Below is a long and well written rant by Harris County’s most prolific Democratic information dispenser. Some of it is hard to swallow but it is a truth that is necessary if we intend to win in November.
I have sat back and tried to take in what actually happened on Tuesday, but I’ll be damned if even with 42 years of active participation I can make total sense of the results. Folks are trying to make it look like the end of the world and others are trying to put on a happy face and saying how well we did. Some are saying the results are just the by product of a system that was all off kilter for the last year or so starting with all the redistricting and the attendant matters. Let me remind you of something….while in numbers, the years are many, but in experiences, they are ageless. In 1972 I stood outside a polling location in Meyerland pushing cards from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. for a candidate the first weekend in May. Didn’t get paid a dime to do it, didn’t expect it and frankly, hadn’t hear of people being paid. It was hotter than hell, and we were swamped with voters…not just in the precinct I worked, but in precincts all over that had never seen turnouts like that before and maybe, other than the aberration of 2008, never have again or will in the future. We didn’t have people bringing us drinks and food and we weren’t provided with cutesy tee shirts to wear…we were out pushing our candidate because we had been given a reason to believe that we could change things if we involved ourselves and got others involved. I dare say you couldn’t have found a handful of folk on Tuesday who had the same feeling as we did in 1972.
Today, everybody has a bitch….complain about everything….the voters have the easiest access to casting a ballot ever and still they complain. To those of you who can remember, think back to showing up to the polling location, standing in line and casting your vote on the old Shoup machines where you had to pull levers by the name of your preferred candidate….and you were proud to do it and glad to have the opportunity. Today we have early voting going on for at least two weeks prior to an election, we have fairly easy mail balloting and still have a polling location on EDay right near our homes, however you want to vote, you can with very little impediment.
But the difference today is everyone expects everything to be done FOR them with little or no exertion by the individual. In our attempts to make things easier, we have stifled our participation at every level of the process. One of the worst areas is that every one is out to make a buck off the process….at every step of the way and no matter what….everyone is complaining and intimating that everything is aimed at discriminating against their "right". Funny thing, I don’t remember anyone hollering about being paid $125 a day to push cards at a poll, have two meals or a meal and a snack along with water or drink stops, chairs provided and inordinately priced tee shirts that the wearer has so little pride in most look like they haven’t been cleaned in two weeks or better yet, slept in the night before. Rather than pushing cards, you walk up to a poll and you are descended upon like gnats on a cows ass and the voter gets to hear conversation about how the candidate or campaign better get out with the money or food or whatever or they’ll be sorry. And when you get in a really nasty race, our PAID card pushers are out with such brilliant reasons for voting for a candidate as Don’t Vote for the drunk! – surprised? Not when folks have little or no conviction and even less knowledge and are in essence nothing more than hired guns in a legal assassination of character.
And we wonder why folks don’t participate. This example is at the lowest rung. For every card pusher, there is an "operative" who has a "plan" for anyone who will pay them that guarantees they can deliver X number of votes or X number of precincts. Above that is the consultant or as way too many have sullied the title and become nothing more than political whores who go from campaign to campaign, candidate to candidate, making money….which is fine if they did something to earn it, but the "consultant is out hiring "sub contractors" to do the real dirty work and making their money on printing and electronic communication. You see all that money you don’t see entails a brokers fee paid back from a printer when the consultant brings an order from a candidate…so the consultant and the printer make money off the same thing…..never mind the consultant is being paid a fat fee to start with. And the really big bucks comes from the commission a newspaper, radio station or TV station pays the buyer of ad space.. The more competitive a race, the more ad buys and the more money for the players…..a vicious cycle.
All of this presupposes that we have a candidate with the resources to pay someone to help develop a message they think the voter will buy and then turn that voter out to cast a ballot for the preferred candidate. Add to all of that the targeting that goes on to decide who is likely to vote, who is likely to support the preferred candidate, how they will cast a vote (mail, early or in person), turning the vote out and of course doing what is needed to turn the voters off to the big bad opposition…..whoever the consultant has been paid to influence folk into believing is the big bad wolf in a particular election.
All of this does not happen in a vacuum, but the name of the game is not to increase turnout or participation, it is to constrict it to only those who agree with you and in the process, this is where the voter bears responsibility. Over the years, a general cynicism has set in with folks as though it doesn’t matter what they do or say or how they vote, nothing in their lives will ever change….no body will listen…..they will never have influence when put up against the big boys….and who can blame them So they don’t vote and the day after an election, everybody says What happened…more so when a prominent candidate or office holder gets knocked off…..and everyone has an idea what to do…….
Do I have the answer to turn this train around? It’s one nobody wants to hear. Everyone with an opinion, everyone with an idea of how to change the trend, take a long hard look at yourself and ask what have I done to both contribute to this mess and conversely, what am I doing to change it. The question has to be what each of us is doing and at the same time honestly admitting what we have previously done or not done that got us into this game. It isn’t going to change with a "they" or "them" pointing of the finger.
Can it all change and we again have real participation? You bet it can and as it changes we attract better candidates to choose from, candidates who are running to serve and to make a difference rather than running to keep their name out front of folk. You can once again have folk who are interested enough in the process, knowing they can make a difference, to be knowledgeable enough about issues and candidates, that the whore cottage industry of politics gets shut down or at least diminished…..and you can show up to vote without getting attacked by some surly, dirty card pusher who could care less who are what they are pushing trying to influence your vote – which today they can because all most people know is the last name they hear before voting.
As in everything, the political system will have good and bad, the hucksters, the carnie barkers or snake oil salesmen come to town. It’s no different than the church organizations, the pta’s civic clubs, all attendant with their sycophants and demagogues, but despite all of that, there are so many more good folk who are involved or want to be involved or could be involved if they felt it made a difference….and that is where each person comes in……it is our responsibility…..really each of us should say my responsibility…..that it is in the best interest of folk to be involved and make their voices heard. It’s worked before, why can’t it again. It starts with each of us and whether we try to assess blame to others or whether we accept the responsibility each of us should to see that right wins out.
OK….off that soap box…..and a few words……Tuesdays election is OVER and that is the very best thing that can be said for it. On a personal level, I like many of you, am extremely pleased with the results in some races and disappointed in some others. What we should take from Tuesday is that the Democratic Party is in need of a visit from EXTREME MAKEOVER. No more of this buying aluminum siding from the latest huckster who sells us on covering the rotten wood. God help us that the wind doesn’t blow much harder because this house might just collapse under its own disrepair. If you think I misspeak here, take into consideration that in December, when Lane Lewis was first elected as Chair in Harris County, he inherited a party with only 391 names filling over 800 precincts and a sustaining membership base ($10 per month) of fewer than 300 in a county that is the third largest in the United States. When I say names filling precincts, you read that correctly. Way too many NAMES only filling a position and far too little effort being put forth from the level of Democrats that is supposed to be the foundation of the party……and think of this….while we all admit our convention system was different and hopefully a one time only affair, the statutory duty of an Executive Committeeperson or Precinct Chair is to represent the Democrats (grass roots level) who reside in his or her precinct by organizing the campaign(s) within their precinct, call to order and conduct the precinct conventions in their precinct and upon approval of the County Chair, shall serve as the presiding election official for the primary and run off elections. In addition, the Precinct Chair or Executive Committeeperson, by State Law, upon submission by the County Chair, of the party receiving the highest number of votes in the preceding election for Governor shall be appointed as the Election Judge by Commissioners Court and the Precinct Chair of the party receiving the 2nd highest number of votes shall, upon submission by the County Chair and appointment of Commissioners Court, shall serve as the alternate Election Judge of their precinct. All of this predicated upon official affiliation with the appropriate political party thru election in the previous party primary. Sound complicated….not so much…if you are in a precinct Bill White carried in 2010, Commissioners Court will appoint a Democrat as the Election Judge and if Rick Perry carried the precinct, the Democrat is appointed the alternate Election Judge.
Now here is the scary part, remember the numbers of Names and precincts I threw out there earlier, well when time came for the Senatorial Conventions and a very simple and quick Oath of Affiliation being filed was all it took to say you were a Democrat and could proceed in the next level of conventions, only 203 Democratic Precinct Chairs out of the over 800 possible took the time or bothered to show up and participate, much less organize their precinct. Pretty sad isn’t it. But it is not a hopeless situation. Again, it starts with each one of us. If you are the precinct chair, get active. If you don’t have a precinct chair, sign up now. If you are in a precinct chair with a, shall we say, inactive precinct chair, offer to help get them active and if all else fails, run against them or find someone who will who will organize the precinct for Democrats. As for money, well, the lights won’t stay on long nor will the doors remain unlocked on less than 3, 000 dollars a month. Again, each of us can do something about that….Become a sustaining member ourselves and get others to sign up. No money, no lights and no building.
Let’s learn to use the convention system for what it was intended to do…Recruit and train volunteers for our efforts.. It’s not about tightening a circle of influence so some folk get their ego salved holding onto to power…its to grow the party. I remind folks that when I went to my first convention, there were absolutely no young folk like me but here it is 42 years later and I look at the crowd and there are still no young people. If we are to survive and thrive, we have to find an answer and one of them just might be to open our arms under our so called big tent and welcome folks and include them in everything. We cannot hang on forever folk and being a delegate, a Senate District officer or and SDEC member is not something that travels well when you are six feet under – and that is the only sure thing about all of this – our time will come – reach out and help new folk get involved – even when they think they know it all and have every answer – remember, we all felt the same ourselves, but a little flexibility can go a long way and all of us just may learn something.
Finally, we are all Democrats for our own reasons – some are uniquely ours and others are collectively accepted – but let us never get into a mode where we have some type of litmus test where we sit around and question the degree of which each of us is a Democrat. Sure way to turn folk off and run them away and frankly, I have had enough of that and being in the minority where nobody cares what you say, nobody listens and there is no punishment for being ignored. I want to win and that takes 50% +1 and at this stage I don’t have the luxury of time of trying to find new to replace the old I ran off thru ignorance or stupidity or as some would say bullheadedness.
Tuesday is done and over and I will not belabor the day or the results other than to mention two outstanding candidates who were not successful in their quest. In Harris County, we are the poorer as a party and as a citizenry for not approving the candidacies of Zack Fertitta for District Attorney, Joseph Carlos "JOE: Madden for State Representative Distinct 137. and Grady Castleberry for Contable Prcinct 1. These outstanding young men are among the brightest and best along with the most energetic we have to offer. It would be my hope that they would be back, sooner rather than later, because there is definitely a place for them – hopefully wherever they choose. I would also hope that not too much time is expended trying to assess reasons or blame for their loss. Tuesday is done and over and we move on and thank you for offering yourself to your fellow citizens.
SO that’s it. I have ranted too long. I have done my best – or what I saw as my best – during this campaign to keep folks informed – with as little bias as possible. along the way, I took some real body blows and friendships suffered because of it. At heart – or what is left of it – there is still the belief we can be the masters of our own destiny – at least we can make a difference. My congratulations to our new County Chair Lane Lewis along with my best wishes for a successful term – trust me, you’ll need much more than best wishes. In the end, just as I felt 42 years ago and along these years, the effort and the journey are worth it. Making the effort to change the world to be a better place is really worth it and when some little change comes about you were part of, the gratification is unlike anything I can describe. I hope we have many more moments like that…
I almost forgot…..I couldn’t let this opportunity pass without sharing something that nearly made me double over with laughter when I read it. I have taken it straight from Charles Kuffner’s OfftheKuff.com comment section and it is from none other than the Godfather of TeaParty Councilwoman Helena Brown and the majority – by far – financial benefactor of the unsuccessful candidate for Chair of the Democratic Party. I have to wonder how some folks can look themselves in a mirror……Enjoy…and remember…
Paul Kubosh says:
Kirkland’s loss had nothing to do with a gay vs. anti-gay vote in my opinion. Palmers campaign which I contributed to and had no other input was a well oiled machine. A beast of a campaign. They took advantage of a slow to campaign over confident incumbent. People had wondered why did I get involved in a civil district court race? Don’t forget that before Judge Kirkland became the Judge of the 215th he was Judge of Municipal Court #8. I had very strong negative feelings for him as a Judge. As a neighbor and as a person he is a fine man. As a Judge he was more of an advocate than a Jurist. Just my opinion.
Now as to Douglas. I have watched the Democrat party election after election get outperformed on election day. I don’t know Lane Lewis I assume he is a nice guy, good American etc. but he seemed to be anointed by the local leaders to run the party. He just seemed to be a company man. I wanted to see someone outside of the good ol boys network run the party. I thought she was more qualified and would do a better job. The voters disagreed I am good with that. As you know I am all about elections. In my opinion the best thing that can happen to the local Republican party is to get a good old fashioned ass whooping.
Many people in Houston get me (independent reagan and obama voter) confused with my brothers (straight ticket republicans). I learned some things this election when my Attorney Edward Casanova ran for a Judicial Bench in the Republican party. Gary Polland and Steve Hotze do not return my phone calls either.
Paul
P.S. As to Oliver he has been running for office ever since I can remember. It is a marketing campaign for him. You know like the Red Light Cameras were for me. wink 
http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=45600&cpage=1#comment-87628
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