Just got back from my County Party Exec meeting and I AM PISSED!!!

And no it's not because Will Pitt was slutting around in that Matchmaker thread while I was gone. ;)

This should have been a fun meeting. I was duly and officially confirmed as a precinct chair tonight. GO ME!

But at the end of the meeting something happened that PISSED ME OFF! After we had finished all the scheduled business there was time set aside for Q&A. Well, someone got up and asked whether we as an Executive Committee ought to consider passing a resolution on black box voting. He barely got 2 sentences out before the asshole sitting next to me made a motion to adjourn. Someone seconded it. People said "aye" and we were outta there.

I couldn't fucking believe it. I'm waiting for a call back from a friend who is an expert on our State's Party rules to find out if that violated the letter of the rules (I don't think it did). But it sure as hell felt like it violated the spirit of what our Party is supposed to be about.

The truly annoying part was the guy sitting next to me. He made little snide comments all through the meeting about how we needed to hurry up so he could go home. I really wish I had stood up and just yelled what I really wanted to at him. "If you can't spend an hour and a half on this once every month then MAYBE YOU SHOULD FUCKING QUIT!!! No one is making you be here ASSHAT!!!"

ARGH!!!!!! Made me nuts.

to think that people like that are trolls planted by the opposition. God knows there are enough of them here at DU and other liberal sites, and I've known some of them to have infiltrated our own county organizations. That's something to consider.

Very clean cut.

What pissed me off was that so many people went along with him and voted to adjourn. I wish I knew the rules a little better so I could have stopped it from happening. I'll have that fixed by next meeting.

At least I was able to let the guy know that the issue of black box voting will be discussed at the State convention next month. I know it will because I'm a member of the Progressive Populist Caucus and we're gonna push it through. :)

meeting, instead of having it get buried in Q&A time. ???

the county chair is the one who runs the Executive Committee meetings.

unless it's just madness and everyone goes "ah!". A resolution about BBV seems pertinent to a political committee, to me....at least a discussion. Good luck velma, pinto.

Make sure BBV is item #1 under New Business at the next meeting. Rub it in that jerk's face.

Dirk

but I may have a connection with someone in the county Party who does. I'm in the Progressive Populist Caucus with someone who has some pull here in Austin. I may talk to him at the State convention next month about getting it on our local agenda. It won't make a difference on the State level at that point but it will still send a message to our local Democratic elected officials.

It may have been something as simple as people thought it was getting late.

made the motion to adjourn. It was only about 7:20. The meeting was scheduled to run from 6:00 to 7:15. If he doesn't have time to spend on important issues at the Exec meeting then he should either leave quietly when he's had his fill...or not bother to come in the first place. Same with the people who voted "aye" to adjourn.

I will DEFINITELY be doing my best to get it on the agenda next time.

being steamed you couldn't fit everything in this once, or talking about an issue that matters to you?

Just bring it up next time. Plan for the long haul. BBV will be there. Trust me; it's not going anywhere.

It wasn't a matter of not being able to fit everything in. If they were so freakin' concerned about that then we wouldn't have started 10 minutes late.

I'm mad because this jerk sitting next to me acted like he couldn't be bothered. I don't even know why he showed up if all he was going to do was complain about wanting to go home. I'm mad because enough people voted to adjourn who also couldn't be bothered to take a few more minutes to talk about something important in our last meeting before the State convention. If this is the level of committment they have...then I'm not impressed and I'm frankly concerned about how useful any of them are going to be during the election season.

Mostly I'm just hacked off because of the message it sent. It seemed to me to be antithetical to the ideals of our Party to shut the man down without letting him speak.

on edit: I know you're right though...gotta use this anger to prod me into doing something about it at the next meeting. :)

1. You're female, he's not. Could that be part of it? Some men are pretty uncomfortable when women get any influence or power.
2. Is he "old guard" and you're "new guard"? Or was the questioner "new guard"? I'm finding that we have a lot of "old guard" who just fight anything new. And they fight it really hard! I'm 3 years into it here and making progress but there are days I wish we had some dynamite.
3. Is the questioner perceived as a "problem person". Is the "BBV" concept something that's been discussed a lot but no agreement reached?

Just some things to think about.

I know what you mean about "shutting down" a meeting like that. Our previous chair did that once in order to slide something through and I let him know I was unhappy. I also got other people who were angry about it to sign a letter to him saying that we did not want business conducted that way.

Has it hurt? Who knows, but I won't participate in that kind of thing when people are asking to participate.

I don't know how to address number 1. I really didn't have anything to do with what happened tonight. I was an innocent bystander. But I WILL have something to do with it next time. :evilgrin:

I don't really know about 2 and 3 either. This was my first meeting so I don't know if the guy who brought BBV up is "new" or a long-time "trouble maker" or what.

I can't fathom that BBV would be a seneitive subject given that the BBV resolution passed unanimously at out County Party Convention last month...but who knows. :shrug:

I'm gonna have to talk to people about how the felt about the meeting ending like it did. See if there's support for raising a little hell about it.

There are a number of ways to push consideration of this issue. First of all, familiarize yourself intimately with whatever parliamentary procedure rulebook the group follows. Just because a motion to adjourn has been made and seconded doesn't mean that you can't delay the vote by claiming your right to speak in opposition to the motion. Secondly, organize informally with the person who tried to introduce the topic and any other like-minded members to plan how to get this topic on the front burner. Thirdly, never be tentative or apologetic. What drives me crazy are people who are afraid to agressively push their issue. You recognize them by phrases like, "I was just wondering. . . ."; "Do you think maybe we should. . . . ." ; "Is anyone else interested in. . . . ";

Be organized; be forceful, do some research ahead of time and have your ducks in a row. Remember Professor Harold Hill. He didn't just say, would any of you parents like to fork out a big chunk of change on a music instrument and lessons? He hit them with all the warning signs in "We Got Trouble, right here in River City." One thing you could do is an overview of the problem, attaching clippings of what other states are doing (like cancelling contracts; demanding modifications to provide a paper trail; etc.)and why. While one person gets up to address the group to raise this issue, whether under "new business" or at the final question of whether there is any more business, another person can be handing out copies of the materials you will be referring to in your coments. People will immediately start reading what you've handed them. When you have obviously carefully prepared to raise this issue, it is likely they will give you the courtesy of listening to you. Make a short forceful statement that without a tamper-proof voting system, all the other work your group is doing will be wasted. Then TELL them (not ask them) what you want them to do - such as create an ad hoc subcomittee to consider what actions your group may take, and report back to the whole group at a time certain. Offer to serve on or chair the subcommittee.

Some 25 years ago I was elected president of a large and contentious women's group. They could waste an entire meeting arguing just for the power trip of arguing. However, between letting it be known I had just taken a university course on parliamentary procedure, and all the ways I learned to control
the meeting procedurally, I had the group hitting on all cylinders and getting a lot of good stuff done.
I can't think of anything more important for our country that you could work on. However, I have seen a lot of committee men and women in my county who are all about their little bit of power and not at all about what they need to do for their party and candidates. Best of luck to you!

I've got my copy of the State Party rules open and when I'm done it's on the Roberts' Rules of Order.