Leon DEC Elects Officers for the 2007-2008 Term
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Chair: Rick Minor
Vice Chair: Monica O’Neal
Treasurer: Bob Henderson
Corresponding Secretary: Richard Junnier
District 2 Representative: Carl Duncan
District 3 Representative: Dan Hendrickson
District 4 Representative: Dave Jacobsen
New DEC OfficersRecording Secretary: Barbara Henderson
District 1 Representative: Queen Bruton
District 5 Representative: Vince George
As a sign of widespread support for the county party’s performance during the 2006 primary and general elections, all incumbents who chose to serve another term were reelected. Leon DEC Chair Rick Minor and Vice Chair Monica O’Neal ran without opposition and were reelected unanimously, as were most of the other officers.
In addition, three new officers were elected during the meeting:
- Queen Bruton, the immediate Past President of the Capital City Democratic Women’s Club, was elected as the DEC’s new District 1 Representative. “Ms. Bruton is a longtime Democratic activist in Leon County, and we’re honored to be working with her on community outreach within County Commission District 1,” said Leon DEC Vice Chair Monica O’Neal.
- Barbara Henderson was elected as the DEC’s new Recording Secretary. Ms. Henderson has served as the DEC’s Communications Chair and has experience with candidates’ elections as well as issues-based campaigns.
- Vince George, an experienced campaign staffer who recently relocated to Tallahassee from West Virginia, worked extensively on the 2006 elections and was elected as the new Representative for County Commission District 5.
Over the next two years, the Leon County DEC and the newly elected officers will build upon their 2006 successes by strengthening the grassroots network, increasing voter registration efforts, and expanding the DEC membership.
“The Leon County Democratic Party has come a long way,” said Minor. “A year ago we had no office, phone line, or website. But thanks to an outstanding team of hard-working Democrats, we’re now one of the best county parties in Florida.”
Some of the Leon DEC’s accomplishments during 2006:
- Earlier this year, the Leon DEC established a permanent office location, phone number, and website, www.LeonDems.com.
- In June the Leon DEC held its first annual Collins-Steele fundraising dinner, with former Senator Max Cleland serving as keynote speaker.
- The DEC also launched a political TV ad contest with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Howard Dean, Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman and local community leaders serving as judges. The winning ad was professionally produced and aired on local television during the weeks preceding the general election.
- Using a new, state-of-the-art voter file database developed by the state Democratic Party, the Leon DEC distributed 15,000 mailers listing state and local candidates and made nearly 40,000 phone calls to voters.
- The Leon DEC’s field activity was often recognized by the Democratic National Committee, which posted some of the local party’s campaign work as “Best Practices for Success” on its national website.
These efforts led to remarkable victories in Leon County. On November 7th, 2006, a Democrat was elected in every local race that had a Democratic candidate. In the statewide race for Chief Financial Officer, Leon County voters contributed 36,000 votes to Alex Sink’s margin of victory. And in terms of percentage voter turnout, Leon County was ranked 1st among all Florida counties in this year’s general election and 10th in the primary election. These are Leon County’s highest rankings in at least ten years.
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