Dennis Kucinich-Campaign Organization, Tennessee
Kucinich for President

Kucinich for President Tennessee Leadership

State Coordinator Jane Boram
(since mid-September 2003) 
 

Jane Boram discussed the campaign and her role in a December 2, 2003 e-mail:

I'm VERY volunteer!!  (It's a Tennessee-thing - we're the Volunteer State - the football & basketball teams from University of TN are the "Vols")

I put in about 30 hrs. a week for KUCINICH - non-paid!  Why?  Because I truly believe that Dennis Kucinich represents THE best chance for SIGNIFICANT & LASTING CHANGE in our system of self-government.  He has the humility, the creativity, & the sensitivity of a WORLD LEADER.  He already has close ties w/ International Peace-Makers who'd become a cooperative force in restoring justice and grass-roots democracy (VS imposed conflict such as in Iraq & Afghanistan).  His art of diplomacy and resolving root-causes of terror hold greater hope than all the military power of the U.S. & the U.K. combined.  I'm also the CONVENER of the Nashville Episcopal Peace Fellowship.  Hence, my interest in PEACE as a theological and survival-tool.

I'm an ordained pastor whose current passion is working for equality & justice of all persons.  A former SDS-er @ Kent State University (1968-'69), I graduated from Vanderbilt University's Divinity School in 1984 and pastored Disciples of Christ parishes for 8 yrs. before returning to social work.  I currently belong to an IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation) organization called TYING NASVHILLE TOGETHER, an 80-member group of congregations, neighborhoood assoc'ns, labor unions, and non-profit social service agencies working for a more effective & compassionate system of justice in Nashville, TN.  We represent 24,000 voters.  We're 10 yrs. old this year.  I also belong to TN Coalition Against State Killing (TCASK), opposed to the death penalty. 

The KUCINICH CAMPAIGN in TN is all-volunteer at this stage.  We have a lead-organizer in Memphis and one in the Knoxville/Oakridge area.  I cater to middle-TN and Nashville.  There are MEETUPS the first Thursday of each month in these 3 sections of TN.  Greater Nashville has 200 active volunteers promoting KUCITIZENRY.  All other 8 Democratic candidates accept PAC and corporate contributions.  Not Dennis! KUCINICH remains committed to true-grass-roots fundraising and participation in Fed'l Matching funds.  Look in January '04 for a SOUTHERN TOUR by Danny Glover & Willie Nelson, endorsers of KUCINICH. Dennis hopes to make appearances along the TOUR when his Congressional schedule allows.  He has a 100% voting record in Congress and never misses a vote there.

and added a follow-up in a December 3, 2003 e-mail:
I forgot to mention I volunteered during the 2000-GORE Campaign (I don't want to mention Leiberman ... man, what a disappointment lately!? - I wish Hadassah, his wife, were running instead!) on the NATIONAL PHONE LINES @ Nashville Campaign HQ's.  My main complaint was that MADISON AVE., not ordinary citizens, called all the shots in GORE's campaign.  There were so many great IDEAS people'd call in every-day.  I'd write them down, pass 'em along - and now realize they probably went into somebody's garbage.  GORE lost touch w/ every-day folks.  That's why I prefer a person like KUCINICH!  He knows what it's like to live on very little, to live in a neighborhood that's a melting pot (Irish, Polish, Jew, Hispanic, Iraqi, Black Muslim, Irish). His campaign HQ's are there in that same neighborhood.  There's nothing "stuffy" about Dennis.  He's just "plain folk."  If he could meet in-person every ordinary citizen I talk w/about him, they'd instantly be drawn to his down-to-earth quality. He truly LISTENS! and CARES! He has a SPIRITUALITY & INTEGRITY...

Copyright © 2003  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action