Lots of "help" from Fort Bend county Dem chair.... :-(

[tbyg52]

I figured the last one was either an idiot or a Repug plant, but this one seemed all right at one time. Sigh....

However, I need to warn you that our local Party chairman is not real encouraging to Democrats. She has decided to be open to accept applications only one day of the month-long filing period. She picked the last day. She decided to do it from 9 am until 6 pm, when most folks are working. She decided to accept applications not in the county seat but the far, far east end of the county, and she changes the specific location at what seems to be whim.

http://www.kissmybigbluebutt.com/#January_4

[sonias]

1. WTF?

Is she crazy or just lazy?

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

2. Even my local chair has been accepting applications this whole time

and was even at the courthouse all freakin' day today!

:hug: for my Fort Bend County Dem friends.

dg

[tbyg52]

7. I'd tell you if I knew.

Well, actually, I don't think it's lazy, so I guess it must be the other. Or cares more about some agenda of her own than the good of the party.

[crispini]

3. Dude, that stinks.

How on earth do you get precinct chairs, let alone candidates? I think you should get someone to run against her. Jeez!

[WolverineDG]

4. She probably didn't want anyone to file against her

why? don't know. People are funny.

:hi:

dg

[crispini]

5. Hey Wolvie!

You're right about that!

We nearly had a challenger for the county chair. This was a person that really just wanted to make a point about improvements that could be made in the party. However, this person could not get enough signatures to get on the ballot. Ha! Guess the precinct chairs were mostly pretty dug in behind the current chair. Believe me, if there had been a race, it was going to get UGLY!

How the heck are you, do you have a lot of stuff going on in your primary?

[WolverineDG]

6. Mostly local races

nothing too exciting (yet). ;)

Doing fine, trying to get my law practice off the ground. How's by you?

dg

[crispini]

8. I'm doing good!

Now that the list is final I have to figure out who-all I'm going to endorse in the primary. Pain in the ass, but I think I have to do it as a favor to my precinct people. I really have no idea how to tell who's a good judge and who's not. I think I'm going to just ask the OTHER judges -- the ones without contested primaries, haha!

Good luck on your law practice!

HEY... it's almost time to start thinking about State Convention. You KNOW I'm going to try to go this time, it's in Corpus isn't it?! Weehee!

[WolverineDG]

14. ask your attorney friends

if a bar poll is conducted, pay attention to it.

dg

[crispini]

16. Good advice, thanks! nt

[CoolOnion]

9. The would-be challenger called me...

...asking for my signature on the petition. I explained that I had already endorsed Darlene, with my name on all her material. But the person still asked for my signature on the petition! I asked for more information and gave my email address just to find out who was calling me on a Saturday afternoon.

I checked out the website; our would-be challenger and the "plan" people have some good ideas, but they need to get on a committee to work on that stuff. The party is always begging for people to get on those committees and they never have enough people sign up.

[crispini]

10. There are some people who seem to think

that the party chair can just wave her hand and make things happen, or that good ideas just automatically can "get done" out of thin air or something. Ha! Nope, if you want things to happen you can't just tell people, "Hey, the party should do this!" and expect it to get done. It takes an awful lot of butt-in-chair at meetings (not to mention downright work) to get stuff done... and with an all-volunteer army, things sort of happen when someone cowboys up and makes them happen.

I got the sense out of that website that the people involved really don't get that at a very basic level. Also that they were very new to the party and the political scene. I mean, I was kind of offended by the statement that our emphasis on training was "recent." It's not recent -- I can document pretty well that it goes back four years at least. I guess some might call that "recent" if you take a much longer view....

[CoolOnion]

11. I was offended by that & lots of other stuff on their site

This statement, from the message board (Topic: We get letters - what not to write) made me want to throw something at somebody (emphasis mine):

Outside of a couple of fundraisers, the quarterly Executive Committee meetings that usually gets a few dozen out of the supposedly 400+ precinct chairs to attend, and a holiday party, the Party itself is mostly shut down during odd-numbered years. It's great that there's been more precinct chair trainings this year, but that's so recent, it's hard to tell if it'll last.

Excuse me? "A few dozen" attend the quarterly meeting? Are they kidding? I always get there early just to find a good place to park, so I won't have to park on the street 3 blocks away!

And what's with the message board format, anyway? They claim to be all for improved IT, but they're using technology that I haven't seen since the LATE 20TH CENTURY!!

:rofl:

[crispini]

12. I don't think I've ever seen their aspiring candidate at any of the EC meetings.

And if he had attended.... well.... do you remember when there was a RUMOR that she MIGHT have a challenger.... discussed in the EC meeting about 4 or 5 months ago, I think.... and by the noise the PC's made, well, they were NOT HAPPY with the idea.

I'm kind of disappointed that he won't be running, actually, because the subsequent spate of intrigue, nasty campaigning and ensuing bloodbath would have been quite entertaining. I daresay it would recall the glory days of Getting Rid of Susan Hays, only worse. However, as fun as that nastiness can get, it ain't good for the Party and is to be avoided if possible.

[crispini]

13. Just FYI, if your county chair is not calling regular meetings,

there is a provision in the rules that allow for you to call a meeting by signature, in other words, I think 3/4 of the precinct chairs can sign a petition calling for a meeting, and then they get to have a meeting. This was used in Dallas County about 4 years ago to do an end-run around the current chair, who was basically shouted out of office at said meeting. So, it is possible to get rid of a county chair if you need to do so, but it's kind of -- um -- a contentious process. To say the least.

[tbyg52]

15. Interesting. Thank you for the info.

I'm pleased to report she has a challenger. On that one day, she was there only two hours, it seems. (Scroll down a little bit.)
http://www.kissmybigbluebutt.com/#January_6

[tbyg52]

17. The plot thickens

I don't know if anyone noticed in my last post before this one, but she *does* have an opponent. Good - I intend to work hard to get him elected.

Anyway, here's her latest shenanigans:
http://www.kissmybigbluebutt.com/#January_12

Heck of a note, a Democrat doing this to other Democrats.

[crispini]

18. She charged $2 a page for copies of the primary roster?

Sheeeit. The party gave them out for free at the filing night party in my county. That blows.

[tbyg52]

19. Tell me.

I thought this one was going to be an improvement on the last one, but apparently not.

[tbyg52]

20. Well, it gets even worse. God I hope we can get her out of there.

Well, Steve turned in his ballot application all according to law, saying he wanted his name printed on the ballot as Stephen “Steve” Brown. He might as well have been throwing coins in a fountain because the current party chairman, the same Ms. Bishop as mentioned above, gave Steve’s requested ballot name to the County Election Officer as she is required by The Texas Election Code. It is from this list that a ballot is prepared, so you would think she would take great care insuring that all the names are correct. You know, what with laws and requirements and such.

She turned in two names for Steve – Steven Brown and Stephan Brown. Neither is correct, and certainly neither is the name he requested for himself on the ballot.

The one the Election Officer picked for the ballot by using judgment that seems to be based on deep and abiding whim? Stephan Brown.

More:
http://juanitajean.com/2010/01/27/she-gives-cornpone-a-bad-name/