[Iowa-dx] FW: Letter from Project Vote Smart President

[Ted-Eloise Pfeiff]

For your  information and possible action.

Ted Pfeiff
Scott County



> [Original Message]
> From: <rk@vote-smart.org (Richard Kimball)>
> To: <tpfeiff@earthlink.net>
> Date: 8/30/2006 6:33:16 PM
> Subject: Letter from Project Vote Smart President
>
> Dear All Project Supporters and Friends:
>  
>         I have included links at the bottom of this email to a number of
items that you might find interesting if you have not seen them.
>
>         1. A personal Project Vote Smart history I was asked to write for
a foundation. 
>         2. An independent study done involving the Project that we were
not aware had taken place. 
>         3. A sampling of the public service announcement that you might
see in your community this election.  
>          You will  need Windows Media Player Version 8 or higher to view
this file  or you can use this link - 
>         
http://mirrors.optralan.com/videolan/&file=vlc/0.8.5/win32/vlc-0.8.5-win32.e
xe - to download a program to view 
>          the file.  We can also resend the file in a   few weeks once we
have a less sophisticated version available.   
>          Just let us know.
>         4. A picture of the reading library many of you contributed to
built at our Great Divide Ranch research facility. 
>  
>         Over the years many members and supporters of the Project have
asked that I come speak to their organization or school. At one point we
had to hire an agent to handle all of the requests. When I could go, which
was not often, we looked for large events or university events that helped
defer the costs. However, I discovered that if the presentations were not
before large regularly scheduled community or university forums, the
Project was not known well enough to attract an audience on its own.
>  
>         In fact, I can recall one case when it took me two days travel to
speak in an auditorium of 2300 seats, which was great, only that 2295 of
the seats were empty. You might think a speech like that would be
discouraging.  Well, not entirely: Two of the five were Project members,
two others joined, and the fifth took off to our research center to do a
ten-week internship.
>  
>         My point is this; our message is effective, very effective! It is
simply a problem of getting people together (people that modern campaigns
have made enormously cynical) to hear it. Each time they are together, the
first reaction is disbelief, and then thanks that something is finally
being done about the manipulative dishonesty employed by so many political
campaigns.
>  
>         During the next two years I will travel just about everywhere we
can put together an audience.  It has taken us over 10 years to build the
Project’s Voter’s Self-Defense System, and it astounds everyone that hears
about it.
>  
>         Even though the vast majority of citizens are frustrated with the
mudslinging abusive tactics used by candidates and political parties have
never heard of Project Vote Smart we are buried under millions of daily
inquires from the few that have. The new computer programs enabling us to
manage that kind of demand were completed in 2004 and now the computer
administrative programs that enable our staff to maintain and secure the
immense increase in the amount of data (we no cover 40,000 candidates) are
being tested and set in place.
>  
>         We have created the nation’s first Voter’s Self-Defense System.
And although we are nowhere near done with its construction, I think it is
time we take our Project out for a little spin and see what it can really
do!
>  
>         To that end, I will be asking the board to approve our first
advertising budget. We will focus on key states during the 2008
Presidential election where the abusive emotional manipulations of the
campaigns will suddenly find themselves awash in the light of abundant,
accurate, relevant information - a beacon of clarity in an ocean of mud. In
preparation we are already producing a number of public service
announcements and a ten-minute video telling the Project Vote Smart story,
which will be available for you to show in your community. 
>  
>         For my part I will hit the road with a graphic and convincing
message: 1. That today’s self-serving campaigns work to shatter the
people’s ability to self-govern and nudge it into the self-serving hands of
a few. 2. How Project Vote Smart has found for citizens a road back to the
ideals that made us the most successful, honorable nation in history. 
>  
>                                                     Sincerely, 
>  
>  
>                                                     Richard Kimball
>                                                     Project President
>
> Project Vote Smart History - http://www.vote-smart.org/program_history.php
> Independent Study - http://vote-smart.org/ind.htm
> Public Service Announcement -
http://www.vote-smart.org/psa/30_sec_tv_psa1.mp4
> Reading Library - http://vote-smart.org/library.htm
>
>  
> P.S.  I will be in New York, Washington, D.C., Arizona, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Florida and Southern California in September and/or October
and might be able to add a presentation in those areas.  After that I will
be setting up a travel schedule that will take me to most of the 50 states
prior to the 2008 Presidential elections. I will let you know what that
schedule is likely to be this fall. If you have organizations that
regularly schedule speakers and would like me to make a presentation at
some point in 2007 or 2008, I will need to know the following.
>  
> 1.  When those forums take place, i.e., once a week, month, year?
> 2.  How many people generally attend.
> 3.  How interested the audience is likely to be in governance issues.
> 4.  Will the organization be able to help pay travel expenses?