Joe Morelle Resigns as MCDC Chair to run for Comptroller
Dear Friend,
I would like you to be among the first to know that this morning, after much soul searching, I am announcing my resignation as Chair of the Monroe County Democratic Committee.
Although this decision was very difficult, I believe that resigning my Chairmanship is the right thing to do in light of my candidacy for New York State Comptroller. I believe that I am truly the best- qualified candidate for Comptroller and that I can better serve our party, community and state as a greater voice for our region in Albany.
When I was re-elected last year as party chair, my plan was to continue building the party through the end of my term. Of course, at that time, no one knew that Alan Hevesi would subsequently resign as Comptroller. That unfortunate turn of events has created an opportunity for me to deliver results and help Governor Spitzer usher in an era of reform for the people of the entire state by serving as the next Comptroller.
When I came to MCDC in June of 2005, the party was struggling financially and suffering from internal division. Today, thanks in large part to the leadership of Mayor Bob Duffy and Assemblyman David Gantt, we are a united party. We have raised over three-quarters of a million dollars, moved into a beautiful new state-of-the-art headquarters, built a one-stop shop for candidate development and campaign support, and made rules changes that make the designation process more fair and open.
In addition, we have been successful at electing Democrats throughout our county. In 2005, in addition to electing Mayor Bob Duffy, we won three hotly contested County Legislature races, re- elected supervisors Moe Bickweat and Sandy Frankel, and put Lisa Sluberski on the Rush Town Board. In Irondequoit, we elected a supervisor and a majority to the Irondequoit Town Board for the first time in 30 years. In 2006 we continued our unprecedented wins by electing Mark McIntee to the Gates Town Board, picked up two village board seats in Fairport, elected Steve Lindley to the New York State Supreme Court, Pat Gallaher to Monroe County Family Court and delivered decisive victories for Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Working together, we have successfully reestablished a meaningful two-party system in Monroe County.
As I announce my resignation, I want you all to know that I leave the Monroe County Democratic Party with the full confidence that the great progress we’ve made here will continue, and in the belief that our best days, as a party, as a community and a state are yet to come. I would like to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for all of your support and dedication during my tenure, and I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.
Warmest personal regards,
Joseph D. Morelle, Chair
Monroe County Democratic Committee
Â
Â
Um. So, like, I guess the obvious question is, who’s on the short list to replace him?
Dunno, my first guess would be David Koon though
I would love to see Dan West take over!
Now that would be cool. I love Koon but I want him to keep on being an awesome assemblyman. He’s in a majority-GOP district, IIRC, and I don’t know if it would be worth it to give opponents the ability to point at him and say “partisan!”
Dan has a great record of getting people to work together, from when he was in the Liv county leg and supervisor, to working with various communities on the whole Hemlock lake deal a few years back.
If he can get GOP-ers and Dems, small towns and Rochester, to play nice towards the common good, could he do even more with just Dems to work with?
My guess is that it will be someone who can get along with the key players in the city and keep them playing nice.
I think Dan West more than fits all the requirements for this job. He was an extremely dynamic candidate and that is exactly what the county needs to head the Dems.
True, Dan West does cross some of the barriers that another candidate might not be able to do, but I almost wonder if there needs to be a certain level of “celebrity” to hold this post. Morelle is probably the most popular democrat in the area next to Duffy… West is a great guy, but Koon would bring a level of popularity and across the board approval that I don’t think can be beat.
Either way… does anyone know how a new chair is even selected?
My primary concern with Koon, similar to Dan, is his ability to raise money. If you look up his campaign contributions, they are way lower than Morelle’s. Obviously, Morelle’s contributors played a huge role in his ability to raise funds for the Party. Having said this, I think this issue can be resolved in other ways. An idea that has been floated around in the past is that the Chair doesn’t have to be the person to raise all the money. Perhaps, MCDC could have a fund raising director, similar to the Republicans (from my understanding), who receives a percentage of the money he/she is able to raise for the Party. This has become a common practice for many businesses and private organizations over the years. It guess, it is sort of surprising to me that MCDC hasn’t followed suit.
I’m also unsure how much interaction Koon has had (or wants to have) with various factions in the city. He strikes me as a bit of a suburban outsider. Perhaps, my impression is wrong.
As for how the new Chair will be chosen. Officially, anyone can throw their hat in the ring, but in reality, the Chair usually seems to be chosen by a small cadre of political insiders (who control large sums of votes at the convention, or have influence over those who have control), who try to push all of the other candidates out of the ring before a vote is taken.
I have never given money to the county committee for the same reason I never gave money to the DNC before Howard took charge–I didn’t trust the people in charge to spend money the way I would like it spent.
If Dan West was county chair, I’d give money because I trust him. I’d also envision Dan drawing in money from small contributors where a county chair with “celebrity” status would ignore the small contributors to just rake in the money from the big money people. (I can’t wait for the days for Clean Money!)
The county chair is elected by members of the town committees from all over the county…sort of like the nominating convention to endorse candidates.
jTom, have you seen the report where the 50-state strategy is validated statistically (or at least makes it tougher to dis)?
It’s at mydd
I’d also much prefer a county chair who is doing the job full time, not someone who is really just a name on an office door who leaves the real work up to the unknowns.
Amen to a full time Chair named Dan West. IMHO, the last Chair was great in many regards, but from my understanding, he (and his staff) were rather hard to get a hold of during the final weeks of campaign season.
I have to admit, as much as I don’t like the current system, we have to work with what we’ve got (until Spitzer waves his magic wand). Its much harder to raise large sums of money (like $100,000) from a bunch of small donors, as opposed to large donors. Obviuosly, this is why incumbents are able to raise so much more money compared to their challengers. They receive many more donations approaching the donation limit. The large donors can easily swamp the small donors.
A quick look at the treasuries of state-level challengers versus competitors makes this apparent.
The MCDC raised somewhere around $500,000 (quite a bit more than in any prior year) this year, which is still quite a bit less than the Reps were able to raise. It would take 5,000 people donating $100 to the MCDC to reach this year’s benchmark. Unfortunately, history seems to show that most small donors give their money to individual candidates and to large groups like the DNC, which can afford to send constant fund raising letters. Nonetheless, if there are small donors willing to give to someone they trust, than why not try to bring them in the loop?
Hence, in the current environment, its my belief that we need someone with crossover appeal. Someone who the small donors trust, yet has the tact to convince large donors to open their wallets.
If you want someone with star status, I would suggest Joe Robach
Awesome! Thanks for the laugh. Should we ask him now or wait until he defects back to the Dems?
Amen to a full time Chair named Dan West. IMHO, the last Chair was great in many regards, but from my understanding, he (and his staff) were rather hard to get a hold of during the final weeks of campaign season.
I have to admit, as much as I don’t like the current system, we have to work with what we’ve got (until Spitzer waves his magic wand). Its much harder to raise large sums of money (like $100,000) from a bunch of small donors, as opposed to large donors. Obviuosly, this is why incumbents are able to raise so much more money compared to their challengers. They receive many more donations approaching the donation limit. The large donors can easily swamp the small donors.
A quick look at the treasuries of state-level challengers versus competitors makes this apparent.
The MCDC raised somewhere around $500,000 (quite a bit more than in any prior year) this year, which is still quite a bit less than the Reps were able to raise. It would take 5,000 people donating $100 to the MCDC to reach this year’s benchmark. Unfortunately, history seems to show that most small donors give their money to individual candidates and to large groups like the DNC, which can afford to send constant fund raising letters. Nonetheless, if there are small donors willing to give to someone they trust, than why not try to bring them in the loop?
Hence, in the current environment, its my belief that we need someone with crossover appeal. Someone who the small donors trust, yet has the tact to convince large donors to open their wallets.
Segway into my prior comments. This someone could actually be two people. A Chair the small donors trust and a fund raising director who knows how to pull in the big bucks.
I have mixed feelings about Morrelle — on the one hand, he is a bit of a celebrity, as some have said, and by all accounts he was a great improvement on the previous chair. But I’d like to see someone who was more interested in taking message delivery in new direction — more letters to the editor, more support for local blogs and the like (self-serving I know), more of an effort for face time on the local news, etc.
Well, I just finished reading many of the comments that have been made concerning the selection of a new Democratic County Chair and i wanted to thank each of you that suggested me as a Joe Morelle replacement. I appreciate your very thoughtful and kind remarks. Over the last few days, I have received several emails and phone calls suggesting I consider running for the Chair’s position. At this point, i have not made a final decision, but am seriously considering the possibility; and will be seeking advice and counsel from individuals throughout the county committee to determine if i can be of service to the Democratic Committee. One thing is certain, whoever takes over for Joe M. will have a tough act to follow, especially in the fund raising arena. Our party cannot continue to grow if we don’t continue to raise money. We also need to continue to professionalize the political operation that Joe M. has started. I am confident that the new Chair will be someone that can continue to build our party.
It’s too bad we can’t have a fundraising chair and an operational chair. There’s enough work to go around!
You rock, Dan!