Mixed signals from a local Democratic Committee Meeting.

[Pab Sungenis]

I believe most of you in here know about my previous problems with and correspondence with a New Jersey politician. Well, late last year I decided I was going to enter the primary to run against that man: State Senator Jeff van Drew.

Today was the meeting of the Cumberland County Democratic Committee, and I got up to speak about Jeff van Drew and why I was running against him. A number of committee members commented on my "bravery" and expressed their support for my positions. I did have to verbally slap down one friend who brought up the "single issue voter" matter, but we made up at the end.

I did not win the committee endorsement, but I had not expected to. Van Drew is very well entrenched and is supported by the regional machine, so I knew I wasn't going to get the party line on the ballot.

But then I had a nasty shock. This the first time I've ever gone into a political meeting with a nominating petition and left with fewer signatures than I entered with. When I went to collect my petition from the table where all the different candidates hoping to get on the primary ballot placed their petitions for supporters to sign, all of the pages of signatures I'd already collected were removed from my petition, leaving me with nothing but a pack of blank signature pages and my candidate endorsements.

Since the deadline is Monday, and there is no way I can realistically replace more than 100 signatures in a day and a half, this effectively ends my candidacy. The machine triumphs, and the "brave" GLBT candidate is lauded, but forced off the ballot by the oldest means.

[dsc]

1. that is outrageous

I wonder if equality nj could help you.

[MuseRider]

2. Sounds like Kansas.

I am sorry this happened to you.

The state parties in many of our states are simply "the machine" and refuse to do anything to stop what is going on. No courage, no hope and if you do not stick to the script that is as bland and no change as possible you are out.

Here they ask gay candidates and those who work for them to shut up about it and they never support them. They don't even support good candidates who are to the left of the Republicans. We had a great candidate, well not totally great but one that was ready, able and willing to fight Brownback and was loaded for bear to expose him and he got little to no support. Very few ads were run, very little publicity. He was simply not supported. Might have been messy?

Single issue voter huh? Wow.

[bvar22]

3. Sounds like Anywhere, USA.

To find out what "Entrenched Interests" really means,
try entering a Democratic Primary as a "grass roots" candidate,
even in a stat as Liberal as Minnesota.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=160&topic_id=14207



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
Lofty Rhetoric, Broken Promises, and Whiny Excuses mean NOTHING now.
"By their WORKS you will know them,"
and by their WORKS they will be judged.

[Scottybeamer70]

4. and I bet

not a single person saw a thing..........nope.......not one
These people really have no shame anymore ( not that they ever did ), but they are becoming so outright blatant
about everything now. It's just an "in your face" attitude, and they really don't care.
I'm sorry for your experience, but I'm not the least bit surprised. Democrats, eh? Maybe we are too worried
about the wrong party!

[The Philosopher]

5. Is there

anyone you can file a complaint to? I imagine you don't have records, but maybe an official complaint will get someone to admit, "So and so took them."

That really sucks that happened to you. But take it as encouragement: you're dangerous enough to them to be dealt with! Don't let them get you down.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. The Party Committees are self-policing.

The county Chairman is looking into it, although he's sure it's "innocent" and they "got scooped up" with someone else's files. Sure.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. You need publicity. If you can get it.....

....it will sting the bastards like a motherbleeper.

Not easy. The evildoers own everything.

Nonetheless, the GS Equality idea floated above is good place to start. Then the state party ( or whatever organized, specifically progressive elements there are within the NJ state party).



BTW, your link is one of the best written, most graphic and most communicative cases for full marriage equality that I've ever seen.

[viol8ion]

9. County Chairman

Don't trust the county chairman any further than you can throw him - this sounds just like a tactic that he would endorse. More on chairman Magazzu at MagazzuWatch.com.

[The Philosopher]

10. Yeah, that's code talk

His response should've never been that it was "innocent," but that he'll find those signatures and apologize to you. If someone did scoop them up, then that person should still have them and offer them up.

I'd get in touch with local LGBT news sources, then state sources, then national ones. Contact the editors, let them know what's going on. If a story can get in the news, that can be a powerful tool.

Are you supported by any organizations, like the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund?

[ruggerson]

8. Who covers NJ local politics for the NY Times?

I'd pick up the phone and call that reporter first thing tomorrow AM.

[BillStein]

12. Might be better

to contact the Atlantic City Press or the Philadelphia papers... this is far south NJ.

Former Cape May County resident here-

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. Run again, photocopy the pages before submitting them

And before you do that, check in the trash cans behind the building.

[Pab Sungenis]

13. For anyone who wants to follow along with this

I made a post to my blog at http://cnx.com about it and where I go from here. There have been some new developments, and since this could very quickly drift into an area verboten here on DU, I'm going to stop discussing it here for now.

Thank you all for your love and support.

[Ian David]

14. Don't give-up just yet. n/t

[Ian David]

15. Call into the Stephanie Miller Show, Thom Hartmann Show, and Ed Schultz show today...

... and ask them if you can make a plea for people to come give you their signatures somewhere.


Stephanie Miller 1-800-STEPH-12
www.StephanieMiller.com


Thom Hartmann 1-866-987-THOM
http://www.thomhartmann.com/radio


Ed Schultz 1-877-934-6833
http://wegoted.com/about/contact/

Randi Rhodes 1-866-87-RANDI
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/pages/contact.html

Maybe also fire off an email to them first.

[Ian David]

16. Isn't it a federal crime to steal election documents? n/t

[stevenleser]

17. I wish I had seen this. I would have taken the NJ Transit down on Saturday to help get signatures...

when you run again, let me know.

[stevenleser]

18. One thing I would say to every LGBT Democrat is to make sure there is a Stonewall Caucus in Your

County. Every state should be pushing their local County Democratic Executive Committees to form Stonewall Caucuses in their county. If one doesnt exist, start one. The goal should be that the DEC of every county in every state has a strong Stonewall Caucus making sure that the county DEC is taking LGBT issues seriously.