In lieu of a Plaintalker post today, I suggest you read David Rutherford's post on why he blogs.
It is a very touching piece having to do with mentorship and encouragement by his grandmother to write. It made me think of the unconditional support I received as a young person from my Aunt Kay, who subscribed to my high school newspaper even though she lived far away in Pennsylvania. I had a column in the paper that one year was recognized by the Scholastic Press Association as best in the state.
My own recollection of David's grandmother, Shirley Rutherford, was that she engineered a near-coup of Plainfield political leadership many years ago. As I recall, the Democratic City Committee at the time had 84 seats, a male and female for each of the 42 voting districts. (Through lack of voter turnout, the number has since dwindled to 34 districts and 68 members).
Party leader Jerry Green did not normally fill every seat, possibly because a smaller committee was easier to control. With Shirley Rutherford's organizing skills, Harold Mitchell filed a full slate. The value of having all committee seats filled was that the committee chose the party chairman at the reorganization.
Mitchell had enough votes to take the chairmanship, but made up with Green, who seldom thereafter filed less than a full slate of committee nominees.
If I have any points wrong in this story, please feel free to correct me, but that's the way I remember it. Green seemed surprised if not stunned by this political bolt from the blue and, I think, learned a lesson not to take power for granted.
--Bernice
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Was this the time that he was defeated in his own district but the County Party ruled that he did not have to be an elected member of the local committee to be its chairman?
ReplyDeleteHe lost his district seat later when Peter Janis got it, I believe by a stealth campaign.
DeleteYes, Bernice, Mitchell made up with Green even though Green portrayed Mitchell as a violent drug dealer, with his gutter style politics. He sent out literature with photographs of heroine, cocaine and guns to every resident in Plainfield and said this is what Mitchell represented. Mitchell was subjected to a grand jury investigation and would have probably been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated if it wasn't for Shirley Rutherford's advice and guidance. Yet Mitchell's loyalty and fear of Jerry Green prevented him from supporting Shirley Rutherford's grandson for the BOE. Sad.
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