Letter to State Central Committee Regarding Chair Selection Process

State Central Committee Members,

I hope this message finds you enjoying the start of the Holiday Season!

I want to take just a few minutes to share my thoughts on the selection of a new State Party Chair, based on my experiences as a Statewide candidate and young leader within our Party.  I know you are likely overwhelmed with communication on the topic, so my feedback attempts to be concise and constructive.  Thank you in advance for its consideration.

At this turning point, I believe it important to examine the role of the position as it aligns with the strategic goals of the Party.  I think it is time to approach the position in a different way, one that eliminates unnecessary and counterproductive drama, invites broader participation, and can potentially be more cost effective.

The Chairman, unfairly perhaps, has historically been charged with extremely diverse responsibilities – fundraiser, chief spokesperson, recruiter, campaign strategist, and more.  Rarely can one individual perform each of these roles superbly as they require vastly different skill sets.  A new structure would allow each of these roles to be performed by people uniquely skilled and equipped to do so.

My suggestion, using the same amount of money currently budgeted for the role of State Chairman:

1.)  Make the role of State-Chairman a volunteer position solely focused on being the chief spokesman, fundraiser, and grassroots catalyst of the Party.  Recognizing the significant time demand, the position could entail a generous travel stipend for public appearances and time spent away from other responsibilities.  Organizing in such a way reduces the impact of special interests, depoliticizes and reduces the counter-productive drama the selection process, and allows the Chairman to solely focus on constituent-facing responsibilities.

2.) Re-institute the role of Executive Director, with more robust duties.  Using the remaining (sizeable) budget, the Party should hire an experienced campaign management professional to manage all back-office functions, candidate recruitment, and campaign strategy functions.  By splitting the roles of fundraising and spending, we obtain a much more transparent budget, with spending decisions based on analytical reasoning, rather than emotion and connections.

Both positions should report directly to the State Central Committee.  This structure allows us to remove the negative energy surrounding the process and create an even more professional organization that is more effective, more welcoming, and more efficient.

Thank you again for your consideration and have a joyous Holiday season.

All the Best,
Sam