Week of January 5^th, 2009:

Classes resumed again this week and we will hold our first general meeting of the new year on Thursday evening.  For now, our sights and preperations are set for the Club Fair week to be held in two weeks. For that, we will be using our DM banner, literature/materials, and we will rent a TV/DVD combo from the AV office and play the Clean Elections video. Our main priority for now is to find new members, younger members who can take over for us as we only have one returning person as a junior.

Our meeting will cover the essentails of tabling; who can table and when, making sign up sheets, calling people who have expressed interest before, re-meeting with other, like-minded organizations, etc.

From there we will try to establish our main goal this semester which is a Clean Elections forum. Ideally, proggressive Florida groups will join on and co-host. One group has already pledged this to me personally.

This sounds great Alex.  Happy New Year to you and the other chapter members at FIU. 

 

November 21st, 2008:

FIUDM highlights

-registered more than 450 voters and nearly 3,000 campus wide with other groupps

-received 1,000 early vote pledges from students(we created early vote pledges as flyers)

-distributed all florida palm cards

-worked polling station on campus to ensure student vote protection

-had movie night on campus showing clean elections movie and thank you for smoking

November 16th, 2008:

This past Monday we held our movie night on campus. We aired Clean Elections:Changing the Face of America and also aired Thank You for Smoking to add some humor to campaign finance. We pushed the event up a bit early because both the Black Student Union and College Democrats held meetings on Monday regarding the inauguration, so we figured we should cash in on a larger population. There were roughly 40 students in and out during both movies and was a good success. I held a Q and A afterwards and went more into detail about the role of tobacco lobbyists in Washington.

 

Our next and final campaign for the semester is still being debated, but were considering a clean elections forum with a state representative candidate and professors, or a campaign finance and its role on foreign policy lecture, depending what people we can get.

 

 

 

November 5th, 2008:

I personally moved 300 students to the polls, and only ONE WAS TURNED AWAY because she was registered in another county(she never changed her address, so not much I can do.) I specifically informed everyone to come back to me if they were threatend, intimidated or told to leave. Because yesterday, we had 1,000 EARLY VOTE PLEDGES so we can rest assured we moved at least 1,300 students to the polls. We knocked on doors, offered rides, passed out the Florida voting plam cards, etc, whatever it took to get the job done.

 

I'm thoroughly exhausted, but I'll write another update with post-election plans early next week.

 

And there were no irregularities or problems at all with us, or anywhere else in FL for that matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 22nd, 2008:

Current projects to protect the student vote

 

We have had success on two fronts this week. Firstly, the SGA has decided to provide the student buses that will get students to the polls. This is great news since their budget is vastly superior than ours. Also, since they have access to the enite student body email, their news will spread much farther than ours. Either way, we have our own system ready just in case, from church buses to some of our members vans that we can pack in with students.

 

Also, we are having GREAT success in pushing students to early vote. We have been tabling all week with info on early polling places and directions. Florida has a fantastic system where you can vote one day then go online and with your drivers liscense look up if your vote had been processed already.

 

Alex - this is great.  I can't wait to get down there to see this for myself.  I'm excited for you, the student body, and Democracy Matters.  Please keep track of how many students you are able to help vote.  Estimates are good, but try to be as accurate as you can.  I want to make sure to post your successes. 

 

Peace

 

October 8th, 2008:

Event title: FIUDM voter registration Drive

When: August 27th-October 6th, 2008

Where: Graham Center(student center)

Since that time, we have registered close to 500 voters, and overall we have registered close to 3,000 new voters. our goal was 1,000, bu of course we set the bar very high. We registered voters in classrooms, the student center, school hallways and after career fairs

going forward, this saturday we will table/tailgate before the FIU football game. And as far as protecting the student vote, I along with the FIU students for Obama group will schedule buses borrowed from black churches to bus voters into the polling station. Our conservative leaning student govt is reluctant to do this, so if they do not respond we will take action. 

 

Sounds great Alex.

September 30th, 2008:

As mentioned over the phone, we have registered nearly 400 people since the first week of September(first week of classes.) This week, I will be registering voters in different fraternity houses. Last week, two DMers went and registered voters at a dorm and gave a lil rap about Clean Elections and the candidates stances on it.

 

We will keep going with this until Oct 6th, and from there we will have the movie night and GOTV drives.

 

This is great Alex.  Keep up the great work!

 

September 16th, 2008:

Myself and two other DM students did more voter registration today. It was considerably slower today, we only registered 23 people, but that is probably due to the fact that there is little school traffic on Tuesdays. We will continue our voter registration drive on Friday where we will also have a TV with the money in politics movie playing on a loop.

 

I will be talking to a few poli sci professors tomorrow about the extra credit idea for the movie night. It is tentatively scheduled for the first week of October.

 

September 9th, 2008:

The FIU DM chapter has already drawm up all four campus campaigns, and we have succesfully executed one of them this past week.

First campaign: Voter registration drive on first week of class-September 5th, 2008

We had an extremely successful first event in which we registered 81 new student voters. We built of the success of having national campaign tables next to us, but our table was filled with DM information and handouts given to us by Susan. We also spoke with U.S. residents and instructed them on how to become U.S. citizens, as well as educating them on our electoral process, money in politics, and FENA.

 

This was a great success Alex.  You should do another table since you were able to register so many students.   The idea is to register as many students as possible before the deadline. 

 

Second campaign: Movie night-Early October 2008

We plan to rent out the on campus theatre and screen the Democracy Matters short film and another full ength feature discussing campaign finance, political corruption, or anything similar(now taking suggestions!) This has proven to be successful in the past. We hope to provide food to bring more students in as well as have a post-movie discussion.

 

This is an awesome idea.  See if you can work with your professors to get students in there for extra credit.  Some Professors love stuff like this. 

 

Third campaign:Tabling event during on campus debate-TBA 2008

The local congressional race will feature an on campus debate sometime before the election. Being as the incumbent has a history of corruption and big money ties, we immediately thought this would be an excellent place to spread our message. We will table before and after the event, run the DM movie on a rented TV at our table, and ask the candidates related questions to the topic.

Fourth campaign: Clean Elections Panel-TBA 2008-probably post election

In conjunction to the Space Coast Progressive Alliance(a local progressive group.) we want to have a panel of experts discuss the issue of corruption and campaign finance on campus. The speakerswill include Congressional candidate Steve Blythe and a local State rep who co-sponsored a state wide FENA-like bill.

 

April 3rd, 2008:

Unfortunately, our candidates for SGA were disqualified from running due to a technicality brought up by the elections commission(which is dominated by friends of our opponents.) They were told that having a pre-election party(to rally support) so near the student center violated a code in the elections manual, and after a vote, they were disqualified. Luckily for us, all of our senatorial candidates won, and we can now work to push this through in the fall semester. For FENA week, we plan on tabling as well as calls in to state and federal representatives. This same week, we will partner with the FIU College Democrats to bring Congressional candidate and ex-Mayor Raul Martinez(D) to campus. We have just begun advetising and we have reserved a restaurant on campus to greet him. We have free food for students, so we are expecting an awesome turnout to end the year.

 

 

March 10, 2008:

The week before spring break, FIU DM again met up to discuss campaign strategy for the upcoming SGA elections(first week of April.) This was great exposure for our organization. There were over 20 other student groups at the event and close to hundreds of students, most of which had never had real access to Democracy Matters.  As part of the campaign, we(DM) helped create the candidates platform, including an amendment to the Constitution calling for Clean Elections for student candidates. Currently, Greek candidates have an enormous advantage financially, so our amendment would even out the playing field. Our Clean Elections idea was well received amongst our party(the basis of the SGA campaign is to create political parties) and weve turned alot of new people on to DM. We are currently in spring break, but afterwards we will have a small meeting to discuss FENA activities and continue campaigning.

 

Sounds like this reforming SGA campaign is going really well!  Keep it up! 

Definitely let me know what your plans are for the April 14th week of action.  Also, Obama/Richardson '08!!!

 

 

 

March 5th, 2008:

Unfortunately due to spring break coinciding with Joan and Jays visit to campus, we cancelled all our arranged meetings with professors and groups on campus. This week, we focused on the SGA elections occuring on campus. Currently, elections on campus are controlled by a machine of a handful of greek organizaions who pass along power to each other. They use their private greek resources for campaign money and influence on campus. FIU DM, along with a dozen other campus groups and leaders, proposed  a new charter for fuure elections. It would legalize political parties and allow for SGA funds to go for financing ampaigns. It would also expand our Senate chamber from 15 to 30. We staged a full fledged campaign this week to have the current SGA approve it. Unfortunately, it was shot down, even by the people who agree to sponso it. Now, we are shifting our attention towards the election, where we are going to run a presidential candidate who will push for our new charter.

 

 

 

 

February 21st, 2008:

 

We had a meeting this past Tuesday, a week after the club fair. It went on as planned, and again, we got solid turnout and many signatures, but the meeting went on with four people. I think now that our primary is past and candidates are settled in, people have become a little bit more timid towards politics on campus, and unfortunately it's something many cordinators seem to struggle with. We agreed that we are going to amend our spring plans to make Joan's visit a focal point. As of now, I have scheduled her to meet with one professor and one campus group(Students against sweatshops, they want to meet with Jay to discuss trade policy and financial interests in Congress) I will be contacting the Dean to schedule more in class visits and set up group discussions with FIU College Democrats and Republicans(still up in the air)

 

 

 

January 30th, 2008:

 

Spring 2008 Plans for Florida International University:

 

Four Major Events:

 

1.) Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator Jose Lieberman visit FIU (January 28th, 2008)

• In partnership with FIU senior officials and College Republicans, Rudy Giuliani visited campus on the eve of the Florida Primary to meet with students and discuss the 2008 campaign and important issues in current American politics. I, along with 3 DM members, tabled outside the event with Free Elections material and then joined in the event. There was no Q&A session held as he was late to a flight, but I did speak with many students about Clean Elections and it's bi-partisan appeal(approx. 200 students showed) I also spoke with Jon Voight on the issue(random, but here was there campaigning!)
• Senator Joe Lieberman visited campus that same morning to campaign on behalf of John McCain(another event coordinated by several campus groups, including FIUDM). It was a lunch event, and he spoke of foreign policy issues mostly. I was, however, able to ask a question in the Q&A section about McCain Feingold and free elections. He explained to us the importance of McCain Feingold and that as a VP candidate, he pressed the issue with Al Gore and it was something they planned on tackling had the been elected(boy did we go the opposite direction in 2000) 

2.) Student Club Fair, Feb 11^th-18^th, 2008

• Tabling throughout the week with sign up sheets and information for students
• Post-Primary voter registration drive for general election(proved to be successful last semester)
• Clean Elections video playing(equipment borrowed from my fraternity) and also want to play Robert Reich’s statement on Clean Elections

3.) Call-in/Write-in campaign to local representatives to urge adoption of FENA in platform for 2008 election

• Organize DM members, College Democrats and other ;ike-minded college groups to call in federal Representatives and voice the need for FENA
• Inform their staff that failure to recognize FENA can and will sway their vote in upcoming elections

4.) Meet your candidate, Raul Martinez, Congressional candidate for the FL-25(TENTATIVE)

• I am organizing his college groups and voter turnout throughout the county, and the campaign has expressed interest in coming to speak at FIU. It would be late March-April time, but could generate great interest from students and pressure his rival to also visit campus.

 

November 20th, 2007:

• College Dems/FIU DM had a voter registration drive and tabling, with Clean Elections video running on a T.V. on our table.
• 90 students registrered to vote(with mostly party affilliation so they will vote in primaries) Alot of these students were foreign born recently inducted citizens. It was really cool to get them started on the electoral process.
• 15 of our members called to to both Senators and our local rep(Lincoln Diaz-Balart, unfortunately he is to the right of Attila the Hun)
• 3 letters were mailed in to Sens. Bill Nelson & Mel Martinez.
• Created a petition(mailed out to Sen. Nelson) with 143 names. Also showed interest in group activities, but I am still skeptical until we have bigger turnouts than just our main group.
• Going by how new we are on campus and the relative political slilence right now amongst students, I'd give it a B/B+. Once primaries/general elections roll around, I expect(well hope at least) for larger turnouts as students become more involved.

 

 

 

 Following up our first event on the 11th(we had about 25 people show up, mostly from the residencies on campus) we held a meeting on the 17th and the 25th on healthcare and education, respectively. There, we had our usual 8-10 active member list show up, and during our healthcare meeting we frequently touched on the topic of clean elections and how it could benefit the cause of passing meaningful healthcare reform if insurance companies are kept in check. I did some research on Clinton's failed healthcare plan in 1992 and explained how insurance companies and lawmkers in their pockets rallied to kill the deal. Our education meeting was sort of a "debate prep" for our event today, a debate with the College Republicans. It dealt with 70% education and on some topics like healthcare, terrorism, and most importantly fgor us, ehtics reform. It was a large crowd as it as held in the center of our student union and best of all, it was broadcasted live on the student radio!(I'll try to get an audio copy)

 

Next Tuesday and Thursday, we will table for the NWA and hold voter registration drives for students. Unfortunately for us, our schools voting percentage isint very high, so it's definetly a great cause. At the tables will be FENA/DM info along with the clean elections video playing on a loop on a TV(getting the TV from my fraternity)

 

I'm going to start working on an op-ed on clean elections for a January election edition of our newspaper. Once I have a draft, I'll be sure to pass it along.

 

First off, sorry we have been missing each other on the phone lately.  We both are mad busy with small windows of opportunity for phone time.  Either way, this is an excellent report and I am glad to see you have things rolling.  Please try and get me an audio copy, I would love that and maybe we can post it on the blog.  Second, Joan sent out a NWA op-ed and we want as many people as possibly to revise to fit their campus and submit to their newspapers.  So you can rock that one right now...it should only take 10 minutes to revise and submit.  Third, for the NWA campaign looping the video is an excellent idea.  Did you check out the video I sent today.  That is also a really good one, which you should pass a long to your members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 11th, 2007:  Our event went on as planned and it was a success, as far as my expectations and preditions were. There was a mild turnout, but this was expected as mid-terms started this morning and studetns are still getting a feel for whats going on campus, especially outside of the Greek circle. Our whole organization did show up, including members, as well a some people who joined our email list/sign up sheet. The rest of the students were dorm residents informed of the movie showing. [So how many people in total would you estimate?]

 

The Clean Elections movie and the feature presentation on Enron did draw considerable attention from the audience. It clearly demonstarated how people are unaware of the power of big interests/business and its control over our voting system. The students were also intrigued by Enron's "business" model; overall, these two movies tied in really well with the whole theme of the night. All guests seemed interested over the topics being discussed. I am expecting and hoping an even better turnout for future events.

 

[A great way to follow up on a movie night is to write a short op-ed or a letter to the editor talking about the event and why it is relevant to students and the issue of fair elections.  It can then also give you a way to promote your next event.  Sometimes you need to draw the connections and importance out for people who may not have gotten it at the actual event.]

 

 

October 9th, 2007:

 

The College Democrats went out of town to Orlando this weekend for the State Colege Democrats Convention. We were able to bring along the 5 new members that were just recently added to the club as well as the normal core group of students. Once there, we received signficant training on different ways to promote the club on campus, and I attended a seminar on voter registration. Our voter registration(to be held on the NWA) will be focused on signing people up for the 2008 primary and 2008 general election. According to state rules, students will have ample time to have everything in. I will also play the Road to Clean Elections video that week and distribute the FENA papers on our website. These ideas have been brought up and agreed upon by the group.  [When you do the voter registration will also be able to hand out the FENA fliers?  Whenever we do VR we want to make sure that people understand the system into which they are voting.  So be sure to include the FENA handouts.  Also...ALL the democrats support a more advanced public financing system hence it should not come into contrast with the Democratic platforms of the candidates.]

 

This Wednesday will be our first event, featuring the screening on Enron, the Road to Clean Elections and a discussion of the topics over light refreshments.  We will also talk to different students supporting different Presidential campaigns on Thursday(students will be tabling for certain candidates) and discuss their candidates views on Clean Elections. [This is excellent!  If you could take pictures of this that would be great!]

 

 

 

Week of September 21st-28th, 2007/Monthly Report

 

The first month of the school year proved to be a tough introduction from Democracy Matters on Campus. Unfortunately, the University will not recognize the group untill January of 2008 and thus, the group cannot hold events/meetings on it's own. With my previous experience as an officer of FIU's College Democrats, I and my two other DM launch members re-joined College Democrats and I have assumed the role of a liaison between Democracy Matters and the Clean Elections movement and with the existing group.

 

As school was/is just beginning and students are just now settling in, There was nothing done in the way of getting an event done this month. I instead focused on spreading the ideas out a bit around campus and establishing this theme within our group. Our first meeting was held two weeks ago(the week before club week) where I introduced Democracy Matters, Clean Elections and it's progress nationwide. I pitched the idea of having a movie screening(these are widely popular amongst the residents in dorms) and the group agreed to it unanymously. The club will host Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room in a theater on campus, as well as far food served afterwards as a social event. There, I plan to have additional reading material on Clean Elections to stirr up dialouge. [What is the date and time of this?  Also, I would recommend showing the DM promo video and/or the Road to Clean Elections video, which you should have gotten in the mail with the other DM materials.  Schedule to show these short films at an upcoming College Democrats meeting.]

 

On club week, we successfully recruited about 5 new active members to the club, as well as having a sign up sheet with about 30 members for club events(who will be contacted for the movie screening.) I was able to set up a table and place in next to the main Democrats table, where I had the stickers and information out(I included the Fair Elections Now Act, I just instead printed the bill text offline) The topic sparked intrigue amongst the students who signed up and most were very interested in the opening on the new club on campus in January. Tonight, we will host our first meeting post-club week(meeting earlier this week was cancelled in light of some on-campus occurences) and I will discuss plans and search for ideas for the national clean elections week in November. One of our members, a previous officer, is trained in voter registration, so this will be an obvious addition to the weeks schedule. [Any new members you sign up send their email addresses to susanc@democracymatters.org so they can start receiving the monthly E-News.  If you are going to be doing voter registration make sure that you do it with enough time for the paper work to be processed.  In most states, not sure about Florida, have to have the forms post marked at least 3 weeks prior to the election, meaning any voter registration stuff needs to take place in the next two weeks.  Also, anytime you tell people about FENA, I would recommend using the fliers we made, which you can download off the Google group...just click on the Files section and DL FENA handout 1 and FENA handout 2 and print them out front and back.  These fliers are much easier to digest for people who are new to the issue.  Extensive bill language might confuse people.]

 

 

September 18th, 2007

 

I attended the first College Democrats meeting this past week. The meeting was mainly to start preperations for the upcoming semester. I was given the chance to speak to the group, and I explained the mission of Democracy Matters, the importance of Clean Elections and it's importance within the Democratic Party. The group liked the idea of a Movie Night, and we have scheduled a screening of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room for sometime in mid-October. Currently, the University is having our club week, and I have participated in tabling for College Democrats. I have and will continue to table throughout the week, as well as talk about Clean Elections with possible new members. It has been a topic of interest for students, as they have enjoyed reading the pamphlets I have put on the CD table. Once the club week is over,  College Democrats will contact the newly enlisted memebers and prepare for another meeting next Tuesday. There, I will explore ideas for our other Clean Elections themed campaign.

 

 

[This looks good Alex.  What information are you handing out and how much of it are you handing out?  Feel free to hand out as many buttons and stickers as you can, since it would be great to see DM all over the campus.  Also, hand out the flier about the Fair Elections Now Act (which you can download from this group - just click on the FILES sections.  This will be a good way to give members and other students and general ideal of how the system works, why its good, and then find ways to push for educating others about it and getting legislators to support it.]

 

 

September 4th, 2007:

 

Per our conversation last evening, the new policy at FIU regarding school organizations forces me to wait untill January 2008 to launch Democracy Matters. I have contatcted my two launchers and they have confirmed to me that they will still be part of the launching team come January. I have already filed the paperwork needed for the group to be official and should hopefully hear from them by next week.

 

As a previous officer of FIU College Democrats, I will become once again active with the organization and will use the group as a way to launch the DM message. The next meeting is next Tuesday the 11th, and I have already signed up to attend. Once there, I will speak to them club and introduce our message and ideas. I hope to present to them the ideas for 2 to 3 campaigns this semester. I will speak to them about the Free Congress petition, a film screeening(very popular on campus actually) and a tabling event. Luckily, College Dems is an established group on campus with financial backing, so we will have more manpower to get things done. [I would rock a little Vote Registration in there as well.  This is also a great way to spread the message about money in politics].

 

[Another idea I had - if you are into debate - is to have a presidential primary debate, but having student supporters of the candidates represent them in a debate as opposed to having the candidates themselves.  This has never been done before and I think it could be really cool.]

 

Also, I have received the Democracy Box and will use many of the handouts during the scheduled events.

 

 

 

Campaign/Event Plans for Fall Semester  

·         August 27^th- 31^st, 2007: First week of classes.

o       Submit application to the Student Organization Council to create a Democracy Matters group recognizable by the University.

o       Identify campus political leaders and create “launching” group. Update: One launcher has been identified.

[Check constitutions online and use those to save yourself some time.  When you are identifying political leaders include professors and administrators in this search.]

·         September 3^rd-7^th, 2007: Raise awareness of new group, promote first meeting

o       Speak at different established groups whose members will have an interest in Democracy Matters(College Democrats, Students Against Sweatshops, FIU Environmental Association and the Black Student Union)

o       Create posters and pass out flyers throughout the campus hot spots to garner interest

[If you need information on connecting DM and money in politics to the issues of these other campus group, peruse the DM website for lots of information.  Also, check out www.colorofmoney.org.  Have one of your meetings be a poster party and get the artists on campus to show up and help you create some great designs.  You should also enter the poster contest - see DM website for more details.]

·         September 10^th-September 15^th, 2007: Promote group amongst dorm students.

o       Speak at dorm meetings with RA’s permission

o       Distribute flyers to residents

·         September 18^th-22^nd, 2007: First meeting.

o       Introduction and social meet and greet

o       Brief explanation of groups focus

o       Ask members to consider what roles they’d like to take in group

[There are a couple handouts - both posted into this group - that work well in giving a brief overview of what we promote and why it is important.  Find out if any other groups are interested in co-sponsoring events.]

·         September 25^th-29^th, 2007: Second meeting.

o       Lecture on the role of money in politics

o       Planning session for first campaign

·         October 2^nd-6^th, 2007: First campaign-Free Congress Petition

o       Write one page flyer explaining money’s influence on Congressional elections

o       Put students in select areas of campus to maximize outreach

o       Aim for 1,000 signatures, but consider anywhere from 300-500 a victory

[I like how you are already getting specific with your goals...this is essential to measuring progress.]

·         October 9^th-11^th, 2007: Third meeting.

o       Brief lecture-further discussion on Clean Elections

o       Plan a tabling event

o       Planning session

·         October 14^th-18^th, 2007: Fourth meeting and tabling.

o       Have articles and fact sheets to hand out to students

o       Inform students of upcoming meetings/events

·         October 21^st-25^th, 2007: Fifth meeting.

o       Planning session on upcoming campaign

o       Plan a social event open to all students

·         October 28^th-November 1^st, 2007: Sixth meeting and social event.

o       Event  type to be determined by group

o       Social will have lecture and discussion on Clean Elections

o       Food served along with entertainment(Possibly a movie night)

o       Planning session on upcoming campaign

[Check the movie listing discussion thread to get some ideas as to what movie you would like to show]

·         November 4^th-8^th, 2007: Second campaign-In Class Democracy Matters Presentation

o       Explain how money is harming politics, talk about Clean Election reform, etc

o       Pass out sign up sheet

o       Show 8 minute documentary

[Again, we have great handout you should give them to keep.]

·         November 11^th-15^th, 2007: Seventh meeting/group social.

o       Planning session for third campaign

o       Social event celebrating a successful semester-event to be determined by group

·         November 18^th-22^nd, 2007: Community Presentation.

o       Meet with members of a local and discuss Clean Elections

o       Inform them of our role on campus and future events

o       Discuss issues vital to their cause and its relation to Democracy Matters

·         December 2007-Exact date TBA.

Campus Coalition with College Democrats to bring elected officials to campus