WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. September 19, 2005: The leader of the White Plains Democratic City Committee pens a response to WPCNR's critique of the Dennis Power Campaign for Mayor, saying he's been conducting a grassroots campaign:
To the Editor:
Your recent story about the Democratic campaign in White Plains ignores quite a few facts. First, all the Democratic candidates have been regularly walking door to door since June, meeting voters one-on-one and campaigning in the way Democrats have traditionally campaigned up close and personal.
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Second, Dennis Power's campaign for Mayor has been extremely active. In the July and August heat, the campaign organized numerous get-togethers throughout the neighborhoods of the city, where Mr. Power met voters through their neighbors, in small and medium-sized groups. This method of campaigning is both low cost and effective a voter who has been a part of a dialogue with a candidate in a group of 10 or 15 people for an hour is quite likely to have a stronger and better impression of the candidate than s/he would get from a 30-second radio ad or a flyer in the mail, without personal contact.
The Republican campaign will doubtless be much better funded than our Democratic effort. At every level, Republicans are better funded, in large part because of the differences in the interests we represent. For example, on a national level, endangered species are a lot less likely to contribute to campaign war chests than the big business interests who are the reason for their being endangered. Big business and big real estate traditionally fund Republican efforts.
For reasons that should be obvious, it would be imprudent to lay out in public all of the party's plans for the upcoming weeks, but trust that the Democrats are not rolling over anything but.
Liz Shollenberger
Chair, White Plains Democratic City Committee
