Welcome

I've been asked why I am running for this position. The answer is simple and it's the same reason I ran for political office: I believe that it is each person's responsibility to make the world a better place. In 1998, I determined that the best way that I could do that, given my skills and abilities, was to serve as an elected official. In 2006, I would like to become your State Party Chair and work to elect Democrats from the top of the ticket to the bottom.

In 1998, after almost 5 years at Microsoft, I left my job to run for the 1st Congressional District against then-Congressman Rick White. Numerous well-known Democrats had turned down this race, but I jumped in with both feet. After six weeks, during which I raised about $75,000 and was starting to garner important endorsements, Jay Inslee chose to enter the race. We faced the possibility of a divisive primary, possibly leading to the reelection of Rick White.

Rather than divide the party, I left the Congressional race and ran instead for the State Legislature in the 45th Legislative District. That November, I became only the third Democrat ever elected from that district, the Democrats went from being in the minority in the State House of Representatives to a tie, and Jay Inslee defeated Rick White.

From the beginning of my political career, I have made electing Democrats my priority and I look forward to doing the same as State Party Chair.

As I see it, the State Party Chair has 3 primary responsibilities: fundraising, message development, and organizing. My entire career has been spent honing these skills.

Fundraising: I have been fundraising for various organizations since I was in 8th grade and organized my school's participation in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica. For the next 5 years, my school was the top fundraising school in its class.

I continued that tradition of fundraising during my political career. In 1998, I ran what was widely considered to be a hopeless race in a Republican district against a 3-term Republican incumbent, and set the record for the most money ever raised to win a seat in the State House of Representatives. In 2000, I beat that record, raising about $260,000 to win reelection. In 2004, I raised just over $600,000 during my campaign for Secretary of State. To put that in perspective, when former Congressman Bonker ran in 2000, he raised only about $170,000.

The hard truth is that ten months out from Senator Cantwell's election, our party is in debt. The next State Party Chair is going to have to hit the ground running. Not only did I bring many of our current largest individual donors into the party, but after 3 legislative elections and one statewide race, I already have strong relationships with our largest individual and institutional donors. I won't have to spend time developing those relationships; these donors already know and trust me. Upon my election we can get right to the important work of eradicating the debt and building up the kind of treasury we need to reelect Senator Cantwell and retain Democratic control of the State House and Senate.

Of course, once we raise the money, we need to make sure that we are spending it on our high quality staff and candidates - not on PDC fines and former employees.

Message Development: I am the only candidate in this race who has won a "red seat". While we should never take our reliably Democratic seats for granted, we know that if those are the only seats we hold, Democrats will be in the deep minority in both the State Legislature and Congress.

I have spent my career successfully developing and delivering a message that resonates with those voters who share our Democratic values but believe that Republicans are the only party reflecting their concerns or that they are "supposed to" vote Republican for some reason. They are the farmers and ranchers, those who have attained substantial wealth, or those whose families have always voted Republican. These are the voters who will defeat Doc Hastings, Dave Reichert, Don Benton, and Doug Ericksen and these are the voters we must reach.

Having a message is only the first step. We need to be able to deliver that message to the right voters at the right time. This means having long-term strategic communications plans for Central Washington, Eastern Washington, and rural Western Washington. These areas are separate and distinct from one another and deserve individual attention. We must start talking to these voters now, and not just try to come up with the perfect buzz word a month before the election. This is an investment that will pay off later with more Democrats in every level of office around the state.

We also have to know as much as possible about Washington voters. This means having a statewide voter file that is comprehensive, accurate, easy to use, and adds value to the efforts of PCOs and campaigns.

Organization: Whether I have been managing people and processes to make sure that the show opens on time as a stage manager, coordinating budgets and people as an Administrative Manager at Microsoft, or running 4 political campaigns (including a statewide campaign), I have built my entire professional career on my organizational skills.

A well-organized office means that we hire the best people for the job and then give them the authority to do that job. It has been my experience that the more responsibility you give people (with sufficient oversight), the more they take ownership of their position and pride in the quality of their work, which results in the highest quality product.

A well-organized accounting system means that we can spend our money on getting Democrats elected, not on PDC fines.

A well-organized grassroots means that all volunteers - from office workers to PCOs to state committeemen and women to LD chairs - feel that they are making an important contribution to the work of the party. When volunteers feel under-used or unappreciated, they drift away and our party is weaker for it.

These are the broad strokes. As I have spent time over the past few weeks calling and speaking with many of you, other concerns have come up. I have particularly heard concerns about the rift that has grown between the party and the grassroots, and the rift between the party and our elected officials. Several of you have been surprised to learn that our state legislators are not notified of the quarterly meetings.

These rifts mean that we waste too much time fighting each other, valuable time that would be better spent fighting Republicans. I think that much of this has been due to a lack of communication and a lack of transparency in decision-making. My commitment to you is to work to heal these rifts with increased communication, transparency, accountability, and accessibility. In the Legislature I became known for personally returning every phone call from a constituent. Elect me and you become my constituents, with the same level of accessibility.

I want to thank a diverse group of elected officials and county and Legislative District Chairs for supporting my bid for State Chair. Elected officials include State Representative and Democratic Caucus Chair Bill Grant (Walla Walla), State Representative and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler (Hoquiam), State Representative Mark Miloscia (Federal Way), State Representative Larry Springer (Kirkland), and Redmond City Councilman Richard Cole. Thanks also to 45th Legislative District Chair Ralph Gorin, 35th Legislative District Chair Fran Moyer, and former Lewis County Chair Deanna Zieske. More than anything I could write in this letter, support from such diverse areas of the state speaks to the kind of party chair that I will be.

Several of you have mentioned that in addition to grand visions and plans, you are also interested in the details of a candidate's professional experience. Enclosed you will find a copy of my resume.

My current schedule has me in Kelso on January 9th, Ferndale on the 10th, Sequim on the 11th, Pasco on the 14th, and Lincoln on the 16th. If you are not able to attend any of these meetings, a podcast of my stump speech is available at www.lauraruderman.com for those who may want to hear an example of a live speech before January 28th. If you are unable to access the file, please contact me and I will send you a CD.

It was great to meet so many of you last year as I traversed the state in my bid for Secretary of State. I look forward to continuing to work with you as your State Party Chair and I would very much appreciate your vote on January 28th. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at 425-445-0970 or email me at laura@lauraruderman.com.