Greeting to all of you across the state. We have began to organize across the state for our Governor Doyle's re-election. These discussions have taken place between myself, vets across the state and some of the Govenor's staff. We will be as the name implies, be an organization that will expand from veterans alone to include our families too. As we have begun this process of reorganization, we have had to address the positives and negatives we experienced in our support of John Kerry, and the name and inclusiveness of family was one of the issues. I hope you will find some of our plans (the fact we have plans) a step in the right direction. I welcome suggestions all along the way here.

I want to assure those who have concerns that we will be working for the Doyle campaign, not the Democratic Party. We will interact and even use Democratic Party resources, but we are independent of the Democratic Party. Our constituency is composed of people from many walks of life, and most are independents. To have our message heard, we cannot sail under the Dem flag, though I like kicking ass as much as the next guy.

I am going to list below the "Plan" for V&MFD which was reached through those discussions with various persons, emails and came out the meeting last night with 10 Vets and John Zaphael, the Gov's Deputy Director in Milwaukee.

A. State Coordinator: Oversee and coordinate with GD Staff and the veterans from areas of the state, plus functional coordinators as needed. Manage the state list of veteran/family supporters.

B. Area Coordinators: Building regional area support/ volunteer lists. Organizing areas as needed Contacting SC or functional coordinators as needed. When possible, they may setup the same functional coordinators on the local level with the help of the state level. Responsible to schedule monthly local meetings for Supporters of GD. Communication with local Dems/Staffers as needed.
Areas: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Manitowoc, Green Bay, Rhinelander, Superior, Eau Claire, Wausau, Oshkosh, Madison, La Cross, Platteville. Added: Waukesha and Marinette. Filled: GB- Jack Kreuger. A number of names that I have to follow-up with to post the names to the position.

C. Functional Breakdown (These are statewide position, but if an area feels the need to add such a position to work with the State Coordinator that is encouraged)

1. Outreach Coordinator: work with veterans groups, veterans & family needs; facilitate contact information help and support. Work with other coordinators as needed. John Lowendowski

2. PR Coordinator: the message of the week, what we are saying, and all media contact guidance. David Boetcher.

3. Chum Coordinator: everybody’s buddy Dale Darrow

4. Logistics Coordinator: rides, types vehicles, and places to stay Tom Ralston

5. Communications Coordinator: Internet: posting, emails, Phone tree to coordinate calls to those without email or on ASAP, and Mailings: special projects. Not one person,but possibly several or on an as needed basis. At this point SC and AC will take care of these function until these positions are filled.

6. Diversity Coordinator: Ray Gurney & Tiffany Koehler???

Plan for next month.
A. Fill positions around the state with Area Coordinators and Functional Coordinators

B. Challenge: by March 10, each supporter finds 5 Vet/Military Family supporters for Doyle. Name, address, Phone or email to count. Prizes for the top winners to be announced (working on good stuff). Goal to have 200 founding members and expand to 500 by June. I have 55 as of now, from those who I talked to in the last week. As we talk to people about Doyle, ask if they will support Kohl also. Might as well build that list from the 100 we have.

C. Area Coordinators setup location/date for monthly meetings around the state. Should be public so we can atract people and interact in our communities. Coffee shops best. Library.

D. Build large group to attend GD St. Patty’s Day Party in Mwk & Madison March 15 & 16th. Lets have fun and show our support.

E. Attend & receive media training at the Dem Training being offered Mwk
2/18, 12:00pm-5:00pm Mwk Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin
Front meeting room, to the right of the entrance.

F. Kohl is having 3 events around the state we should try to attend. I will email those seperately. Three of our own are in his video- Bill Mack, Tiffany Koehler, and JOhn Lewandowski.

Issues of concern were resources. The Gov. has office in 4 parts of the state and so we have space, phones, staff to work with. They have already given me an email address of vandmf@jimdoyle.org. We work at getting more info. available and applicable on the site.

There are window signs and bumper stickers available from the offices. Lets get those out there. I am tied of the Walker bumper stickers. Maybe some of you are tired of the Green stickers. I will get the information for all of the offices in the state out.

Thank you and as they say- LETS ROLL!

Tracey Sperko
State Coordinator