New Good Government meetup interested in "merging"

[Matt Cooperrider]

Hey All,

Check out this group: http://www.meetup.com/NewYorkCommunityAction-org/

"We are an Non-partisan/A-political incorporated group of concerned and active citizens dedicated to honest government. We have no agenda other than holding local governments and elected officials accountable to the electorate.Free fair and honest debate is our intention,and the preservation of our liberties is our goal. We encourage everyone to get involved with "COMACTA".Please visit our web site and learn more."

The leader reached out to me about "merging" our groups.  Their rhetoric seems a bit oppositional for our mostly collaborative lot, which I expressed to him.  Also, despite the nonpartisan/apolitical claim, the leader included this in his second message to me:

"We (COMACTA) are made up of established political leaders in New York politics and are of the conservative-Republican Ideology."

I'm keeping an open mind.  Anyone want to attend their 12/3 event with me?

MC

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Matt Cooperrider, Consultant
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[Lou Klepner]

I wrote back privately but I'm willing to say this publicly as well - I don't feel this group has the same neutral political perspective that I feel our group benefits from.

[Matt Cooperrider]

i tend to agree, but i also sometimes question the neutrality of our perspective.  what are the unintended consequences of our actions? who are we privileging without even realizing it?

just because we don't talk about ideology during meetings doesn't mean there isn't one that's driving our work.

i'm curious enough to make the expedition to this fellow's meeting, and invite others to join me, if only to clarify my thinking about openness and inclusiveness.

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[Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock]

Excerpts from Matt Cooperrider's message of Wed Nov 18 09:59:14 -0500 2009:

> i tend to agree, but i also sometimes question the neutrality of our
> perspective. what are the unintended consequences of our actions? who are
> we privileging without even realizing it?
>
> just because we don't talk about ideology during meetings doesn't mean there
> isn't one that's driving our work.
>
> i'm curious enough to make the expedition to this fellow's meeting, and
> invite others to join me, if only to clarify my thinking about openness and
> inclusiveness.

+1 to all this. Matt, I'm going to try my best to come check out their meeting
as well.

-Nick

[Philip Ashlock]

I might try to check it out too, though I'm hoping it'll be focused on the more pragmatic and less political elements of their list of interested topics:

Tea Party, Traditional Values Coalition, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Flat Tax, Glenn Beck, Christian Coalition, Conservatives, The 912 Project, Savage Nation, We Surround Them, 9/12, We Surround Them, Tea Party, Liberty

In any case, a good opportunity to have open minds with the open bottles ;) and better connect with more conservatives. Conservatives should be the ones most passionate about open government anyway.

-Phil

Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock wrote:

.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/open-government-nyc?hl=en.


  

--

Philip Ashlock

The Open Planning Project - http://www.openplans.org

ph...@openplans.org | @philipashlock | (360) 389-2741

[Matt Cooperrider]

Nick and Phil, glad to see you guys are ready for adventure :)  I think this will be a good field trip.  As soon as they set their location, I'll set a corresponding event on our group and invite everyone.

MC