Twenty-something years ago, I needed a change from the hype and conceit of the Bay Area. I moved to a small town in Minnesota to finish my undergrad education at a liberal-arts college. And that fall I started volunteering on the re-election campaign for one of the college's former professors who had transformed himself into the leading progressive US senator:

However, with the 2002 election just weeks away, Paul Wellstone and multiple of his family and staff members were all killed when their campaign plane crashed. In the intervening decades, it's been interesting to sometimes realize when chatting with new friends that we were both in attendance at the memorial service for the Wellstones. It was huge, filling two sports arenas in Minneapolis. Turns out the best man at my wedding was also there, although we only met years later in Santa Barbara.

In after-the-fact analysis by pundits, a single fiery speech at that memorial service lost the election for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (as Dems are officially known in Minnesota) and began the state's turn "red" for some years to come...

The surviving adult children of the Wellstones started an advocacy group named Wellstone Action and begin offering Camp Wellstone events to train a new generation of progressive candidates for elected office. They came down to Northfield, Minnesota (pop. ~15,000; where Paul Wellstone had been on Carleton's faculty and where I was a student) and offered their first Campus Camp Wellstone.

Their efforts and the Wellstone name also spread west... to a long-running Campus Camp Wellstone in the South Bay and the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club in the East Bay, among other places. Wellstone Action crumbled in 2018 when its leadership was unable to navigate the cross-currents of supporting marginalized and vulnerable of communities and also trying to engage with people who had decided to vote for Trump in 2016. But this years-long effort planted seeds far and wide.

In today's election, Kamala Harris has chosen an alum of Camp Wellstone to be her running mate — and with luck, Tim Walz will become vice president.

Alameda

This is a blog about Alameda, not Minnesota. (And my criticisms of Bay Area culture aside, I clearly like it enough that I found my way back :)

The reason for sharing all that backstory about Wellstone Action and Camp Wellstone is to wonder how we can start something with a much smaller and more local focus but hopefully similarly long-reaching impacts in Alameda.

We clearly need it.

A theme across many local and regional election races this cycle is that there are too few people who have relevant experience, a public track record, and who actually want to run.

And another pattern that is likely to repeat: After Alameda City Council and other local governing bodies draw sudden interest during the election, exceedingly few people will actually stay interested to tune in to listen to their meetings, to follow their decision-making, and to weight in with public comments or emails.

Building a "pipeline" and sustaining a "bench"

As I've chatted with folks who have been involved in Alameda civic matters for much longer than I have, what I've been hearing is a desire for ongoing ways of bringing new people into the civic conversation and for helping those who are interested to gradually step up in their aspirations and their responsibilities.

In contrast with Camp Wellstone, we don't necessarily need a "bootcamp" for potential candidates. There are many ways to be involved in local politics beyond running for office. And for those who do aspire to someday run for office, there are many prereqs that are more beneficial than just learning about the mechanics of election campaigns. (Also, to be honest, few of us would even have the time to commit to creating and running an effective bootcamp.)

Here in Alameda, let's build a "pipeline" that can over time help to build a civic "bench." Some folks may eventually decide to run for elected office. Others may seek appointment to a city board or commissions. Some may simply enjoy learning more about city governance, learning how to give effective public comments at public meetings, and helping to welcome and energize more new participants.

Potential activities may include:

• learning the mechanics of city boards, commissions, and City Council
• participating in study sessions that go into some depth on specific ongoing city issues
• helping to write posts for this blog that announce in advance when interested people should show up at public meetings or send in comments by email, or blog posts that track specific issues over time
• building and maintaining connections across civic groups in Alameda

Likely topics will include some subset of the concerns of this blog: housing, transportation, infrastructure funding, public services, and city-level governance that is both equitable and effective. (We'll certainly be open to other topics, but we'll need to keep the scope manageable.)

This group may not be as uniformly "progressive" as Wellstone's politics. In part, because the concerns of local government in Alameda are different than federal concerns. (Alameda can't set healthcare policies or start wars!) Also, in part, because there's much value in having a broader coalition and articulating how people with somewhat differing views can productively work together.

We're tentatively aiming to have something more specific to announce with a couple co-leaders in January.

You're invited

In the meantime:

• Potential participants: Think about if you'd like to join. There will be some amount of ongoing commitment required (at least once a quarter, perhaps once a month).
• Potential co-leaders: I've had coffee with a couple potential co-leaders. In the next few months, I'll be glad to have coffee/tea/burritos/etc with more community leaders in Alameda who may be interested in playing a part in this effort. You're welcome to reach out to me.