The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Rural Democrats attend conference
Members of the Oneida City Democratic Committee and Madison County Democratic Committee attended the annualmeeting of the Democratic Rural Conference in Syracuse on April 21 and 22.
The DRC is a group of rural upstate county Democratic Party committees formed in 1996 to unify the rural county committees and give them a bigger “voice” than each could have alone. Membership is open to any New York Democrat.
Headline speakers included Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Other speakers included Congressman Paul Tonko fromthe 20th district, New York State Democratic Committee Chair Byron Brown, and Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
In addition, attendees heard presentations on the pros and cons of voting for a state constitutional convention when it is on the ballot later this year; the importance of keeping campaign funding local by Leslie Danks Burke, the founder of Trailblazers PAC; the effective use of social media in local campaigns; and a talk “Labor Relations in 2017” by Dr. Rosemary Batt of the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor
Relations.
The county Democratic committees do political work such as circulate petitions to get candidates on the ballot; recruit qualified candidates to run for office; circulate educational materials and identify voter concerns; and fundraising to help support local campaigns. Anyone interested in becoming active in the political process (of any party) is encouraged to get in touch with the chair of their county party committee.
More information about the Oneida City Democratic Committee can be found at: www.oneidaci- tydems.org.
For more information about the Madison County Democratic Committee, visit: www.madisonconydems.com/.