The Democracy Alliance--request for your questions>>>

[Katherine Brengle]

Hey DU-ers,

I have been talking to Rob Stein, who I'm sure many of you know of, and he offered to answer some questions about the still-embryonic Democracy Alliance.

This hasn't gotten a ton of press yet, and most of it is months old, so some of you might have forgotten or not heard about it at all.

Basically, the DA will consist of roughly 80 or so very wealthy progressives (including George Soros and a few other well known names) who have committed to donate at least $1 million each to start a progressive financial clearinghouse that would give grants to progressive organizations--much in the same way the conservatives do.

The point is to encourage the progressive movement to build serious infrastructure--building on already existing institutions, like the Center for American Progress and the like, and creating new ones.

This is a very big deal for us.

I want to know your questions for Stein. What do you want to know about the Democracy Alliance? (Serious questions please.)

[Katherine Brengle]

1. anyone? bueller? n/t

[papau]

2. What is the staffing of Democracy Alliance? What do they need from

those that can not give $1 million?

[Katherine Brengle]

4. answer>>>h

The project is still embryonic. They have the donors lined up, but they still have a lot of work to do before it is operational.

I assume there will be places within the group for other employees, but it also stands to reason that the members themselves will make up some sort of board of directors or advisory board that will decide where the money goes. (This is my own conclusion, nothing that has been said by the DA.)

Every orgnaization needs staff, and I will broach this topic with Stein.

Good question.

[papau]

8. Work at home old executives with technical abilities are known to

be posters on DU!

[Katherine Brengle]

9. hehe--i work at home too ;) n/t

[tlsmith1963]

3. What Will You Do...

...to stop the conservative dominance of the media? The conservative groups certainly worked to stop the "liberal" media. This is what I would ask them.

Tammy

[Katherine Brengle]

5. Tammy, I believe this is one of their main objectives...

Basically, the idea is to take a few pages from the conservative playbook (but not in the way our Dem leaders are doing). By pooling all of the money that usually goes to the DNC, or to a bunch of different issue groups, we have a huge quantity of cash on hand to give block grants to progressive organizations.

The idea is that we use the money to create think tanks, media studios, and educate our ground troops the way conservatives do. Instead of spreading the money out thinly over a wide area of issues, we stock it up and really do something with it.

This is all in an effort to move our side from working issue-by-issue to reframing the debate and building infrastructure.

One of the reasons conservatives are able to dominate the SCLM and other media outlets is that they use their money to do it--to buy up media time and educate their dittoheads and get them on the air.

We can do it too, and it's a crucial part of changing the American political landscape.

(Good question, btw.)

[OneBlueSky]

6. how will they take on the election fraud issue? . . . n/t

[Katherine Brengle]

7. good question--i'll add a note about this on my list. thx. n/t