One path to candidacy is to become a loyal campaign worker for the Regular Democratic Organization. You get to see close up the mechanisms of a campaign and the local organization gets to know you. Formally or informally, you may be vetted by what you bring to the party, be it expertise, money, personal appeal or willingness to work long hours. The time may come when you are tapped to run for office.
Now, suppose after all that experience you decide to side with the New Democrats. Not only do you become anathema to the RDOs, you leave behind a kind of dossier of your strengths, weaknesses and personal information. You may have inadvertently given up your right to remain silent and now that you have committed the crime of thinking for yourself, anything you said in headquarters may be embroidered or distorted and will definitely be used against you.
Such seems to be the case with one candidate whose personal situation was interpreted in an extremely negative way by the party chairman and then used as a campaign attack of the lowest kind. After seeing this, how many citizens would want to enter politics and put themselves in the way of such attacks?
The Regular Democrat/New Democrat dialectic is very complicated. People have moved back and forth between the two titles and technically, a New Democrat primary winner becomes the RDO’s party choice on the ballot. Camaraderie and support are supposed to ensue. Such has been the scenario in several recent primary contests. So why does the “New Democrat” appellation become so heraldic to individuals that they keep it at any cost? You would have to ask each New Democrat who has taken that path, but my guess is that it is a banner that some simply can’t exchange for the flag of blood-sport politics.
On Monday, the party chairman will be given another two years to lead, and potential candidates for important upcoming races will face the ongoing dilemma of trying to work with the Regular Democratic Organization or finding another way to public service. The ugliness of 2011 will not wash away easily for those who try to work with the chairman. He may not have just tried to salt the fields of his enemy this time; he may have salted his own turf with unforgettable meanness.
--Bernice
If people in this town do not vote for Joan van Pelt, they are conding the behaviour of a souless man with no conscience.
ReplyDeleteI am constantly amused at how most people in Plainfield talk about their church and being Christian, and condone and VOTE for such a person. Jerry is not the only person who will have to answer for their actions to the Creator.
Bernice,
ReplyDelete"New Democrats for Plainfield" is a slogan that came about right after Al McWilliams's re-election in 2001. The idea was to run Democrats in the primary so as to offer residents a choice. We have used that slogan (which is also the name of our club) since 2002. What is disturbing is that Assemblyman Green continues to cast us as "Republicans" because we choose to run. Plainfield voters need to remember that Jerry Green supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary in 2008--he did NOT support Barack Obama. No one called him a "Republican" for that, so why would he call us that? Also in that year, he supported Rob Andrews for Senate over the RDO's choice of Frank Lautenberg. No one called him a Republican then, either. So why is it that he wants to call New Democrats (many of us are actually progressives, and all of us are life-long Democrats) Republicans? It casts our local party in a bad light, and should give the candidates who ran and won under the RDO banner pause. I believe they are good people who want to help our party--with leadership of the type Jerry Green offers, though, I know they are embarrassed and upset over what he did to Dee.
Rebecca
Jerry Green is so divisive and dirty that he does need to go. I know I'm a democrat who will vote for whoever runs against him in November. I can't condone Green's unethical, petty behavior, even though it is the norm for New Jersey democrats. That's too bad, because the voters are the ones who get taken to the cleaners and we're paying them to do it. Shame on us if Jerry gets elected again.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that those who fall in line like lemmings to the RDO do not realize that the New Democrats for Planfield actually want to unite this city and move it forward.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone who voted for Jerry tell me what Jerry, the RDO, or this administration has done to move this city forward?
What have the New Democrats done? In the past few years, the one big ticket item that they have done for Plainfield is keep your taxes lower than the administration wanted. Two years ago, the mayor wanted to raise your taxes by 10% - the New Dems were able to reduce that percentage to somewhere around 7%. The same happened last year.
So, the bottom line is that if the New Democrats had not been on the council, your taxes would be about 5-10% more than they are today. I would say that is positive for Plainfielders.
It is a shame that those who fall in line like lemmings to the New Democrats do not realize that the RDO for Planfield actually want to unite this city and move it forward.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone who voted for New emocrats tell me what the New democrats, or this administration has done to move this city forward?
What have the RDO done? In the past few years, the one big ticket item that they have done for Plainfield is keep your taxes lower than the Council wanted. Two years ago, the mayor wanted to raise your taxes by 10% - the New Dems canned Police and Firemen but kept their pet projects like Bi-lingual Day Care and the library. The same happened last year.
So, the bottom line is that if the RDO had been on the council, you would have had more Police and Firemen than they are today. I would say that would have been positive for Plainfielders.
Gee ..... maybe the Republicans are not so bad after reading what Democratics - wheter your call themselves new, old, or unleaded - do to each other.
ReplyDelete