Guidelines for Working Groups:
The Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus developed a set of guidelines for the establishment and functioning of caucus working groups (issue committees) -- and initiated a process by which each working group must submit a charter for approval before undertaking work or any other actions on behalf of the caucus. The main goal of these guidelines and charters is to ensure the smooth functioning of working groups and to help them stay focused and accountable. The AZDPC Steering Committee is currently in the approval process for the working group guidelines, and the next step will be to assist working groups in establishing their charters.

Tucson:
In February's meeting of the Tucson Chapter of the AzDPC, we listened to Nina Trasoff, who we have endorsed in her run for a City Council position and decided to focus our future meeting around the primary issue of voting and election reform while still entertaining announcements from the floor with regard to other issues and candidates. We will keep the fire alive with a variety of addresses by guests representing interesting topics for discussion as well as hearing from candidates who are running for office locally and statewide.

In the Agenda for March's meeting we will hear from another local candidate running for city office, the director of Defenders of Wildlife will speak about environmental sustainability and collect questions that can be asked at the Alliance for Retired Americans upcoming Forum on Social Security. We will break into working groups to discuss our proposed plans for addressing the development of a PowerPoint presentation on poll workers: what the recent elections have taught us, black box voting, the definition of a poll worker, the hows and whys of their importance, and the training necessary as well as other topics. This will be an organizational session to see where we want to take future meetings and how we will apportion the meeting time for the greatest outcome.

The Statewide meeting on April 9th will include: an update on Feb Forum in Phoenix, an update on DVD Promotion, training for today and discussion on internal communications within one of the county Democratic offices, A PDA Update, working group charters and organization, officer reports, and a break out session for working groups.

Colleen O'Donnell
AZDPC Media Director
602-548-6939
colleen@azprogressive.us

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