Dear DCDP Officers,

The e-mail below was sent to me this morning regarding the

Davidson County Young Democrats continued efforts to
reach out to young voters in Nashville , specifically Young
Democrats:

Addison - I am concerned about the phonebank you

are holding at the DCDP headquarters this week. The
officers were not allowed to "weigh in" on this use of
the headquarters. As a strong Bob Clement
supporter I am concerned that getting out young
voters means getting out people who read The Scene
and The City Paper, both of which have been strongly
biased against Bob Clement. Although you have
indicated you are not taking a side in this mayor's
non-partisan race, the phonebanking gives an
appearance that the Young Democrats are doing just
that. Sometimes appearances DO MATTER.

I have spoken with Billy to be sure he alone gave

permission for this use of the headquarters. Our Vice
Chair assured me he was not consulted. Another
Regional Chair assured me she was not consulted and
I know that I, as Regional Chair of Region IV, was not
consulted.

It is unfortunate you did not use this opportunity to

use our headquarters for a phonebank to call
undecided voters in Davidson County to help Identify
Democrats for inputting into the VAN system.

Sincerely,
Alma

Because of this e-mail, we are cancelling any further phone

banking at DCDP HQ. Though use of the office and phone
lines were approved by Billy, the issues that Alma raises
have given the DCYDs cause for concern.
We have a history of phone banking to Young Democrats, as
was seen during the Harold Ford, Jr. campaign, as well as
outreaching through social events, community service
activities, and other GOTV efforts. We think it is vitally
important that the DCYDs have this mix of both social and
more traditional campaign outreach.

I have spoken to the DCYD Executive Board members and we

are all increasingly concerned that our efforts to be a vital
part of the Davidson County Democratic Party are not
welcome. Specifically, in this e-mail, it is inferred that Young
Voters are 1) stupid and uninformed and 2) bias without
cause. That could not be further from the truth.

First off, over 250 young voters came out to the Young Voters
Debate Series Mayoral Debate with over 30,000 watching on
TV. Young people also search far beyond "The Scene and The
City Paper" for facts, and often strive to gain as much
information as they can about the issues. And as far as bias
goes, we have Young Democrats working on both campaigns,
and even some of our most involved and active members
have not yet made up their minds on who to vote for. We
even have a safety clause in our by-laws which state that our
organization "will never oppose a Democratic candidate for
political office, either by supporting non-Democratic
candidates or by not supporting all Democratic candidates in
the primary." And we take this clause VERY seriously.

Bob Clement and Karl Dean have both been great supporters
of the DCYDs and therefore it is our duty to make sure we
turn out all the voters we can in a non-partisan, non-
endorsing manner such as GOTV phone banking. While we
are not required to show this, At the bottom of this e-mail I
have enclosed a copy of our phone banking script in order
that there be more transparency with this process and to
show that in NO way are the DCYDs endorsing or promoting
one candidate for mayor. I would also like to remind
everyone that there are eight people running for Metro
Council At-Large as well as individual district races including
a member of our own Executive Committee, and these
individuals deserve as much focus and attention by young
voters as do the mayoral candidates.

In the past the DCDP has been a loyal and strong supporter
of the DCYDs. We have had the honor and pleasure of
working side-by-side with our "parent" group to help elect
great local, state, and federal leaders. But in the past the
DCDP allowed the DCYDs to work with independence and
without restriction, knowing that our goals were one in the
same. It was and continues to be the intention of the DCYDs
to educate, impact, and turn out Young Democrats. Be it for
mayor races or presidential. And we would like to continue
our partnership with the DCDP in the future.

But we are increasingly concerned that the policy of the

Davidson County Democratic Party is changing of one from
openness and cooperation to one of restriction and approval.
We have found that our previous working relationship had
increased communications and partnership on activities,
which in turn provided more volunteers and ultimately more
Democratic activists. But with these new developments the
DCYDs is questioning the viability of our partnership and
wanting a clarification of where we stand as partnering
organizations.

Here's the bottom line: The Young Dems work hard, fight
hard, and live hard to try and get Democrats elected. We
have two Democrats running in a non-partisan race, so it is
important to get Young Dems jumpstarted to vote. Because
next year is even more critical. So if it is the opinion of the
DCDP to restrict the use of its office and resources from the
DCYDs, then the DCYDs need to start considering other
alternatives for our efforts.

As the president of the Davidson County Young Democrats,

and as a member of the Davidson County Democratic Party
Executive Committee, I want to say that I hope we can
continue this relationship and that the DCYDs want and
desire a continued dialogue with the DCDP. It does no one
any good for Young Dems and the Democratic Party to not
work together, to not be united.

I apologize for this lengthy e-mail. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Addison Pate
President
Davidson County Young Democrats

CANVASS RESULTS KEY (9/5/2007)

BZ=Busy WX=Disconnected RF=Refused
CB=Call Back LM=Left Message WN=Wrong Number
DC=Deceased NH=Not Home

Hi ______________________. I am __________________ with the

Davidson County Young Democrats. There is an important
local election next Tuesday for Mayor and Metro Council.

Have you already voted early? Y/N

If no, do you plan to vote on September 11th? Y/N

Would you be interested in receiving the DCYD update

emails? If yes, email address:
_______________________________.

Thank you for your time and please remember to vote and
encourage your friends and family to vote next Tuesday.

Leave a Message Script:

This is _____________ from the Davidson County Young

Democrats. We wanted to remind and encourage you to
vote next Tuesday in the Mayoral and Metro Council races.
This is a vitally important election and every vote counts!