Left News and Views

Well, I’m back after taking a sabbatical of sorts to make my first run at public office. I will have to say, things haven’t changed all that much since I left. Bush is still in office despite his lies and a host of crimes that would have led to impeachment if he were a Democrat instead of a Republican – and the Democrats have proved they are still gutless.

But, more on that in the days and weeks ahead as we count down to the end of what I believe history will judge as one of the darkest periods in American history.

I will resume my blogging with an insider’s view of the electoral process on the local level. My running mate – an incumbent – and I were running for two seats on the township Board of Supervisors. I have never run for office before and wasn’t really involved in the local political parties – in fact, I was registered as an Independent.

Shortly before the May primary, I received an e-mail from one of the Supervisors I knew asking if I would consider running for office. After a few days of discussions with my wife – who wasn’t happy with the prospect but supported me anyway – I agreed to run, although walk would be a more appropriate verb.

To me, local government can have a much greater impact on one’s daily life than any other form. Yet, it draws the least attention – the turnout on November 6 here was less than 30 percent. My running mate and I hope to launch an educational campaign to encourage the local citizenry to take a more active role in their government. He started during his first term by spearheading the effort to televise the meetings and making all documents available on the web.

But more on that as it progresses.

The two most important aspects of local campaigns are keeping the workers happy – the committee people are the real political junkies of this world – and getting out to meet the voters by going door-to-door and meeting the voters one on one.

I wasn’t that good about keeping the workers happy (although I got better as the election neared), but I thoroughly enjoyed the door-to-door canvassing – an activity most candidates seem to dread. I met a lot of great people and didn’t once have an unpleasant experience, even when I went to the doors of people I knew supported my opponents.

Ultimately I failed to garner enough votes on election night to win the office. My running mate had more than 700 votes over the second place candidate who had only 28 votes more than I, even though he and his running mate were a part of the scene for almost two decades.

In point of fact, we could have contested the vote since – shades of the chicanery of national elections – one of the machines in a precinct in which I won by a wide margin didn’t function – in fact, it registered all zeros. These are the new electronic machines and our county – run by Republicans, of course – opted for the ones that don’t have a paper trail.

It was sealed and taken to the county seat to determine if the data could be retrieved – which proved fruitless – while the lawyers in our party discussed possible legal action. But, we were presented with a plan B, which was quicker, less messy and much less costly.

One of the current Supervisors – in fact, the one who first asked me to run – was elected to county government and would have to resign at the end of the year. In a move that caught the opposition and the press off-guard, she resigned at the next meeting, effective immediately. That left three Republicans and one Democrat, my running mate. The Board chair, a Republican, nominated me to fill the vacancy and my running mate seconded it. Of course, the remaining two Republicans, really caught off-guard and sputtering to the point of almost drooling, objected but were told by the solicitor that it was perfectly legal. They then voted against me, creating a stalemate.

In this kind of situation, the Board has 30 days to appoint someone to the vacancy. At the end of 30 days, a vacancy board meets. It consists of the four Board members and a vacancy board chairman, who was appointed last year and serves a four-year term. The vacancy board chairman is a high ranking Democrat, so there is a good possibility I will take my seat on the Board on December 13.

Tomorrow I will return to the national scene, but I will continue to update you on what I learn as a public servant from time to time. It’s sure to be an interesting journey.