Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 7/23/09

The Ulysses Democratic Committee met Thursday evening at the Ulysses Town Hall. I am a member. I often record public events such as Town and Village Board meetings and post them here. I recorded the first half of this meeting, in this public building, and then was told that I must turn off my recorder, and delete the file. I did. When I got home, I looked on the web and found that the Democratic National Committee meetings are covered on CSPAN. It seems to me that we should take our cue from the DNC, and not the Chicago political machine that selected candidates in smoke filled rooms (at least they had the decency not to hold secret meetings in public buildings) I have been advocating for increased public access to our local government for several years. I do not consider the UDC meetings to be private. They are part of the political process and should be open.

It seems to me that there is a general feeling within the committee, that congeniality is more important than political idealogy. I disagree. Political differences are too important to be ignored, for fear of seeming intemperate. The future of our town is at stake. Where hydrofracking is concerned, the stakes are very high. Where our ambulance service is concerned, lives are at stake. This desire for congeniality is, I suppose, the reason that they asked me to delete the file. Some present, expressed the sentiment that our present Town Clerk has not always done the best possible job. (We have a terrific Democratic Candidate for Town Clerk this year - Erika Naylor.) I guess no one wanted to be on record speaking against Marsha Georgia, which is understandable, but politics is hardball, and elected positions periodically come up for reelection, at which time it is every citizens responsibility to consider the qualifications and past record of those seeking office. A hard nosed objective examination of candidates is necessary, even if it hurts someone's feelings. The UDC is not a social club.

We have some terrific progressive Democratic candidates. Lucia Tyler is an incumbent running for reelection. Roxanne Marino is hopefully going to run for an open seat on the Town Board. And Erika Naylor will most likely run to unseat Marsha Georgia for Town Clerk. Chris Thomas (currently on the Village Board, and seeking the Democratic nomination for Town Supervisor) is not a progressive Democrat. It is my contention that he is not a real Democrat at all. I felt it was my responsibility as a real Democrat to speak up. The party faithful at the last UDC meeting did not want to hear it. I have tried over the last month, to convince some real Democrats, to oppose Chris Thomas for the supervisor spot, but none of them have them have been willing to do so. So I have decided to do it myself. I am going to ask for the Democratic nomination at the caucus on August 31st. This is a long shot. Chris has the advantage of having been on the Village Board. So, I approached the Tompkins County Green Party and asked for their endorsement, so that I could be on the ballot in November, regardless of the result of the caucus. They have now endorsed me, and I will now begin collecting the signatures that the Board of Elections requires, in order to appear on the ballot.