An Open Letter From JM (Jeff) Bell

I think it's fairly safe to say that this is the first time in the history of the Utah Democratic Party that a candidate for Chair has announced his candidacy on a blog.

You should go read Jeff Bell's entire letter. Here is an excerpt:

After a great deal of prompting and peer pressure, and in spite of my deep respect for current Chair Holland, I am now a candidate for Chair of the Utah Democratic Party in 2009.

The constant call of “Democrats don’t win in Utah,” has been transformed from a GOP punch line into a Democratic Party mantra; it’s embarrassing and it needs to stop. The Democratic Party in Utah is hurting. We have consistently conceded the debate in the battle of ideas. It is time to evaluate our situation and make some momentous changes.

It is critical that we reverse direction and reclaim our narrative. For too many years, the message coming from Democratic leadership has been that we need to move to the right, compromise our values, and let the Republicans have their way. It was believed that this would help us win more elections. Sadly, it hasn’t. We played the game by Republican rules, operated at a self-imposed disadvantage and we’ve lost.

“Go along to get along,” is not a party platform, it is surrender.

I'm still composing my official endorsement letter, but let's just say I like this guy.
-Bob