Rick Cofer

Name:	Rick Cofer
Location:	Austin, TX

My personal volunteering highlight:

In 2006, I managed former State Representative Glen Maxey's campaign for Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. Glen was running against an appointed incumbent. We ran an insurgent race, gaining support from grassroots activists, county chairs and old-school progressives. In the end, Glen fell just short, but held the incumbent to about 52%. And, just for the record, Maxey won the overwhelming number of individual votes at the convention, but the party weights votes according to a complex formula based on many factors, and after the math was done our guy lost.

So, no, Glen didn't become Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. But his candidacy pushed the Party to move forward with a number of grassroots and technology oriented initiatives. I know that even though Glen lost, his campaign did a lot to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot.

More about my volunteering with DFA:

I was a founding member of Democracy for Texas in 2004. In the beginning DFT was highly active and we served as the home sponsor for DemFest in 2005. I was active in helping the DemFest team and organized transportation for the event.

Over the last few years, DFT has shrunk in size a bit. That's largely the consequence of the hot presidential primary and general election. However, I still make many DFT monthly meetings, and I continue to volunteer for many candidates and causes.

More about my volunteering with progressive organizations:

I'm involved in too many to count! But I've tried to focus my energy on the things most important to me. So over the last few years I've mainly worked on partisan elections and environmental causes. I took time off from lawyering to spend a month in Colorado running the Obama campaign's Western Slope GOTV program. And since the General Election, I've been helping several of our local municipal candidates.

I'm also active in a number of environmental groups and like to support the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, and my local labor union.

More about my work on current campaigns and issues:

I volunteer for the Lee Leffingwell for Mayor campaign and several of our local City Council campaigns.

I also currently spend a lot of time at the Legislature working on legislation to encourage plastic bag recycling and reduction.

What motivates me:

Elections have consequences. We can talk all day long but nothing changes unless we get out there and knock on doors and do the hard work.

How I try to motivate others:

You have to praise people and validate them. I think we forget that campaigns need to treat volunteers like customers. If the customer isn't happy then they're not coming back. You have to be good to people and share your passion with them.

People were drawn to the Dean campaign in 2003-2004 because it was fun. No one wants to volunteer at a campaign full of unhappy people. Volunteers need a good environment, and a campaign that is having fun is a campaign that's winning.

Where I see myself in five years:

I'll still be agitating for change and pushing people to do a little bit more.

My suggested bumper sticker slogan for the Stand with Dr. Dean campaign:

We All Deserve Great Health Care