MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR:
You Can Learn a Lot from Moving

When I received the letter from the landlord informing us that the building in which our headquarters had been sold and we had to move within one month, my first reaction was, "Tom DeLay must be behind this!" After all, the notice came just one week after our successful Welcome Home To Houston Rally for our state legislators at which we had shown that Democrats are poised and energized locally to resisting the Republican juggernaut and emerge victorious from our recent travails. This (sudden termination of our lease) must be a devious plot by the vast right wing conspiracy to distract and destabilize us just when Democrats were getting their momentum going and our grassroots enthused and mobilized!

Someone once observed that two moves is the equivalent of one fire in disruptive power. Personally, I regard relocating much like root canal: you're undoubtedly better off once its completed, but it sure is painful and stressful while its happening.

But you learn a lot from a move, too. Like, where you put that file folder you've been looking for for six months and find ("eureka") when boxing up the contents of the bottom drawer of the forgotten file cabinet. And how much junk you accumulate over time that can, and should, be thrown away. And how many vendors, government agencies and officials, suppliers, financial institutions, and others (not to mentions friends and supporters) need to be notified of where they can find you. And how expensive this all is (movers, security deposits, printing new stationary, business cards, etc., renovations, pizzas for helpers).

But mainly, you learn who you can really count on. And we had a lot of great friends who jumped in and did yeoman's work to carry this off in the incredibly short amount of time we had to complete the task.

For starters, there was Ken Jones, who served as our move coordinator. Democrats, without Ken's Herculean efforts, we'd probably still be on La Branch street trying to operate from the rubble of a demolished building! I can't tell you all that Ken did, but he was outstanding and we owe him a huge debt of thanks.

And, of course, I can't thank Ann Porter enough for her efforts in finding a new location. As soon as she learned we had to move, Ann called to volunteer to head up the search team and she and her committee scowered the town looking for (a) immediately available space, (b) we could afford, (c) in a location reasonably accessible to the largest number of people, (d) with plenty of parking, and (e) a configuration that works for our needs (among other requirements and constraints) - all within about 10 days. By spending many, many hours on the task, and driving many miles throughout the city, she/they found one (actually two). Without those efforts, we'd probably be homeless today.

Leighton Couvillon, who coordinated the move of the computer system deserves a special thank you. Thanks to his planning and work, our web site was down for less than four hours on the day of the move, and we were back up and running with the entire computer network the very day we moved. That's impressive. Way to go, Leighton!
And once again, Andrew C. Burks, Jr. showed he's somebody who can be counted on when the party needs assistance. Andrew moved the telephone system. And he did so so seamlessly and efficiently , you would never have known we were moving or had moved (as far as maintaining telephone communications with the office and its staff are concerned). Now, this isn't an endorsement in an electoral race (Dwight Boykins has been helpful to the HCDP, too, such as in facilitating our grassroots workshop at TSU), but I do want to express my personal gratitude to Andew for proving once again his dedication to the party and his availability to help when the party needs him.

Finally, volunteer coordinator Virginia Iloff and a wonderful group of volunteers (including Willie Belle Boone, Ruth Davis, Pat Day, Phil Donovan, Skip Engelhart, Julie Harris, Judith Hume, Karen Kaufman, Ron McPherson, Diane Mosier, Howard Peek, Muriel Stubbs, Sue Trapp, Terrence Vinson, and Beth Zeffert) did a terrific job of taking care of all the little details that go into a move - everything from helping with the site selection to notifying vendors of our new address to unpacking boxes to a zillion other tasks that have to be taken care of to set up shop in a new location. ("Zillion" is one of those terms usually used to describe Republican tax cuts or budget deficits.) To each and every one of you - and especially Virginia, who has given so much of herself these past six months to make the Democratic Party of Harris County run as smoothly and effectively as it has - I say, on behalf of myself and the entire HCDP, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I can't truthfully say I enjoyed The Move, but I can honestly say I am proud of our people, who carried it off. Now we must bring those same skills of organization, dedication, hard work, multi-disciplinary talent, special expertise, and mission accomplishment to bear to WIN ELECTIONS. We have just proven once again (as we did with the June 7 rally and the redistricting hearings) that we possess those resources in abundance. Now we need to put them to work in the electoral sphere.

I'm proud to be a Democrat in Harris County. (But I already knew that.)

Gerry Birnberg
Chair, Harris County Democratic Party
July 15, 2003

Archive of Gerry Birnberg's Messages

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