Questionnaire | Q #1 | Q #2 | Q #3 | Q #4 | Q #5 | Q #6
 

Answers to Question 4 (of 6) by the 2009 candidates for NC GOP Chairman & Vice-Chairman

 

[ncgop-exec]
Date of questions: Saturday, May 30, 2009
Answers were accepted May 30 thru June 9, 2009.

 

Question #4:  The NC GOP Executive Committee, though officially in charge of the Party, is terribly dysfunctional. Some of the reasons are intractable; e.g., its huge size (nearly 600 members), and the great distance that some of its members must travel to meetings. Also, it meets only 2-4 times per year, and the meetings too often are curtailed by lack or loss of quorum, or (twice in recent memory) because the meeting room was reserved for insufficient time.

But one of the reasons for the State Executive Committee's dysfunctionality can be easily remedied. The problem is that Executive Committee members currently have no way to communicate among one another, outside of the infrequent meetings. The State Party maintains a list of Executive Committee members' contact information, including email addresses and phone numbers, but does not permit members of the Executive Committee to see or use those email addresses or phone numbers.

The members' phone numbers used to be listed on the ncgop.org web site, but were removed in early 2005. The members' postal mailing addresses are still available, but doing a 500-600 piece mailing is so burdensome that I know of only one person (me!) who has ever done such a mailing about "regular" executive committee business (i.e., when not campaigning for a position).

The easy remedy to the communication problem is for the State Party to set up a "closed" (private) email listserver for State Executive Committee members to use for discussion of State Party business (i.e., for discussion of matters which would be taken up in an official capacity at our thrice-annual State Executive Committee meetings). I will happily offer technical assistance, and more detailed suggestions. (Note: this email listserver would replace the unofficial [ncgop-exec] list that I run, which currently has less than half of the Executive Committee members subscribed.)

Will you commit to create such an email listserver, if you are elected chairman? Will you also commit to restore the Executive Committee members' access to the list of other members' phone numbers?

The six candidates' answers follow. The four candidates for chairman are listed first (alphabetically), followed by the two candidates for vice-chairman. (Each candidate's name is a clickable link to his web site.)
 

Chad Adams (for Chairman) wrote:
    This is a good idea that should also be married to having all exec members having a Tritter account and the party holding more tele-commuting type meetings. It is legal to have elected officials attend meetings via teleconference, why not our party?
    Our state is huge, geographically and making meetings in a single location is tough. We must embrace more modern communication abilities if we are to embrace the modern world and the modern political environment.
    We must adapt and evolve. If we master communications within our exec committee we will also be able to better assist our local parties and auxiliary organizations as well.

Tom Fetzer (for Chairman) said:
    Yes.

Marcus Kindley (for Chairman) wrote:
    I would see no problem with this, the only caveat I would inject is to give a member the ablity to op out if they choose.

Bill Randall (for Chairman) wrote:
    I like the idea of our having ready-access to Executive Committee members throughout the state. But I don't like "reinventing the wheel." A very effective system already exists in Wake County (developed by Mr. Bill Bryson). It is called: "Volunteer Support System" (VSS). This is a secure-access website that is effective all the way down to the Block Captain level. Mr. Bryson shared this idea with Mecklenburg County, and they are now up & running (without a hitch). I believe it can be adopted and spread across the state in rapid-fashion.

 
(Note: Tim & David are candidates for Vice-Chairman, not Chairman, but since Vice-Chairmen often eventually become Chairmen I asked that they answer the questions as if they expected to become chairman.)

Tim Johnson (for Vice-Chairman) wrote:
    I think listserver is one of a number of ways to effectively improve our statewide communication. To that end, I would also suggest that all members of the executive committee have an email address @ncgop.org which can be forwarded to their personal email addresses or checked as a separate email address.

David Sawyer (for Vice-Chairman) wrote:
    It is my recollection that the NCGOP Executive Committee previously addressed this issue and either rejected, or otherwise refused to adopt, the use of a listserv, as it is described herein. Again, the Chair should honor the decision of the Committee and, should the Committee direct otherwise, that decision, too, should be honored..

 

The other five questions can be found here:
http://www.mooregop.org/chairman_questionnaire.html

Dave Burton
Cary, NC
H: 1-919-481-0098
M: 1-919-244-3316