Congratulations Mayor Rogero!

Fellow Democrats,

Today is a truly historic day in the city of Knoxville. Madeline Rogero, a long-time friend of the UTK College Democrats, was elected mayor. She is the first woman ever elected to the office of the Mayor in Knoxville and the first female Mayor elected to one of the major cities in the state of Tennessee (She was also endorsed by the UTK College Democrats back in the spring semester).

Knoxville can be proud of itself today. The future is bright in Knoxville.

The UTK College Democrats would like to thank Mark Padgett as well. He was a strong democrat and represented himself and this city with class and dignity. He too has been a great friend to the College Democrats and we hope this is not the last time we see his name on a ballot.

One last shout out to Finbarr Saunders; congratulations on your well deserved victory and we can't wait to see all the great things you will do on the City Council.

On behalf of all the College Democrats, we would like to thank every candidate who ran on a Democratic platform for representing the party with class and making us proud to be Democrats. Turning a conservative area blue is a challenge and it doesn't happen overnight, but you helped advance our purpose more than you will ever know. Thank you: Bill Owen and Gloria Johnson.

Until Next Time,

Vote Democrat

Phonebanking, Fundraising, and Voter Registration

Fellow Democrats,

Sorry for the latest hiatus, but lets be honest it isn't like you all are following this blog religiously anyway. So, in case you've missed out on our latest endeavors, we have had a couple of meetings and have been busy trying to get the information out about the city election. We put on a full court press to register as many students as we could for the city elections before the deadline passed and we successfully registered nearly 100 voters along with the College Repubs.

In addition to that, the Knox County party declared First Friday "College Dems Day" and we were able to bring in quite a bit from fundraising that will allow us to order over 60 shirts to be ready before the election!

Along those line, the attendees were very kind to us and asked if we could help phonebank for Gloria Johnson's State Senate campaign (free food provided) and we accepted. We made over 1000 phone calls in a 3 hour time frame and we got a free meal out of it so it worked out well for us.

Stay tuned for an updated calendar of events as soon as we get around to it and keep watch on facebook as that is where we spend most of our time advertising events.

And lastly, just a reminder that we have t shirts and to qualify for a free shirt, you must have been present for at least 3 of our events (we have had a lot of them and we have a record of who was at what).

That's it! Until next time,

Vote Democrat!

Meeting 9/6/11

All,

Well we had another great turnout for our second meeting of the semester.  I know I speak for the entire Exec Board when I say thank you!

This meeting was very productive.  We added a new member to the Exec Board: Tom Overton who will be serving as Freshman Representative to the Exec Board.  We would like to thank all the members who ran for that office and congratulate Robin Lovett and Abel Tahirkheli in becoming their respective dorm hall representatives.

We also spoke more about the caucuses and shared a events quota that needs to be met with the hope that each caucus will have some issue-specific suggestions for filling those quotas.  We will all discuss and vote on which events we will put on the calendar this year so bring your best ideas!

We also announced a new social event for next Monday, Sept. 12.  The College Dems will be headed to listen to Jay Jonas speak at the Issues Committee sponsored event and then head down to Mellow Mushroom for dinner afterward.  We hope to see you there!

Bill Owen also gave a great talk about his vision for the future of Knoxville.  Check out our facebook page for links to his campaign and volunteer opportunities.

Hope to see you Monday, and be sure to check out our calendar of events on the menu above for more information about upcoming events.  Also, be sure to join the facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/284597231554453/

Until next time,
Vote Democrat

Tennessee Federation of College Democrats Convention

Fellow Democrats,

As many of you might or might not have known, last weekend was the Tennessee Federation of College Democrats Convention at Lipscomb University in Nashville. I know I speak for everyone on the Exec board when I tell you that we appreciate those of you who woke up at the crack of dawn to drive to Nashville and support our candidates.

Before we get too far into the process, let me give you a brief description of the convention. This is the first convention that the University of Tennessee had ever attended in my memory and I have been on the exec board longer than anyone except Clare and Carrie. So we honestly had no idea what to expect. The Federation is supposed to be the last step between our chapter and the nation wide College Democrats. They are responsible for helping grow the number of chapters and supporting the growth of current chapter's memberships. They also have a small pool of money that they can use to help other chapters.

Included in their perks is a vote with the Executive committee for the state democratic party. Essentially this means that they have a say in the direction of the state party.

We hadn't been able to get into contact with the Federation for a very long time and finally we were told about this convention in the later part of last year and we organized a contingency to represent us.

The convention itself was fairly small with only 21 people attending (8 from the University of Tennessee). The only schools in attendance were Belmont, Union, Lipscomb, UT Chattanooga, Tennessee State, University of Tennessee, and MTSU.

Needless to say, we were the largest contingency and we also found out that we are the largest chapter in the state of Tennessee!

After a brief strategy session and a guest speaker from Organizing for America, we held elections and the University of Tennessee claimed 3 spots on the Exec board. Jennifer Baldwin took Secretary, Erica Perry took Minority Affairs Director, and Bobby Patton took Membership Director.

We are all very proud of our Exec Board representation. We hold 1/3rd of the Exec Board of the Federation, more than any other school. Be on the lookout for big things that will be coming out of the Federation in the next year!

Sidenote:

Our next meeting will be Tuesday night at 7:30 in HSS. The room number is to be announced and so is the speaker. We have lots to catch up so we hope to see all of you. Remember that the Freshman Representative to the Exec Board will be voted on next meeting as will the appointment of Residence Hall representatives! So be ready to politic your fellow members!

Until next time,

Vote Democrat

Fun-Raiser

Fellow Democrats,

For those of you who participated in our "fun-raiser" social event last night, thank you so much.  It was a smashing success!  We brought in $178 in donations which is a substantial sum of cash to put in our coffers.  It looks like we will be throwing several more "fun-raisers" before the semester is up so if you missed the last one, don't fret.  You will have plenty of opportunities to network with other like-minded individuals.

Next week we really don't have anything planned, but stay tuned as we may organize something yet.

Don't forget that Saturday is the Federation of College Democrats convention and we have a great ticket of Bobby Patton and Jennifer Baldwin who are running for President and Vice President, respectively.  We need to have a big showing of support for them to show how powerful our chapter is and how dedicated our members are.  Also, Erica Perry, our Membership Director, is running for Minority Outreach Chair so she will need our support as well.

Here's the bad news though...  Because of the time and location of the convention, the carpool leaving for Nashville is leaving at 4:30am.  If you want to join in, just be in the TRec's parking lot by then and you too can join the fun.  The dress will be business casual.  Post on our facebook wall if you need help or have questions.

Until next time,
Vote Democrat

A New School Year

Hello out there!

Sorry for not updating the blog over the course of the year. We got busy... Or we forgot...

Either way, a new school year means a new resolution to blog more! So lets review what we accomplished last year and talk a little about what is coming down the pike for this year.

Last year we had a banner year for the college democrats! We organized a mayoral forum, a state senate forum, several voter registration drives, football tailgates, and even a bake sale! Yes we were busy bees all last semester and we aren't stopping for the coming year. We have plenty already planned this year from a city council forum to possibly another mayor's forum.

The Exec board has also decided to try bi-weekly socials which we are kicking off with a "fun-raiser!" This just so happens to be at Bobby's house and the party kicks off at 8:30 on 8/25. It also happens to be that Bobby double booked his house so there is also a party going on in the next room that is completely unaffiliated with the college democrats. The things we have to deal with I guess... We will just have to make the best of it... ;)

We have already held the first meeting of the year on Monday in case you missed it, and we have scheduled the next meeting on Tuesday, September 6th at 7:30. Be there! I think we might have pizza for this one too and we will also be electing the freshman representative to the exec board so feel free to politic your fellow members beforehand!

Until next time,

Vote Democrat