ch: Our Values in Action

READ THIS: How Camp Wellstone Has Helped an Office-Seeking MVPer

Rodger Koopman, who is running for Wake County Commissioner in North Carolina, wrote in our Community Blog about his background and training at Camp Wellstone. I’m posting part of his blog entry below. Rodger’s story is exactly what we’re trying to do here at Midwest Values PAC: motivate and organize the next generation of progressive activists to help take back seats across the country, even in “red states” like North Carolina.

Late last year one of those guests was Bill Lofy, Paul Wellstone’s biographer. At the time, Bill Lofy mentioned that the two Wellstone sons had started the Wellstone organization in their parents’ and sister’s memory in part to help spread the progressive message their dad so ably crafted and promulgated. Part of the organization is an outreach effort called Camp Wellstone, which is intended to help Progressives be better prepared when either running as candidates or helping candidates run. It has always been my feeling that Republicans win elections not because of qualifications or ability, but because they seem better at running politics like a business with a potent marketing machine. Progressives have traditionally been fragmented so it’s an uneven match when you’re facing highly organized and angry middle-aged white men. Camp Wellstone is part of the effort to counter some of that through training and organization.

Camp Wellstone is divided into three tracks. One is for folks who want to be candidates, and the other two are for people who help organize and/or run campaigns. Camp Wellstone is great because it puts you in a room with like-minded people and outstanding and highly motivated workshop leaders. Moreover, during the course you meet experienced politicians who are guest speakers and you learn a ton about what it takes to not only run but also WIN!. During Al’s interview with Bill Lofy, Bill mentioned that the last Camp Wellstone in 2005 was going to be held in Raleigh and at a location literally down the road from my house.

The minute I heard that I turned off my iPod and immediately registered online for the “candidate track.” It turned out to be a fantastic experience. During the workshops several of the course leaders as well as many of my fellow students told me they thought I would make a great candidate and that I should consider running for office. I had always been interested in doing more than vote but never really knew how to get started. I had contacted my local Democratic party to volunteer but I was never called back. Now that I’m a candidate I understand why. Most local organizations are woefully under-staffed and ill-equipped to seriously organize an ongoing effort to dislodge the “Republican machine.”

As a matter of fact, if you’re interested in becoming more involved you’re better off contacting one of your local candidates or representatives and talk to one of their staffers or the candidate him- or herself. They will usually do a better job of reaching out and responding to your questions. I’ve found that members of Congress are fairly hard to reach, but local folks generally are a lot more approachable than even I realized. For example, a lady recently called me to ask me to show up at a “meet & greet.” Well, when you’re a local guy with limited means you jump at any opportunity to meet more voters. It’s not only good politics but also a lot of fun. The woman was surprised how easily she was able to get a hold of me. I also offered to invite other local candidates who are running. In other words, by reaching me all of a sudden she was plugged into four other local candidates as well. I don’t think she would have been able to accomplish anything like that if she had tried to get a hold of the county party. And all of this only took 10 minutes. So get out your phone book and call your local politicians. I’m discovering the system really works if you take the first step and not accept “No” for an answer.

Through the training and the contacts I made at Camp Wellstone I got in touch with my local county Democratic party. The chairman told me he was desperately looking for four Democrats who would be willing to run for the four contested seats on the Wake County Commission. There are seven seats and every two years they alternate three and four seats for elections. I was surprised to find that few good people are interested in running for office. My assumption had always been that it would be hard to “get in.” But there’s actually quite a shortage of smart, good people who want to go through the process. When I checked a little further I found out the incumbent Republican was not seeking re-election. The convergence of all these factors was too good to be true so I paid my $170 filing fee to run for one of the county commissioner’s seats. [...]

Whenever I meet folks I often hear that they think I work so hard. My perspective is slightly different. I usually tell folks that migrant farm workers picking strawberries in the blazing sun for $5 an hour work hard. Showing up at parties and functions, eating good food, drinking nice wine, and talking to smart people about issues you really care about is not work. I thoroughly enjoy that part of it. True, you do have to get in your car almost every night for some type of event. But I’ve discovered it energizes me. My wife recently told me she hasn’t seen me so happy in years. I’m somewhat of a romantic idealist and the idea that I’m engaged in something that in some small way may make our world a better place does make me happy. It makes me feel like I’m plugged into something meaningful. As much as I like money, it just doesn’t turn my crank that much when someone tells me we sold another widget. That just means a sales person made a good commission. And sure, it’s important because it feeds my family. But the idea that I can be part of a group of people that might actually do something that positively affects other people is powerful and feels great. For me at least it’s a a very good feeling.

Before I started this whole process I was a solidly middle-class guy making a pretty good salary. And don’t forget this was only about four months ago. Now as a candidate I go to many fund raisers and “meet & greets” and have met many political insiders, business leaders, as well as several prominent politicians. So if you move to a new area and want to meet everybody all at once I recommend you run for office. You literally meet everybody who claims to be anybody. For several years I was moping around trying to figure out what I could do differently so that I would feel my life had more meaning. I’m 46 and after having been in my corporate career for a while I was kind of depressed about the idea that when I die I might not have done much to improve anyone’s life other than my own and my immediate family’s. By taking these first few steps I have dramatically altered my life and invented a whole new possibility. To be sure, there will be moments when all of this will feel stale or perhaps old. And I’m sure that when my notoriously conservative opponent begins slinging mud there may be times my feelings get hurt. But to be part of something you know is much bigger than yourself and that has the potential to truly and measurably do something “right” is simply fantastic. I highly recommend it.