Democracy for Virginia Meeting at VA Democrats Convention

Dave in Franklin County is organizing our first statewide in-person meeting of people interested in Democracy for Virginia! The meeting will take place on Friday night at the Virginia Democratic Convention in Roanoke. Remember, you do not have to be a convention delegate to attend the convention!

Below is the information from Dave's post...

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There will be a statewide Meetup for DFV on Friday evening, June 4th in Roanoke, VA at the Hotel Roanoke. This will be followed by a "unity" Meetup of all Meetup participants (Dem party, Clark, Kerry, etc)and will be followed on June 5th by the state party convention. We are targeting 7:30pm as the start time (the "unity" Meetup is at 8:30). I'm coordinating the first (DFA/DFV) Meetup and have compiled a tentative agenda. I've had 20 positive responses so far, so I'm estimating 40-50 of us by the convention.

I had considered feeding people and wanted to keep it frugal (in tribute to Gov.Dean's JCPenney suit) but buffets at the hotel would have run from about $35@ and up (+drinks) and downtown Roanoke restaurants were looking for about the same to reserve a private room. Then, talking to party officials, I was enlightened on convention proceedings... Friday night there will be dozens of hospitality suites with food & drink all courtesy of our great Party!...So, we don't have to worry about food- just run around the hotel and freeload until 7:30. Then come to the meeting (Room will be posted).

This will definitely be a working (not social) meeting, but all DFA/DFV folks are welcome and the bigger the numbers, the better. I hope that there will be representatives from every Dean Meetup in the state. (If my guess of 40-50 turns into 100-200 think of the impact it will have on the party leadership; some of them will be addressing us at our Meetup).

If you are coming please email me (remove the obvious - drackmales (at) earthlink (dot) net) with your name, city, contact info, as well as the name and contact info for your Meetup host/coordinator. Thanks, and keep working...

David Rackmales
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Though there are a number of Dean suppoters in Virginia who will be attending the 21st Century Democrats training in Washington, DC that weekend, we hope anyone else who is free and able to travel to Roanoke will attend! Please email Dave and comment below if you plan to attend!

Comments

[Elaine Owens]

Please help Dave make this meeting a success! He is quite right that 100-200 people who believe in the principles Howard Dean espoused in his campaign gathering at the convention could make a profound statement about our efforts to make the state Democratic Party more responsive to the grassroots and to the things that have to be done to make the party the majority party in the state once again.
One thing we might want to consider: Giving special recognition to five people who contributed so much to the Dean campaign effort in Virginia during the primary season - Don Beyer, Jennifer Boysko, Sherry Stanley, Rep. Jim Moran, and Rep. Bobby Scott. Don was an anchor of strength and knowledge to all of us who worked the campaign. Jennifer stepped in as director of the Dean campaign at Falls Church headquarters and never hesitated in hard work for the Governor. Sherry Stanley put her personal life on hold for many months and shepherded the petition drive to a successful conclusion - and became the petition expert for Burlington. Jim Moran gave unwavering support to our efforts and was always there when asked to help. Bobby Scott traveled the state and gave inspiration to many of us who saw him working alongside us to promote Howard Dean's candidacy.
Thank you, David, for putting together this meeting. Lat's all make it a success!
Elaine Owens
Dean Coordinator for Roanoke VA

[Maura in VA]

Honoring Jennifer, Sherry, Rep. Scott, Rep. Moran, and Don Beyer at this event is a FANTASTIC idea, Elaine. (I think we have to make sure they'll be there first, of course!)

[Elaine Owens]

Jennifer will be there, I know. I'm pretty sure that Don, Bobby Scott, and Jim Moran will, too. (In fact, they should be elected as delegates to the national convention - if there is a God!)
I'll contact Sherry and try to convince her to come. Others might want to contact Sherry, also. She never (in my humble opinion) got the recognition she deserved for her efforts or the enthusiasm she spread to all of us early on about Howard Dean.
Elaine

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