Candidate Guidelines

The party is dedicated to supporting all its candidates. Our goal during the 2011/2012 election cycle is to get out the Democratic vote and ELECT DEMOCRATS. However, fairness demands certain limitations during the primary season, and limited space and human resources constrain what the party headquarters can do in the run-up to the general election. With that in mind, we ask that all Democratic candidates understand and respect exactly what the county party can and cannot do to support their campaigns.

Our goal is to support Democratic candidates to the greatest extent possible throughout the upcoming election cycle and to avoid disappointment and frustration by being very clear from the beginning.

PARTY SUPPORT

 During the primary season, the party remains neutral.  Although individual party activists may in fact work for any candidate that they choose, they must do so as individuals and not as officers of the party. This means the party office does not work for any one candidate, or prominently display primary candidate posters, etc. We will have very limited space for candidate materials that will be available to voters at their request. However, we cannot accommodate boxes of materials or display space for posters, petitions, etc.

 If candidates wish to discuss general strategy for their campaigns, the County Chair is designated as the first contact. The Chair will provide all candidates whatever general information they request. The Arizona Democratic Party makes voter lists available for federal candidates. Contact the state party at 602-298-4200 to obtain them.

 The county party cannot provide federal candidate services until after the primary election. The party does not automatically provide workers or materials to candidates. It is more work than we can assume. Advice on building a volunteer worker base is available by calling the County Chair.

 Candidates are welcome at all party events, but the March Tamale Sale meeting is especially set up for candidates. We make tables available for a small fee and strive to attract a large turnout of potential voters to sign petitions and volunteer sheets.

Candidates are encouraged to notify our office of their intention to run for office and to provide the information we need to help support your campaign. At the very minimum, we need your website URL, phone numbers, email and snail mail addresses for you and your staff.

 The County Chair has a substantial email list that is available for forwarding invitations to events sponsored by candidate campaigns. Just send the invitation to the Chair and it will be forwarded to Coconino County Precinct Committeepersons as well as other interested Democrats on the list. All candidates are welcome to request assistance with distributing this type of invitation. The state party has lists of all Precinct Committeepersons (e.g., other counties in Congressional District 1).

SPACE

 The county party leases office space for its activities and all offices are currently in use. However, with advance reservations, the county party meeting area in the office can be available to candidates. Please contact the Office Manager at 214-0393 at least one week in advance of your meeting. Regularly scheduled county party meetings will continue to be first priority for use of the meeting space. Candidates will need to arrange for campaign volunteers to open, close and clean up the office after meetings.

 The county party has only two phone lines, including our fax line. Candidates may use one of the phones for short periods of time, as long as arrangements are made in advance.

 The county party has a copy machine, but we will need to charge for its use by candidates during the campaign season. Candidates will be expected to make advance arrangements to use the equipment and to provide both paper and labor for their jobs.

 PERSONNEL

 The Office Manager for the Coconino County Party has a full job for her hours at work and cannot be available to provide free services to candidates. The viewpoint of the County Party Chair is that it is the responsibility of candidates to build a campaign staff and cadre of volunteers. There are far more candidates than we can possibly assist. The growth of volunteers by candidates is a positive by-product of elections; it is an additive component. County party officials and volunteers may individually choose to work for a candidate, but campaigns should not assume that party officers are available to manage candidate events and activities.

MONEY

 Sadly, there is never enough money. The county party works hard all year to raise money to support our efforts. Successful campaigns must raise money for their own candidates. Legal restrictions prevent us from contributing funds or in kind support to primary campaigns, and we will be working in the general election to support all Democrats. In the past, our office rented to the state coordinated campaign and a small congressional campaign. However, our experience in 2006 taught us that the county party office is much too small for this type of operation. We will not be able to rent desk space this cycle.

 SUPPLIES

 Paper and office supplies cost money. Please do not use county party supplies without prior arrangement and a plan for reimbursement.

SIGNS

 The county party does not have a committee to put up candidate signs and we do not have space in our office to store them. We would expect campaigns to have their own sign management teams and to obtain rental space for storage if needed.

 We do plan to try to work up a map of sign locations for distribution to campaigns, and we urge candidates to contact local merchants and ask them to display signs. We are working to build a volunteer list that includes categories of work preferences, with “putting up signs” as a volunteer activity. Candidates may request this list after the primary election.

IN CONCLUSION

 We wish all candidates our very best, and as individuals we will work for your campaigns. We look forward to collaborating with all of our Democratic candidates and with the state coordinating campaign. And we look forward to celebrating Democratic victories in November!

Newsletter and Website Posting Guidelines

1. Priority will be given to Coconino County Democratic Party (CCDP) news. Newsletters are generally mailed on Mondays, but may be sent as early as Sunday evening or as late as Wednesday.
2. Items for the newsletter or events calendar should be sent to info@ccdem.org with reasonable advance notice, preferably a week or more prior to the event. Although we will attempt to post late notices, this may not always be possible. On rare occasions and for good cause, a separate mailing will be considered.
3. Events that are of a general interest will be added to our website in the events category. These include public meetings, town hall meetings and forums, and events for elected officials that are open to the public.  Depending on the nature of the event, it may be included as a separate indexed article.
4. All Democratic candidates have the same opportunity to have events posted on the CCDP calendar.  These events will be posted once in their entirety in the newsletter.  To insure impartiality, they will be posted in the order the request was received.  Thereafter, the events will be included as links in the Upcoming Events section in the order they will be occurring. 
5. It is up to the requestor to provide the information in a format compatible with our systems. Although an attempt will be made to reproduce the notice as sent, the event may be reformatted as needed.