I’m slowly transcribing the taped interviews I did at last weekend’s DemocracyFest, and I was pleased to be able to get Matt Dunne’s attention, as he was just doing a flyby between other obligations in order to do a presentation on his Service Politics project.
Dunne, of course, is on top of the “who’s-gonna-run” speculation lists for ’08 – either in the context of a second try against Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, or possibly even against Governor Jim Douglas.
Matt’s a good guy and I always enjoy talking to him. Detractors tend to paint him as overly ambitious, but I think what they’re often detecting is the just the same sort of political addiction that many of we bloggers share. The guy is just really into this stuff.
The interview is below the fold. As with the Dean interview down the page, my recorder dropped some audio (which I denote)…
odum: So why don’t you give me the service politics rap?
Dunne: The Service Politics Institute was created as a way to try to bridge the universes of people intersted in community sevice to people being activists in the policy/political realm. As those who follow politics very, very closely know, that as part of my campaign for Lt. Governor, we experimented a little bit with getting people to come out to do good work, whether it was working on a trail or working on a youth home, building a recreation center or doing service in a senior center, to try to connect with different people, and then to have a conversation about the larger issues that were facing those organizations or their clients that Montpelier could support in a better or more efficient way. What we discoivered was that it was a very, very powerful instrument. People came out who weren’t interested in politics and became interested in politics. That I as a candidate was able to absorb the issues that were facing our communities in a more visceral way. There’s nothing like investing your time into something – to be that much more attuned to the issues as they’re being brought up. And I think it accounted for a lot of the the momentum that we gained during the campaign itself. By the end we did these sign holding events where we would have people go out into an interstection at a given time. On a Thursday morning at 7:30 in the sleet, we had over 400 people holding signs across the state for a Lt Governor race! And as we were looking at how that came to be, a lot of the folks had connected with us through the service project – a lot of them weren’t the typical Democratic or Progressive activists, and a lot of them weren’t even old enough to vote.
And so we realized that we’d caught onto something here, and many of the folks who’d been involved, after the election ended, were not interested in stopping – wanted to do – what we were going to do next. How we were going to make a difference moving forward and continuing that movement and that interest.
So we established the Service Politics Institute. We raised a little bit of money from folks who were intrigued by the idea specifically, and we started rolling out a series of service projects, in Vermont first, although we’re also doing something in New Hampshire – and then our hope is to demonstrate how it can work in an election environment and outside an election environment, and then document some curricula that we can distriburte nationally through the Center for Progressive Leadership, who is our umbrella organization that we’re functioning under – or through Democracy for America, 21st Century Democrats, or even a consortia of nonprofit organizations around a specific area. there are some environmental grassroots organizations who are very interested in seeing if they can incorporate service politics strategies into their efforts to bring their folks who are passionate about the service part and want to see change happen, but dont get to see politics as a lever to making a difference in creating a world that they want to see.
The other exciting thing for us is the opportunity to reach out to younger people. Theres an interesting statistic that came out last election, which is that, of 18 to 30 year olds, 40% of them did service last year of some sort or another in a fairly significant way. Only 22% of them voted. If you assume that the 22% is within the 40% – which I dont think it is, I think there are some political addicts out there that aren’t interested in the service – but even if you start there, that’s thousands of people in Vermont and millions of peoople across the country who are giving hours and hours and hours of their time in service, who hopefully will be able to see that engaging in politics, they’ll also be able to find other ways to meet their goals, perhaps ones that will make a larger impact.
Because when you’re trying to feed the homeless one person at a time, that’s nothing compared to addressing those needs on a macro scale that the policy realm can really address. So we’re hopeful that we can specifically engage younger people through the gateway of service, introduce them to political figures that currently represent them, and then have them able to feel comfortable in the political realm as a way to make change happen.
odum: Every cycle campagins are banging their heads against the wall to get that youth turnout into elections, and nobody ever bumps it more than a percentage point or two. Do you think this may be the holy grail approach, here?
Dunne: I dont think there’s going to be one solution to that particular problem. I’ve spent most of my life either as a young politician who has been trying to engage other young people, or as someone in the service world trying to make that bridge. But I think its a big piece of it. There’s a generation out there that clearly want to make a difference. They wouldn’t be spending hours and hours out of their week doing this kind of work unless they felt strongly about it.
And I think what’s the usual strategy is you pursue the people who voted in the past. If they haven’t voted in the past, politicians aren’t going to be looking to them for ideas, much less even knocking on their door. If we are strategic with these kinds of approaches in going to these places that young people have gravitated to, who want to make a difference, I believe we can introduce them to people who are in politics, or policy making decision makers, and make them feel comfortable making that connection.
I am hopeful it will make a diference. If we could make up even half that difference between that 20% and that 40%, you would have very different outcomes in elections, in the state of Vermont and across the country.
odum: And the reception’s been good? The evangelizing’s going well?
Dunne: It’s going well. I think the challenge is that people in the sevice world are naturally suspicious of politics, and people in the political world don’t quite understand why you need to spend so much time doing something and how is that really making a difference, in terms of reaching out to vast numbers of voters – cause of course its a numbers game. So there’s been a challengge in convincing people that, yes, this is [worthwhile].
And this is true of funders as well. There are some people who are all about getting progressively minded elected officials together, who think this is interesting, but it’s not exactly their fit. Then you’ve got people who are passionate about the service side, but are a little uneasy about politcs, and why would you want to get politics into this? People who see the two together are an incredible, powerful force for both – they’ve stepped up to the plate. But we’ve got a little ways to go to get those two universes – which are the traditional funding buckets – to feel like this is a more efficient use of their dollars rather than a distraction.
odum: Changing horses here – what are you doing for Google?
Dunne: I am heading up Google’s community affairs efforts in locations where they are building up new infrastructure – for the most part, datacenters. Google is on an intense effort to build new server capacity all over the country. They want to have a diversified grid to have their servers function on. I’m on officially as a contractor, to go out and help them understand how to connect with those communities where they’re building out this infrastructure, and make sure they’re being able to reach out to folks in that community for both employment opportunities, but also to continue the Google corporate philosophy – which is a very progressive one that wants to engage with the community – while also containing expectations. A lot of the places where we’re building out are depressed manufacturing communities that have a lot of energy, which Google datacenters need, as well as land that is inexpensive – and unfortunately they sometimes then expect thousands of jobs and lots of resources going into their nonprofit organizations. We need to contain those expectations. These are, you know, 200 jobs – which is not insignificant, but is not – considering the size of the infrastructure going in – not what people are hoping for. So its been very exciting. I’m covering the whole country, which means I’m in an airport more than I would like, but its been an exciting opportunity.
odum: So – the big Vermont question, y’know? You gave a popular incumbent a real run for his money on your first statewide run, so – uh – what’s on the radar, here?
Dunne: There is – at the moment – nothing on the radar. There is, I am by that run. I felt great at the outcome, short of actually winning, and I’m excited to figure out what that next thing is. It’s a question of when and for what, but I’m as committed to political change in Vermont as when I started the Lt. Governor run.
But right now im focusing on making sure the Service Politics Institute is up and which is to get individuals who arent engaged in the political process but passionate about service, into the political process. We’re doing it as a 501c(3), so I’m committed to doing that across the board. I believe if we’re getting more people engaged, that’s better all the way across- and I think people who are committed to grassroots service – those are my kind of people. I don’t care what kind of party they put next to their name.
So, im excited about that effort, and I’m trying to make sure I do a good job for Google, and spend some time with my family. I didn’t get to spend that much time with them during the campaign as you might imagine, but I’m continuuing to stay in touch with people..
odum: Well, Freyne wants you to run for Governor. (cross-chuckling)
Dunne: I’m flattered by Mr. Freyne’s… (clears throat) encouragement. Got a long way to go before I make that decision.
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