Here are minutes from some of our recent meetings:
Click here to view the slides that were presented at the forum. They are full of interesting information and statistics.
Edward Markey is not new to one of Wayland’s four precincts, but beginning in 2013, his district will represent all of Wayland. Recently he met with members of our committee:
See the Links page to view the web sites of the three candidates.
are available here.
In the words of our former chairman Jon Saxton:
“I am pleased more than I can say to know that we here in MA have reasserted ourselves as a bastion of sanity and progress in the current sea of fear and idiocy. Also glad to see signs of sanity in NY and CT and in other areas of New England. I wanted to take a moment to thank the many, many Wayland Dems members and volunteers for a truly heroic effort in this election cycle and for everyone’s steadfastness in the face of so much media-enhanced hype and distortion by and on behalf of the Republicans and Tea party.
“Just prior to the elction, our Town Republican co-chair gleefully, if not hysterically, yelled to some of us during mutual visibility stints in town center that there was going to be a tsunami in MA. Well, the storm has passed and we are not just intact, but we are now the beacon of how to fight back effectively agains the new wave of Reaction.
“Congratulations to all of us.”
All or our statewide candidates, and all of our Congress people won handily. The Scott Brown wannabees were all wiped out.
A year ago, we lost our great Senator, Edward M. Kennedy.
Born of privilege and first elected in 1962 because of his family name, he became a strong and successful champion of the rights of the poor, the dispossessed, and the discriminated against, a “kind and tender hero” (in the words of President Obama), gentle and compassionate, a voice for the voiceless, and one of the greatest legislators in American history. “John Kennedy inspired us, Robert Kennedy challenged us, and Edward Kennedy changed America.”
Ted, we will miss you, more than we can say.
Dennis and Joanne Berry, Niki Tsongas, and Jon Saxton
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| Russ Ashton and Matt Shear | Ed O’Reilly and Susan Hager |
Prepared for the next campaign!
Electioneering - This is the actual work of supporting candidates and their campaigns. This includes all the work that town committees typically do, including sign holding, mailings, telephoning, and local networking.
Candidate Qualification - We should be a resource for new potential candidates. Based on our experience with recent elections, and with our unique local perspective, we can provide advice and expertise, as well as person power. We need to maintain a database of voters in our town, and work with committees in surrounding towns to advise and support new candidacies.
Committee Development - In order to do this work, we must strengthen our membership and enhance our visibility to the public.
Fundraising - We must have enough funds to support these activities, and to run ads in the local media. We plan to host major fundraising events for statewide candidates.
Town Committees are the backbone of grass roots politics. With the advent of the Clean Elections system, the grass roots can become more important to candidates than wealthy contributors.
With the Bush administration pretending that they have a mandate to serve the rich and powerful, we must organize locally to represent the rest of us.
We must provide a vehicle for support of Democratic ideals and opposition to unfair Republican policies.