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Thursday, February 23, 2006

A Better Organizational Structure for DECs (cont...)

This is a continuation of my last post on better DEC structures. This post will discuss how best to attempt to organize large DECs. At this point, I would also like to clear the air about some things that have been mentioned about my proposals for restructuring DECs. The models I present should not be considered absolutely concrete and binding. DECs should always be fluctating between the various models I present. These models are merely guideposts as DECs grow or downsize.

Large Sized DECs (150,000 or more Democrats registered in the county)
Click the image for a bigger picture.

As you can see, individual staffers are now put in charge of entire departments in large DECs. This is because as DECs grow and expand, and the need for more than one paid staffer to handle specific operations such as communications, fundraising, etc..., grows exponentially. You'll also see the addition of specific paid positions within departments.

Departments (Communications, Finance, Precincts, and Policy): As mentioned previously, departments are used to organize all paid staffers who deal with responsibilities normally given to one specific staffer in medium and small DECs. The directors (communications, finance & budget, precincts, and policy) are the heads of their respective departments and are responsible for coordinating their respective staffers to accomplish objectives.

Press Secretary/Spokesperson: Under the purview of the Communications Director and a staffer within the Communication's Department, the press secretary or spokesperson for the DEC is responsible for being the public face of the DEC next to the chair. They are also responsible for being a liaison with the press. Their main job however is to control the message and overall perception of the DEC to the public.

Regional Organizers: Under the purview of the Precincts Director and are staffers within the Precincts Deparment, regional organizers are assigned regions within the county (preferably pertaining to county commission district lines) to organize and maintain the precinct structure there. They might be responsible for managing county party satellite offices if the DEC decides to have them. They are responsible for reporting back to the Precincts Director about precinct level issues and progress. In turn the Precincts Director should work very closley to make sure decisions made by the chair, the chief of staff/executive director, or the DEC itself are actually implemented. Regional organizers take a lot of pressure and workload off of the Precinct Director, who can concentrate more on overall grassroots strategy and tactics, rather than having to call a couple hundred precinct captains in order to get something done.

Policy Analysts: Under the purview of the Policy Director and are staffers within the Policy Department, policy analysts are responsible for assisting the policy director in the research of critical policy questions and the development of understandable reports to the DEC and the public. Policy analysts could be assigned important research fields based on previous expertise (education, health care, growth management, urban planning, etc...)

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This concludes my posts (for now anyway) on structural models for DECs. I hope to do some posts in the future on new roles I believe DECs should step into, and possibly some more posts on fundraising, and maybe some on policy.

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