Who is Dick Mills and why is he trying to sabotage the campaign?

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Admin note: This thread has unfortunately suffered from forum members here being feed compounding misinformation (no fault of the members) , I created a new thread that is more solidly based found here:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=183962

Please post all new messages there. Thank you.




I just received an email from a Meetup member saying he had been appointed state chairman of "We The People, Ron Paul Friends USA" and asking if some of us would like to serve as regional chairs. I happen to know that, in my state, this would create havoc with how we are trying to get people to the caucuses and elected delegates.

I tried to be gentle with the Meetup member, who is a most earnest and dedicated supporter of Ron Paul, but a political innocent, but I can see what is likely another Clifton Coalition absolutely screwing our legitimate state strategies.

Anyone dealt with these characters? Can they be appealed to via reason?

[Chester Copperpot]

I just received an email from a Meetup member saying he had been appointed state chairman of "We The People, Ron Paul Friends USA" and asking if some of us would like to serve as regional chairs. I happen to know that, in my state, this would create havoc with how we are trying to get people to the caucuses and elected delegates.

I tried to be gentle with the Meetup member, who is a most earnest and dedicated supporter of Ron Paul, but a political innocent, but I can see what is likely another Clifton Coalition absolutely screwing our legitimate state strategies.

Anyone dealt with these characters? Can they be appealed to via reason?

Ive heard of the Ron Paul Friends USA thing before.. I believe this is another incarnation of the Ron Paul 4 pres coalition aka CLifton Coalition..

Ie NYC meetup fiasco, philly fiasco going on now as we speak in anothe thread here

[mdh]

Ron Paul Friends USA sounds familiar. Isn't that the guy who went and joined EVERY meetup group and uploaded some weird mp3? I think that was the name of his group. I forget his name though. He was from New York, as well.

[Chester Copperpot]

Ron Paul Friends USA sounds familiar. Isn't that the guy who went and joined EVERY meetup group and uploaded some weird mp3? I think that was the name of his group. I forget his name though. He was from New York, as well.

That was JOhn VIdurek or something like that... The friends thing could be different.. but I remember reading a msg from someone that said they were a new name for the clifton coalition.. the people who discourage all the grassroots Ron Paul stuff.

[nayjevin]

Ron Paul Friends USA sounds familiar. Isn't that the guy who went and joined EVERY meetup group and uploaded some weird mp3? I think that was the name of his group. I forget his name though. He was from New York, as well.

that was some weird shit indeed

[themanhere]

You better believe they see Ron Paul as a threat. And where is Ron Pauls biggest support coming from? The internet! So in these coming months we will probably see more trolls and more BS.

[mdh]

John Vidurek... that was that guy's name.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=10145&page=2&highlight=mp3+file

[AFTFNJ]

Dick Mills is a good guy. Support him / help him. He hails from TX.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Dick Mills is a good guy. Support him / help him.

Why, is he running for office? He came in and appointed a guy state chairman which will entirely disrupt our organization to get people to caucuses and Ron Paul delegates elected to the national convention.

You want me to help him screw up Ron Paul's chances? Why? Why would he screw with Minnesota where he obviously does not understand how delegates get elected? :mad:

[quickmike]

Listen you guys, If youre smart, you will seperate this stuff from the meetup. If these guys want to come in and dictate what goes on in your state, fine, let them try to do it on their own time and outside of your meetup groups. The meetups seem to be going just fine because its a local thing. I wouldnt screw with the formula by letting some know it all come in and try changing things. If you guys even entertain the idea, youre making a big mistake.


Just my opinion.

[McDermit]

Their modus operandi is VERY similar to the Clifton Coalition. Big time wasters, want everything top-down, control freaks.

Lots of "oh yes, he's VERY legit. We've worked with him for years! He's wonderful. Get on board with him!" cyclical testimonials. No real credentials anywhere, just a bunch of "in" people vouching for other "in" people. Same thing that went on with Gary Coplin.


They were helping to coordinate the "Ron Paul National Meetup Conference Calls." Big promoters of the Iowa Vote Fraud nonsense. Tied in with Vote in Sunshine, AFTF, Freedom Fellowship, etc. I suspect there is a Clifton Coalition association, but haven't found a concrete link.

[abstrusezincate]

Here's the thing with all these groups. They don't work. I could give a long explanation, but the simple way of looking at this is as follows: it doesn't help the people on the ground do their job better.

If a national organization comes into existence, it will be free form, collaborative rather than compulsory, and center around voluntary arrangements where groups will work together for a larger goal, taking on tasks as they choose and best see fit in support of that goal. It's a good dynamic model that fits the actual situation on the ground, and it doesn't try to boss people around.

The fact that people keep trying to do this the other way is why all these coalitions continue to fail.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Here's the thing with all these groups. They don't work. I could give a long explanation, but the simple way of looking at this is as follows: it doesn't help the people on the ground do their job better.

That's what I'm saying. We're organizing for the caucuses, we need good lists of all Ron Paul supporters, then this shadow group comes along which is also going to organize, and people are going to think they're working for the same goal, but we WON'T HAVE A CENTRAL ORGANIZATION. They may not mean to, but they are DIVIDING, meaning we may only get to organize half the Ron Paul supporters in the state. It will mean a loss when it could have been a win.

Perhaps these people do mean well. I can only assume that is the case. Anyone who knows them, tell them they must come in and work within the official campaign structure as volunteers if they'd like, but any kind of shadow campaign will kill Ron Paul's election chances.

[specsaregood]

These groups are a giant BLACKHOLE of VOLUNTEER efforts. Any of these Coalition guys come around your meetup groups tell them to hit the road!

My meetup group is totally decentralized and we kickass. Every weekend we are on the streets promoting events. Every week we grow in size. Every weekend we become better at our job of promoting Ron Paul. Every weekend we have more fun.

We have loads of asst organizers that can add events to our calendar, we all communicate and feel capable of going it alone if need be. We get materials to the people that need them and welcome new members to the group and invite them out to events.

Kick the Top-Down centralized fools to the curb.

P.S. The whole philly situation sickens me. They have potential and it is this top-down coalition group's fault for stifling their spirit. But I have a feeling the shackles will be thrown off soon enough.

[abstrusezincate]

Philly will be fine. Many groups actually have these problems. To make it more general, what happens is that the organizer doesn't know how to accomplish all he or she wants, and gets more territorial. The assistants, in turn, get annoyed because they're shut out of the loop. They then fight. The trick is to set up enough internal organization to keep everyone working together, collaboratively, and as a unit, and that will happen down there. Even my group requires a majority vote of our planning committee to get things done.

I have faith in those people. They didn't perform as well as they did in the meetup competition because they lack talent. It just is a tough thing, but they'll have lots of help, and generally speaking, Pennsylvania is a pretty well organized state. It just was a tough day today, for Philly, and that'll happen.

At least they're fighting over having a really big event, which is better than many places. :)

[McDermit]

Heh. They won the competition because other meetups contacted them and decided to pool. If it were just Philly, regardless of how energizing Bill and the other assistants may have been during the final drive, they likely wouldn't have pulled it off.

As an organizer of two PA meetups, I contacted them myself and offered to pool resources. Based on the immediate response I got from them, quite a few other groups contacted them of their own free will as well.

[Cowlesy]

I'll be turkey hunting at my farm in PA at the end of October and buck hunting at the very end of November/ early December, and I guarantee I'll blast a bigger deer and gobbler than any of you so called PA'ers.

[Spirit of '76]

I'll be turkey hunting at my farm in PA at the end of October and buck hunting at the very end of November/ early December, and I guarantee I'll blast a bigger deer and gobbler than any of you so called PA'ers.

lol

[JosephTheLibertarian]

I don't trust any one named Dick

[Stealth4]

No success should go to our head

Beware of hubris

No one RP supporter should act superior to another RP supporter

Dont put personal pride in front of compromise and discussion

Have patience

Question everything

Trust takes time and effort

Dont make all disputes public (online)

[mdh]

Dont make all disputes public (online)

Some things are better dealt with in the light of public scrutiny. Also, letting others know and be forewarned of things is often a good thing.

I tend to be of the opinion that a level of transparency is a very positive thing.

[Stealth4]

I agree if it comes to that.

If you can however solve disputes in your local group in a local fashion then I think thats better.

That way confrontation and controversy is reduced on the forums, allowing us to focus our efforts on other things and it encourages people to work harder with others before running off, crying foul, and possible escalating the problem to a level that was never needed.

[quickmike]

I'll be turkey hunting at my farm in PA at the end of October and buck hunting at the very end of November/ early December, and I guarantee I'll blast a bigger deer and gobbler than any of you so called PA'ers.

You wuss............... you ever brought down a 350 lb crack addict?


youre probably saying to yourself "theres no such thing as a 350 lb crack addict!!!"

You would be correct.:D

[mdh]

I agree if it comes to that.

If you can however solve disputes in your local group in a local fashion then I think thats better.

That way confrontation and controversy is reduced on the forums, allowing us to focus our efforts on other things and it encourages people to work harder with others before running off, crying foul, and possible escalating the problem to a level that was never needed.

Grassroots = rumor mill.
Srsly.

[Stealth4]

Grassroots = rumor mill.
Srsly.

Well we have something great going (meetup groups), but now it seems to me that in everyone enthusiasm to help ron paul they forgot to respect each other and now we have a mess in several places (including this forum). I hope this can be solved in a peaceful manner so we can move back to our main purpose.

If this unravels because of us not being able to work together then we will regret it for the rest of our lives.

[Nefertiti]

They didn't perform as well as they did in the meetup competition because they lack talent. It just is a tough thing, but they'll have lots of help, and generally speaking, Pennsylvania is a pretty well organized state. It just was a tough day today, for Philly, and that'll happen.


They performed as well as they did because the group leader terrorirized the assistants into rounding up lots of $2300 donors, and kicking them out of their positions when they didn't. That says a lot more about the lack of talents of the leader because he obviously assigned a task to someone that did not match their skills, rather than look for a task they could excel at.

[abstrusezincate]

That was a joke, as you should know. There was never a serious threat to kick people out for lack of fundraising prowess.

Bill, who actually conducted the competition, did that in a funny and amusing style.

[rdenner]

Well we have something great going (meetup groups), but now it seems to me that in everyone enthusiasm to help ron paul they forgot to respect each other and now we have a mess in several places (including this forum). I hope this can be solved in a peaceful manner so we can move back to our main purpose.

If this unravels because of us not being able to work together then we will regret it for the rest of our lives.


I think what is happening throughout the meetups is a microcosm of the problems that a truly free society will face.

IF WE CAN'T MAKE IT WORK HERE!!!!! How in the hell will our policies ever work on a country wide scale. This exercise we are going through now should be a framework we use once we are in power.

How we conduct our selves HERE AND NOW will echo through time. If we choose to make ourselves powerful and make some money off this endevour, then this whole exercise will be in vain.

If we remember that hubris and power are the antithisis of what Ron Paul and our coalition stands for, then we'll be sowing the seeds of the next Great American Century. It's in OUR HANDS NOW. Nobody anywhere in this country is doing what we are doing. IF WE FAIL, this country fails...

WWRPD(What would Ron Paul Do)

Robert NW Ohio




Admin note: This thread has unfortunately suffered from forum members here being feed compounding misinformation (no fault of the members) , I created a new thread that is more solidly based found here:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=183962

Please post all new messages there. Thank you.