Monday, April 11, 2005
Democrats and Democracy
This weekend was a first for me, as I attended the Hamilton County Democratic Party reorganization meeting, which I learned is a fancy of saying election of officers.
What a nightmare. The utter incompetence of our now-past Chairman was evident in the total lack of any planning for the day's festivities. Anyone who worked for Kerry-Edwards in Chattanooga would have told you that in November, but I digress.
There were far more people there than expected, which was a good thing, but the machinations were pretty amazing to see. As soon as we walked in the door, my dad was accosted by people pandering for votes for party office and reminding him of how much they "helped" him in '02. Clearly they were all lying.
The most amusing moment was when we split into precincts, to elect our precinct captains and chairs, Iowa caucus-style. Each precinct elected four officers. I think there were 3 precinct that had more than four representatives. But, we all broke up and "voted" on our representatives. At this point, we then had to proceed through another roll call of precincts to have our badges marked with a highlighted, to show that as precinct officers, we are eligible to vote. There were 7 or 8 people left out of this group.
The race for the female representative from our commission district was tight. The only candidate was an old lady on oxygen who couldn't hold a pen, but had been the representative for something like 50 years. When it became clear that she was about to be our only choice, another woman volunteered. She won unanimously. The old lady looked very sad.
County-wide races then began, with the very exacting voting method of having people stand up for the candidate they preferred. In front of everyone. Essentially, this is a process designed to make enemies. So, dad and I made some by not voting the straight ticket of most of our allies. I voted against Joanne Favors for Vice-Chair for no other reason that I prefer my legislators to be focused on their jobs and not on party haggling.
Most disappointing, though, was how a friend of mine chose to act during the nominations. Now, clearly, we are there to follow procedure, but in the end, it was quite apparent that his candidates were going to win across the board. (They were, for the most part, my candidates, too) However, when the chair called for nominations, as soon as his candidate had been nominated, he would immediately stand up and shout "I move to close all nominations!" It was silly, and in one of the few moments of the day when I didn't want to scream at our non-esteemed chair, he just ignored the motion and kept on.
Anyway - on the whole, it was a fairly disappointing endeavor. I love politics, but I loathe politics for politics' sake. In the end, it weakens us as a party and makes up look foolish and incompetent. But, the candidates won who hopefully will make some positive change for the party. I just fear they will continue to act with politics as usual.
What a nightmare. The utter incompetence of our now-past Chairman was evident in the total lack of any planning for the day's festivities. Anyone who worked for Kerry-Edwards in Chattanooga would have told you that in November, but I digress.
There were far more people there than expected, which was a good thing, but the machinations were pretty amazing to see. As soon as we walked in the door, my dad was accosted by people pandering for votes for party office and reminding him of how much they "helped" him in '02. Clearly they were all lying.
The most amusing moment was when we split into precincts, to elect our precinct captains and chairs, Iowa caucus-style. Each precinct elected four officers. I think there were 3 precinct that had more than four representatives. But, we all broke up and "voted" on our representatives. At this point, we then had to proceed through another roll call of precincts to have our badges marked with a highlighted, to show that as precinct officers, we are eligible to vote. There were 7 or 8 people left out of this group.
The race for the female representative from our commission district was tight. The only candidate was an old lady on oxygen who couldn't hold a pen, but had been the representative for something like 50 years. When it became clear that she was about to be our only choice, another woman volunteered. She won unanimously. The old lady looked very sad.
County-wide races then began, with the very exacting voting method of having people stand up for the candidate they preferred. In front of everyone. Essentially, this is a process designed to make enemies. So, dad and I made some by not voting the straight ticket of most of our allies. I voted against Joanne Favors for Vice-Chair for no other reason that I prefer my legislators to be focused on their jobs and not on party haggling.
Most disappointing, though, was how a friend of mine chose to act during the nominations. Now, clearly, we are there to follow procedure, but in the end, it was quite apparent that his candidates were going to win across the board. (They were, for the most part, my candidates, too) However, when the chair called for nominations, as soon as his candidate had been nominated, he would immediately stand up and shout "I move to close all nominations!" It was silly, and in one of the few moments of the day when I didn't want to scream at our non-esteemed chair, he just ignored the motion and kept on.
Anyway - on the whole, it was a fairly disappointing endeavor. I love politics, but I loathe politics for politics' sake. In the end, it weakens us as a party and makes up look foolish and incompetent. But, the candidates won who hopefully will make some positive change for the party. I just fear they will continue to act with politics as usual.
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