CLP 2009: Day 11, Tuesday June 9

College Leaders Program Class of 2009
Day 11- Tuesday, June 9
Reported by: Scott Van Der Hyde, Radford University

We started today off in the “Informed Citizen” section with Dr. Kidd. We had a very interesting discussion about the role that money plays in Virginia politics.  This led to discussions on issues such as redrawing districts and campaign fundraising. We finished up with the “Informed Citizen” at noon and took a break for lunch.  For lunch we had a variety of wraps and were treated with some very good cupcakes that someone brought.
        After lunch, we had speakers for the rest of the afternoon. Our first speaker was Connie Jorgensen, who spoke to us about the legislative process. She specifically focused on getting bills passed through the General Assembly. This included many tips on writing and proposing a bill. She also talked about how to help the bill get passed once it has been proposed.  These tips will surely be very helpful as we are working on our culminating projects.
        Our next speakers were David Toscano and Rob Bell.  They are Virginia Delegates representing the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.  We had a good discussion with them about the Democratic primary that was held today. Many groups also took the opportunity to talk with them about their proposals for the culminating project.  We also got to hear their different views about many of the issues that are facing Virginia today.  It was very interesting to hear the different views on these issues from a Republican and a Democrat from the General Assembly.
        Our final speaker this afternoon was Liz Chadderdon, who is the President of The Chadderdon Group.  She specializes in creating direct mail campaign ads. She spoke to us about political campaigning, and about how much money it costs to run a campaign.  She explained all of the strategy and research that goes in to running a campaign. She also spoke about some of the recent successful campaigns and contrasted them with some of the less successful campaigns.
        After the speakers we returned to Bice for dinner and free time.  The evening was exciting as we discovered that Creigh Deeds is going to be the Democratic nominee for Governor.  It was especially exciting for several people in the class who were able to attend his victory celebration.

—Scott Van Der Hyde, Radford University