WI Shall-Issue Carry needs your help!

[AJ Dual]

Wisconsin needs your help!

We are looking for a few good pro-RKBA/pro-carry web designers and graphic artists!

As most of you are aware, along with Illinois, Wisconsin is one of only two absolutely "NO ISSUE" states left in the U.S. However, we are still the next best chance to add another shall-issue state to the overwhelming majority that now enjoy that right.

With the Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association as it's advocate, we've come within one or two votes of passing the Personal Protection Act three times now, twice on a 2/3rds veto-override super-majority. Yet each time, the fix was in. One or two defecting votes had been decided, often long in advance. Despite the disappointment, it still stands as an absolutely amazing accomplishment for a 100% volunteer group that has run on a shoestring! Everyone who contributed time, money, or both, to the WCCA should stand proud.

With the electoral setbacks we suffered in the fall of '06, last January a "WI CCW Summit" open meeting was called, and the WCCA has re-formed into the WCPS - Wisconsin Citizens for Personal Security. We have elected a board of directors. As you read this, we are incorporating, filing for 501(c)4 tax-except political advocacy group status, and planning our next moves. In essence, we are retrenching, and laying the groundwork for an organization that cannot be ignored and cannot be stopped. Carry WILL happen in in Wisconsin, it is a matter of "when" not "if".

Simply put, along with our new name and structure, the WCPS needs a new look.

We are seeking pro-gun, pro-carry web designers and graphic artists who are willing to help us design a professional looking website to be the new on-line face to the fight for shall-issue concealed carry, the continued defense of constitutional open-carry, and any other issue that affects the ability of Wisconsinites to exercise their inalienable natural right to self-defense at home or in public.

If you are such a person, or think you may know one, please contact me either by PM or e-mail at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Andrew M. Walkowiak ("AJ Dual") - Board member, Treasurer
WCPS- Wisconsin Citizens for Personal Security

[email protected]

 

[Strings]

Spoon has a design for the logo: actually, she has several lil' variations. We just have to get them down to y'all...

 

[CNYCacher]

I can do anything with websites. I also have a server that I will donate space on to this cause. If I can be of any help let me know. I am semi-descent at doing logos, but don't have a lot of free-time at this point. My sister is a graphic designer, she might be able to provide some help in that regard.

Were you thinking of something like a CMS page? Forum? Both?

Let me know.

 

[AJ Dual]

Thanks so much for the replies so far!

Strings:

I'm looking forward to seeing what Spoon has designed. E-mail them to Dick or I and we can start showing them to the rest of the board.

CNYCacher:

We already have server space, e-mail and most any other communication service we might need on hand. One of our board members (Frank Tower, the new mayor of Oshkosh! BTW...) is with a telecom provider/I.T. firm that has hosting ability. Dick Baker "Monkeyleg" who ran the original WCCA, and is also a WCPS board member, runs www.gunshopfinder.com very well, he's also quite good at SEO, however he had to contract out the initial design and graphics.

So we have hosting, admin, e-commerce, and database skills on tap, what we really need is the main design and graphics, and templates etc. I too have an I.T. background, but not with web development. The best I've managed is a vanity page of my kids pictures using a FrontPage template, and even then I can't get stuff to line up right… LOL

(I had to Google CMS…) But yes, a Content Management System and templates is probably something we'd need. I'm sure there will eventually be lots of media, bills, documents, reprinted editorials, news stories and legislative updates we'd be posting.

We had thought about running a forum, but right now have a dedicated forum for Wisconsin carry under http://www.wisconsinshooters.com/forum/ run by THR member mpthole. I think the biggest concern is "YABG" syndrome as in: Yet Another Gun Board… It's probably better to leave Wisconsin's RKBA community concentrated on the popular boards where they already are than give them yet one more forum to visit. If we should exceed server capacity when the battle heats up, perhaps we'll revisit the idea of running a WCPS forum at that time.

Even if the design work is a 100% donation we will need some examples of the developer's work to put to the board for a decision. I hate the feeling of "looking a gift horse in the mouth", but it's imperative we have a clean professional looking site that's comparable to any other page that's out there.

 

[learn2shoot]

Testing

I have a background in functional testing... I am willing to pound away at the website for errors. Although I am not able to find security holes. Let me know when it is up in a dev environment and I will do my magic.

 

[Monkeyleg]

I just wanted to add this:

While it would be great to have someone who knows how to design a great-looking site, well-functioning site, that's not absolutely necessary. If someone is able to come up with a design in photoshop, I can take the design and run with it from there.

If someone has the skills to do both the design, as well as construct an HTML template, so much the better.

There may be database-driven pages on the site, but I can handle that (assuming that Frank Tower's company uses MS servers with IIS installed).

Here's something that AJ forgot to mention: if you like, we can put a link to your site (business or personal) on each page as a "thank you." For example, we could add "Site design by Gun Nut Website Co."

I wish we could offer to pay, but the costs of incorporation and filing for the 501(c)4 tax-exempt status are consuming a good chunk of the little bit of cash we have in our bank account.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

I have the computer skills of a hampster, but do possess lots of free time. If I can help in some way..just drop me a PM.

 

[metallic]

I'm a professional programmer. I don't have a lot of free time, but if you ever need any work done, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Monkeyleg]

metallic, consider yourself volunteered!

I can do most of the page construction and database queries. If I need more help, though, rest assured I'll be in touch with you.


Thanks.

 

[Monkeyleg]

AJ, now that we seem to have settled on a designer, you might want to PM the moderators to ask them to delete this thread.

 

[Griffin1340]

Well as a first time poster here...I like the fact that I see a thread on WI needing help to get carry legislation passed! To bad we have a leftist commie for a governor and he will never pass the bill.
But I am willing to help in the limited ways that I can.

 

[lamazza]

He didn't beat Green by a ton-we'll get him out next time.

 

[Nil]

He beat Green by 8% and considering Doyle was supposed to be the weakest Democratic Governor up for reelection, it was a pretty damn big margin.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Nil, don't give Doyle any more credit than he is due.

He won in an election in which voters nationwide rejected Republicans, in large part over dissatisfaction with GW and Iraq.

He won because the state Republicans stupidly put the gay marriage amendment on the ballot. They thought it would increase conservative voter turnout in an off-year election.

Rule #1: low voter turnout is an advantage to Republicans, while high voter turnout benefits Democrats. This rule is as old as they come. Yet the Republican leadership ignored it, or thought they were somehow above this basic rule.

So, what happened? Two things. One was that conservative Democrats who otherwise wouldn't have gone to the polls did so, to vote for the gay marriage amendment. While there, they also voted for Democrat candidates (duh!).

Secondly, the gay marriage amendment drew students in college towns to vote, students who otherwise wouldn't have even known there was an election. That's one of the big factors in Senator Dave Zien's defeat: UW Eau Claire students turned out en masse.

And then there's the question of money, something that the WCCA and WCCM has been criticized roundly for the past few years.

Studies have shown that, as often as 95% of the time, the candidate with the most money wins. Doyle had a $3.8 million dollar lead over Green. That's roughly a 25% lead, without even taking into consideration the spending by outside groups.

There's also the factor of Green's campaign itself. Green started out well, but never "closed the deal." He should have taken the gloves off much earlier, and gone after Doyle for all of the campaign funding "irregularities."

Instead, he allowed himself to be painted into the "everybody does it" box by letting Doyle accuse him of taking illegal money from his congressional campaign funds. Green should have defused that issue early on, instead of fighting with the Elections Board. He just made himself look more guilty, when he wasn't.

In the end, it was a combination of factors that got Doyle re-elected.

Remember this, though: Jim Doyle is ruthless, without principles, and vindictive. And those are just his positive points. He's a veteran of decades in Madison politics, and knows how to work the sytem as well as people.

He's the #1 obstacle to WI getting shall-issue CCW. And that's why we need to strengthen our group, attract more supporters, and spread our message further.