By the time the 2010 May primary election came about I was pretty stoked to vote. I was convinced that Joe Sestak was going to rid us of Arlen Specter and I believed that John Callahan was the right candidate for Congress. So, when I walked into the voting booth I was in a very jovial mood and enjoyed voting for candidates I wanted to vote for and not just being forced to pick the better of the lesser. When I got to the end of the ballot I saw that no one was running for the male position for the Northampton County Democratic Committee so I wrote in Donald C. Flad Jr. I remember joking about it on the way home and never thought of it again.
A few weeks later I received a letter from the Voter Registration office stating that won the election by one vote.
I had been a Democratic Committeeman in the past and even served an appointed term on the Democratic State Committee. I was enthused again about politics so I figured I would give party politics a shot again. A decision I would soon second guess.
The newly elected committee was called to meet to select a new leadership team. I have been to a number of these meetings and it is always a great evening of socializing, catching up and gossiping. I saw some old friends and met some of the new comers to the scene. This batch of new comers was mostly the Barack Obama supporting true believers and many were elected by write in votes. They joined the Democratic Committee to support their President and to make a difference in the party. The old timers were of course disdainful of the newbie’s, which was distressing because many of them were the reformers when I was last on the committee. A few weeks later I received notice that that there was a procedural error during the election of chairman and it had to be re-held. I couldn’t make it so I sent a friend as a proxy.
Once the dust was settled on the chairman’s election and Walt Garvin was confirmed as the party’s new leader it was time to hold a meeting for the entire county committee to meet and organize. This meeting was held in a pavilion at Louise Moore County Park. It was an awkward spot for a meeting but so be it. The fresh faces came with a list of resolutions they wanted to enact, all very worthwhile but many of them showed a real lack of understanding of how a county party operates. These resolutions set off a battle between the old and the new. Tempers were lost, hopes were dashed and many of the old timers (many younger than me) became the people I detested a long time ago. After much arguing over really stupid things I had enough. I took the floor and reminded everyone that we had one mission and one mission only it was to elect our slate of candidates and maybe we could set the bullshit aside for a few months and meet again to discuss these issues once John Callahan was elected in November. After another hour of Sturm und Drang the meeting ended. I stayed for another hour to give a pep talk to the newbies and encouraged many of them to keep fighting and wear the bastards down. A few of the old timers tried to insult me by telling me that I had not changed.
I got into the car, called home and said “Why the fuck did I do this?” I got home and paced around for some time recounting the meeting and all the while my guy just sat there and listened. He did ask how any of this was going elect Sestak and Callahan.
I realized then that I did not want to be part of the official Democratic Party organization. I remained on the committee but I did not attend any more meeting until it was time to elect a new Vice Chair. The previous one resigned in disgust and I was told was taunted rather obscenely on her way out the door. I had a great time at the meeting to elect the new Vice Chair; I schmoozed, people told me they loved my tweets and blog and I caught up with some pals. The meeting itself was an embarrassment of bad management and again there was fighting, red faces, name calling and battles over the things that really don’t matter. Compromise is not a word that is understood with the Democratic committee of Northampton County.
Bernie O’Hare acted up quite foolishly and I told him so. He openly supported a number of Republican’s and tried to vote as a member of the committee. A member of the Democratic Committee can only support Democrats. I questioned Bernie’s motives and told him he had bigger fish to fry. I challenged him to explain if being a thorn in the side of the Democratic Committee was going to accomplish anything of merit. Again, I called home and ranted.
I missed a few more meetings, voted to sell Gracedale and then Chairman Garvin exposed a candidate’s sex life to the public.
Dawn struck Marblehead; I had made a mistake, I decided that much of politics was beneath me.
End part 4……….
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