The person who heads our DFA here just got elected committeewoman

[madfloridian]

for the state party. I am very proud of her. She is very outspoken, and she is a dear friend. Her hubby will probably run for office, and he is a dear friend.

We work very hard here. We also stand up for what we believe. We shared the article by Mathew Gross's wife about acting abused....we shared it with our DEC/I-4 Democrats mailing list. We did not worry that it might offend someone.

We were not rude, we just said what we thought. And our party here needed desperately to hear it. They are so very upset that they did not please the damn Republicans that they want to be just like them next time.

Wait, who said that? I forgot.

Anyway, I am proud of my friend. I hope Rob McKenna in Tampa does well in his quest to hold party office. I wish the same for the lady in Orlando who is DFA who is doing the same.

Small victories. The largest one was when we shared the abuse article with the DEC....it did not affect her winning. Many agreed, and they said so.

As I said in another post, I will continue to speak out. If I bother you guys with it, I want to know. I would never do anything to hurt DFA or to hurt Dean's efforts. However, the message I get is stand up for what you think.

I think the guy who went to DFA and then insulted Howard Dean was just plain wrong. If I can not say so here without being attacked, then Houston, we have a big problem.

[mandyky]

1. MF, I don't think you are hurting

Dean or DFA. I don't like that folks are infiltrating DFA meetups hoping "Dean will stay in the background" either. I think it is a sneaky, dirty trick, but considering that it was a Clarkie says more about him and them that it does us and Dean. And people, Deaniacs and Dean haters alike, can flame me til hell freezes over, I'll be like Dean and call a spade a spade, here and in GD. Howard Dean and DFA can stick up for themselves, we've seen them do it! LOL
That is what scares the bejeebies outta the doubters, they know they can't do diddly, unless they wanna pull a gephardt and take themselves out too!! Dean has learned from it, we have learned from it, and as the idiot cowboy says - "bring it on"!!

[JNelson6563]

2. Very good news MF!

Slowly but surely we DFA people are getting in and getting things done.

As to the person who showed up at that meet-up and then went on to insult Dean, I'd say the guy was an ass-wipe for sure. We've got plenty of them here in MI, we basically end up shutting them out. Once it is realized such people are among us for the simple purpose of being counter-productive they are put on Ignore. They either straighten up or go away. We are careful not to give them a stick to beat us with later.

:toast:

Julie--proudly standing next to MF

[madfloridian]

3. We are proud of her.

Thanks.

[madfloridian]

4. Someone wrote this up on the comments section of the blog.

Caroll sent me what she sent Tara Liloia to be a blog post, but it has not appeared yet. 4 out of 7 of the people elected last night were Dean people. For such a conservative county that is good. I am still waiting for her entry to appear....I don't know who posted this. The other committeeperson who won is the pastor of the First Baptist Institutional Church, Rev. Alex Harper. He is a Dean supporter. We know we have fair, intelligent, and open-minded representatives.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
QUOTE..."One of the leaders of the Polk County Democracy For America Group, Caroll Franklin, was elected Thursday evening as one of Polk County's two representatives to the Florida Democratic State Executive Committee as the local party organization elected new officers during it's reorganizational meeting in Bartow.

Ms. Franklin, who was a strong supporter of Governor Dean during his presidential campaign and for the Kerry/Edwards ticket after Dean left the race, also managed Jeffrey Siemer's campaign for the 12th District congressional seat. She is a retired head emergency room nurse at hospitals in Miami and North Carolina. She is married to retired attorney Richard Blank, and they reside in Winter Haven.

Posted by ImperialPolkDemocrat at December 3, 2004 08:27 PM" END QUOTE

[sonias]

5. Congratulations for your friend madfloridian

Sounds like a great victory. Keep up the good fight.

Sonia

[madfloridian]

6. Thanks, here is a letter to the editor she had printed today. Good one.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004412040328
Published Saturday, December 4, 2004
Democrats Simply Proved They're Too Conservative

Warren Smith just doesn't get it.

Just because a majority of people "think" one way does not mean it's
"right." The majority of people did not want women to vote or segregation to
end. Fortunately, there were leaders back then who had vision and courage.
What this country needs are leaders who are not controlled by big business
or religious zealots.

This op-ed piece seemed to be about putting labels on people rather than
coming from any wisdom or real knowledge of the true definition of liberal
and conservative. The dictionary meaning of liberal is: open-minded,
broad-minded, moderate, noninterventionist, free thinking, tolerant. The
dictionary meaning of conservative is: traditional, conventional,
conformist, unadventurous, old-fashioned, traditionalist,
middle-of-the-road, old school. The dictionary meaning of reactionary is:
opposed to liberal progressive change; opposed to social or political
changes that the speaker considers liberal or progressive. (Taken from
Encarta.)

Obviously, Mr. Smith falls into the category of being a reactionary, and a
gloating one at that. The Democratic Party's real problem is that they tried
to be too conservative and in doing so failed to distinguish themselves as
"real" liberals.

CAROLL FRANKLIN

Winter Haven

[madfloridian]

7. She gets a post at the blog today!

Log in and give her your congratulations.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/005618.html
Sunday, December 05, 2004
The Staying Power of DFA Grassroots
Caroll Franklin is the DFA coordinator in Polk County, Florida (also known as the Lakeland, FL region).

Tonight, I was elected State Committeewoman for our local DEC. Not only did I win, but all four of the contested races were won by Dean supporters! Rev. Alex Harper was elected State Committeeman; Mary Nelson, Vice Chair; and Barbara Stampfl, Secretary.

After the presidential primary, our DFA group backed fellow Dean supporter, Jeff Siemer, for Congress. We also helped local candidates for county commission and state representatives. I was also a coordinator for the Betty Castor campaign in Polk County and active in other Democratic organizations like the I 4 Corridor Group and the Democratic Women's Club.

Many times, our Dean group was the only driving force for local activities. We made ourselves known and we worked hard. I heard from longtime members of the DEC that over the years, many people joined and if their candidate lost, they disappeared. They were very impressed that we stayed.

Don't give up! We've just begun to "take back our power."

—Caroll Franklin
Winter Haven, FL

Posted by Guest Writer at 05:01 PM