| This is a version of posting I wrote last year on the Democracy for America, Blog For America. It explains how I first got involved in politics.
One vote. That's sometimes all it comes down to. One vote. I learned quite a bit this year. I began my political journey three years ago in June of 2003 because I thought my vote didn't matter at all. Now I know better. My vote does matter. I am a Bergen County Democratic Committee member.
June 2003, I set out to support Howard Dean, a man I long admired from as far back as a decade ago when I was sitting in my apartment - jobless and poor after a devastating 10 day hospital stay. I heard this man speaking on CSPAN to a Congressional Committee about health care - he had specifics and ideas they were trying in Vermont. Ten years later after his ideas had proven successful - he was actually running for President. A man I had told people ten years before that should be President was actually running. How often does that happen?
It was exactly because our Primary was in June that I felt compelled to get off the couch and do something in the 2004 election. I knew my vote didn't count, but there were folks in other states that needed to be told - in person - that their vote DID matter. Folks in Iowa, New Hampshire, and in states where the primary is held early. You know - the people who decide who the rest of us will rubber stamp from our party. I went to my first meetup around early June of 2003 and heard of a bus trip to NH and VT to canvass and to be present when Dean announced his candidacy. That bus trip turned into a more of a three car caravan, but it changed my life. Less than a dozen of us made it to Manchester, NH from NJ, including Byron Arneo, Bertin Lefkovic, and Mitch Manzella, but we made it. I had my first experience canvassing and was hooked. Our group decided to stop by a lakeside cabin in VT the night before Dean's announcement. Our little group grew closer. We had only all met on this trip. We didn't know each other before, but I will never forget what a fun impromptu camping trip we had. The next day while wondering around Burlington waiting for the announcement to start, our little group ran into not only a reporter for NPR, but the news crew for ABC World News Tonite. The young students in our troop were well spoken and captured the hearts of the crew who showed the clip on the news that night. Of our little group, one is running for office this year, another is working now for Frank Pallone, and most of us run into each other still at political events. After that I attended regular meetups, and even drove up to NH on Primary day and stood in the 15 degree weather sporting a Howard Dean sign. One of the meetups, though - at the Bergen County Children's Museum, run by Dr. Anne Summers, I remember especially well.
It was the first time I met Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg. I suppose most people don't forget first meeting Loretta. Being completely new to politics in general I was surprised to learn how people are actually elected to office in NJ. I knew I had a vote in the Primary and in November, but how do candidates get their names on the ballot? Loretta filled us in. The County Committee, she told us, decides who gets to be on the ballot - everyone from dogcatcher to governor. Wow, what an important committee. How can it be that most voters in Bergen County don't know who these people are and what they do? Well, I filed away that little piece of information for further use.
When Howard Dean dropped out of the race - I went to the New School in Manhattan to hear him speak about the new direction for the party. I then went to New Brunswick for the statewide caucus of Dean supporters to talk about what to do next. We decided to focus on electing progressive candidates we liked and even running for office ourselves. But the key to Dean supporters which many politicians found confounding was a desire to vote for candidates who were progressive and NOT to just throw our weight behind candidates just because they had a "D" after their names.
I decided to support Anne Wolfe in the Primary after hearing her speak at a Democracy for America meetup in Glen Rock and after hearing from Congressman Frank Pallone that Democrats are regularly shut out of meetings in the House of Representatives - making "Representative" a relative term.
In my support of Anne Wolfe, whom I had met at a Dean Meetup, I knew I had to vote in the primary. There were so few people there that day that we literally woke up the poll workers. That is how primaries are here in Bergen County. I dragged Eric Nelsen with me. Before entering the Tenafly Middle School, Eric stopped to pick up the American flag post which had fallen in the wind. It seemed to be a sign for what we were about to do. While in the booth, I noticed that in the space for county committee woman and county committee man - there was no name. How could that be? We don't have anyone representing us for this really important position? I decided to write myself in. I didn't have time to ask Eric but I wrote him in too. What were the odds?
Walking back from the Middle School, I explained what took me so long in the booth. Eric felt bad that he didn't write me in too and said "Wouldn't that be funny if we got elected based on your one vote?"
Funny little thing happened the next day. Eric and I received letters stating that we indeed had been "elected". We now represent the 7th District in the Borough of Tenafly. By just one vote. I later got the chance to tell Howard Dean in person about our "win". He gave me a high five.
However, being on the county committee was not what Eric and I expected. Looking back, we should have been given a rubber stamp as a gift when we entered the Bergen County Democratic Committee. That is how it seemed at our first real meeting. Not one real peep of dissent was heard - everyone seemed to be in lock step. When Eric and I went to our first "convention" where I was hoping to have the chance to choose between Codey and Corzine - two excellent choices I was excited about - I was dismayed to find the choice had already been made. We only had one choice - it seemed all the way down the ticket. Was I dreaming, or was I in the old Soviet Union, where you get to vote but only one guy is on the ballot? That upset me.
When we county committee folks were told we had an actual choice between several qualified candidates when Byron Baer retired, we were moved to immediate action. The fact that our County Chairman, Mr. Ferriero, did not want us to have a choice because it would be "divisive" is unfortunate. What are we here for? I became a Democrat because - look at us - we are diverse and we DON'T walk in lockstep with a dictatorial leader. The strength of the Democratic party is in our diversity - our empathy - our generosity - our VISION.
And so I went from an ordinary citizen in 2003 to someone who had Candidate Ken Zisa stop by my home the night before a special election to ask for my support. In person. I appreciated the fact that Mr. Zisa made the effort to seek my support in that way and felt glad I had two great candidates to choose from. Mr. Zisa may have been a fine candidate and it is a shame that Mr. Ferriero's influence kept Mr. Zisa from being seen as simply a qualified candidate for office. Because some county committee people could not be sure about how Mr. Zisa would vote as a senator and that he would not be beholden to Mr. Ferriero for his election, Mr. Zisa may have lost votes.
That said. I voted for Assemblywoman Weinberg because I knew her record and felt excited about sending her to the State Senate. I was voting FOR Loretta instead of against Mr. Zisa. Many committee members expressed the same thoughts to me. They were voting for Loretta although they liked Mr. Zisa also.
The problem here is one of perception and philosophy. The perception of our County Chairman is that it is dangerous to give the county committee members an actual choice. This perception is the direct result of the philosophy that we must remain united to win against a Republican opponent in a general election.
That is unfortunate. I am a county committee woman because I believed in the philosophy of Howard Dean that we have the power to change our government and that in a democracy, power comes from the grassroots up. Tenafly is a town that boasts Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a former resident, a town that does not discriminate against women in office, a town that values its historic districts and the environment, a town where education is a top priority, a town that cares deeply about healthcare and issues often viewed as "women's issues". The very issues Loretta Weinberg cares about. It really was no surprise that Tenafly committee members chose to vote for Loretta Weinberg.
It was my support - my one vote - for Senator Loretta Weinberg that caused me to be challenged to vote for Valerie Huttle in the County Committee election to fill Loretta's vacated Assembly seat and cost me the ability to run for re-election in the same column as the Bergen County Democrats in the primary Tuesday June 6 - even though I was the incumbent in that position. And I would do everything again the same way even though it was difficult. Because in the end, it was the education of the public, the contributions of a free press, our hard work and contact with our constituents that allowed the incumbent committee people in Tenafly to retain their seats. We all won that night.
One vote. Yours. It really does matter. |
