I attended the Village of Suffern’s Democratic Party leadership meeting this week.  It was created to reorganize the party and select the Chairperson and his team.

The process was a bit long and a big unorganized.  I was impressed with both sides interest to lead our local party.  With a Mayor’s race in 2009 and 2 Trustee positions, we have a lot of opportunity to influence and drive change at our local government level.  The economy will continue to put the issue and at our Village services level…we will have to prioritize what we spend taxpayers’ money on.  In addition, we have such an incredible downtown…we need great stores, boutiques, unique commerce value that, again, the Democratic party locally should be helping motivate and move our slate of candidates to.

Stay tuned. 

Tonight is our Village Democratic Party meeting.   We are looking forward to attending and meeting other party committeepeople across the neighborhoods of Suffern.  Tonight there will be nominations for Party Chair and Board.  We want to see the future, faster, with the right choices that help this Village find the talent and means to build on the strengths of our Village…for Mayor, for Trustee, for downtown commerce, for growth, for sustainability.

I like this article in Chief Marketer online today.  Some points are worth bringing to the conversation this evening.

http://chiefmarketer.com/disciplines/branding/1125-obama-marketing/index1.html

Last Wednesday, Beth and I attended the Rockland County Democratic Committeeperson convention (that’s a mouthful)!

There is so much I could write about that overall experience, but I want to focus on the highlights.

1. My mother came with me and it was great to see how proud she was that I am getting more involved in my community.  My Dad, who passed away 4 years ago, was smiling down on us.

2. I had two great supporters for both Beth and I, Tom Ciccone and Spence Berg.  They sincerely enjoyed the experience, learned as much as we did, and I so appreciate them being there.

3. The convention ended due to the Chairman not recognizing due process and Roberts Rules of Order.  All other towns had met, discussed their leadership team, their platforms and their next steps for November.  Town of Ramapo is out of compliance with their bi-laws due to too many people not doing the right thing.

4. We have to get it together.  This race is too close for comfort in November and Obama/Biden must be the priority to win.

Staying focused on good neighbors, good family and good times need to be brought back into our County and Town party systems.  Stay tuned.

We are excited to invite our District 11 supporters that want to attend the Rockland County Convention this Wednesday, Sept 17th, at:

The Nyack Seaport

21 Burd Street, Nyack, NY

7PM Sharp!

As Town of Ramapo and Village of Suffern Democrats, we will also get to be a part of our new party movement inside our Town!  The Town of Ramapo will have to meet at this convention, before all others, in order to make sure our newly elected members, like Beth and I, can bring forth new leadership and change to our Town!  Your ability to join us would be a thrill and it could help with some of our proxy votes for newly elected members that had previous commitments on short notice for this meeting.

Please let us know if you can join us.  tarajagen@yahoo.com or bkoppel@aq-solutions.com.

We’d like to ask you for your vote for Democratic Committee.  We are excited to have you remember us on Primary Day, September 7th, in the voting booth. You can cast 2 of your 4 votes for Tara Agen and Beth Koppel.  

When I was eighteen, I had to work on a political campaign in Boston.  It was part of my course credit for a class I was taking on government and politics.  Most of my classmates grew up in Boston and had an advantage on knowing the candidates - from state legislature to state senate to Governor.  A classmate gave me a piece of paper with the headquarters address of a Gubernatorial candidate.  He had run before, won, and was Governor during the 70’s.  He lost his reelection campaign and decided to make a comeback.  When I walked in, they walked to back to volunteer central. After stuffing envelopes for a week, a guy walked into our volunteer center and asked the Volunteer Coordinator if anyone was interested in helping him in the Press Department.  I overheard him, got up and introduced myself.  It turned out he was the Press Secretary.  The rest was history for me.  I immediately became his key assistant and learned the ropes.  One month into helping him, he took me to lunch to say thank you for all my help. He asked me if I was registered to vote.  I told him “not yet”.  He asked what party I would register for…I told him…Independent. He told me “well, it’s good to be registered, but you need to really think about this choice not to commit.”  That moment hit me hard and he gave me the history of the Democratic party-it’s ups and downs.  We ended the lunch with my commitment to think about our conversation.  2 days later…I registered to vote as a Democrat.   If you are 17 or 18, think this through, all parties, and get registered.  It will change your life. 

Beth and Tara would love to have you join us on Sunday, September 7, 2008 in Tara’s Garden.  Stop by on your way to the Suffern Street Fair and meet us and some of your neighbors in District 11.  Bring a friend that needs to get registered to vote!  

Wow…what a convention. We are more psyched than ever to be a Democrat!!! We are running to be part of this incredible change.

Thanks for your support to be part of Rockland, Ramapo and Suffern’s Democratic Committee.

Please join us in Tara’s Garden, Sunday, September 7, 2008, from 11:30am to 3:30pm. Join us for snacks, beverages, music, fun and great dialog. Come meet your neighbors and other friends that live in District 11!

Vote Tuesday, September 9th, 2008! Let us know if you need a ride to the polls!