Greater Kansas City DFA President Joe Medley
One of the interesting realities of Democratic Party politics is that you sometimes run into people who you knew long ago and had never before realized that they were good Democrats. Fifteen years ago I had known Joe Medley in another sphere. On Friday night I showed up at the Greater Kansas City Democracy for America hospitality suite at Truman Days 2008 – and there we were, renewing an acquaintance that had lapsed those fifteen years ago.
I am often curious about why and how people choose to become active in Democratic Party politics. How they get sucked into the vortex, as it were. On Saturday evening, before the crowd in the lobby of Hilton Garden Inn in Independence gathering for the banquet got too large and boisterous, I sat down for a conversation with Joe Medley, president of Greater Kansas City DFA:
MB: Joe, you’re President of Greater Kansas City Democracy for America.
Joe Medley: Yes.
MB: How long have you been in that role?
Joe Medley: Two years.
MB: And did you come to get in that role?
Joe Medley: Well, that’s kind of a long story. But, not through, not through deliberate intention at all. During the ’04 election I was a part of a get out the vote effort run by MoveOn. And when I went to the first meeting to volunteer for it and they were looking for precinct captains, which is, in case you have any readers who don’t have, who aren’t into politics, a precinct captain is, basically over sees a group of people who are in charge of doing get out the vote work in a voting precinct. And I, and they said they were looking for a precinct captains and I thought well, “I’m in for a penny, in for a pound.” And decided to be a precinct captain.
After the election I got involved With Democracy for America, not intending to be in any kind of leadership role. When we started organizing I wanted to be on the communications committee, but nobody stepped up to be communications chair, so I did that, and then did that for, let’s see, from the beginning of ’05 to until April of ’06. And when the previous president left and there was nobody else running for president a couple people on the board suggested that I do it and I thought, “You know, why not?”
MB: You speak about MoveOn sort of as a start for your activism.
Joe Medley: Yes.
MB: Where you politically active before then?
Joe Medley: No, not at all.
MB: So what brought you to then seek out the…
Joe Medley: Well, I thought if, I thought if George Bush gets re-elected it’s not gonna be because, because I coulda done more.
MB: I hear that a lot.
Getting back to Democracy for America, what do you see as the agenda or what can Democracy for America do in election politics in this area?
Joe Medley: It gives, I think it gives a voice to ordinary people. Gives them a place at the table. As an indi…, if you’re very rich and an individual you can get access in the snap of your fingers. It’s, as an ordinary individual it is actually easier, probably than most people realize, to go talk to their elected officials, which is one of the sad things about our democracy, but influencing the agenda is very difficult if you’re an individual.
And I think that one of the things that a group like Democracy for America can do is, rather than, rather than worry about the congressional races or the state senate race is, is we can get involved in, we can get involved in lower level races. People who are at the start of their political careers. And we can help candidates who we think are genuine individuals right at the [snap], get, you know, right at the start of their career…
…this individual’s opponent, on the other hand, is a genuine person who is running for office with a very genuine desire to serve and at that level a group like Democracy for America can get involved and we might be enough to tip the scale for that. For that candidate and we can stop a bad political career before it started and maybe, maybe start one that down the line might pay off, you know, maybe the person that I like will be governor ten years from now, or United States senator.
MB: So in, in many cases, is Democracy for America, in a sense, when you get into these lower level races, you help with being boots on the ground?
Joe Medley: Oh yes.
MB: Doing the door to door…
Joe Medley: Door to door, phone banking, I mean six people can make a big difference in a House race. There are, there are House races in Kansas City, Missouri in the last election cycle, the margin of loss by the Democrat was less than three per cent. And we’re, in some cases, we’re talking like less than two hundred votes. And having, six more people on this campaign, they can contact, you know, they can contact two hundred people in nothing flat.
MB: And have an impact.
Joe Medley: Yeah.
MB: Well, thank you very much.
Joe Medley: Oh, you’re welcome.
Five hundred more activists like that and we’d rule the world, or at least the Missouri General Assembly.