The PWCDC Implosion Continues
By Greg L | 1 February 2007 | PWCDC | 3 Comments
The exodus from the Prince William County Democratic Committee continues with the resignation of Jim Alcauskas, chair of the Coles magisterial district. At this point I’m not sure if any additional magisterial district chairs or other members of the steering committee will resign, but the loss of the chairman, 1st CD vice-chair and now a magisterial district chair would seem to indicate that the next PWCDC meeting will be pretty thinly attended and have a significant leadership vacuum to deal with. If the leadership is heading for the exits, I’m sure a significant portion of the general membership is following closely behind them.
If these resignations do not end up causing a change in the relationship between the elected democrats and the county committee, to the benefit of the committee, this will put those few democrats who hold office in the county essentially in charge of the county committee. I’m sure their argument in favor of this arrangement will be that they actually know how to win elections, have the support of the community, and represent a part of the political spectrum that voters are generally favorable to. The activists trying to wrest control of their own committee can easily counter that a party unit is not the personal fiefdom of a few elected officials and is supposed to be the place where grassroots activists have the opportunity to weigh in on the political battles in which they engage. Both sides of this argument have substantial points to make, but unfortunately neither philosophy can peacefully coexist with the other in the long term.
I suppose it’s possible for party activists who have chafed under the control of John Jenkins, Hilda Barg, Chuck Colgan and Paul Ebert to establish a new political organization. This would at least give them the opportunity to raise money, without which this faction simply won’t be a player in county politics other than as a volunteer labor pool for favored candidates. If reform from within has failed, building a powerful and competitive political organization from without might have to be the required demonstration to prove the merits of the activist’s case. When you head out the door, shouting “I’ll show you!” over your shoulder is one of the very few ways to do so with honor.
If candidates like Jeanette Rishell and Bruce Roemmelt are representative of the political center for these activists, I’d suggest the following name for a new political organization: “Prince William County Socialist Worker’s Party”. I’m pretty sure the name isn’t being used, and it would fit rather nicely. Perhaps the political convictions of these activists aren’t quite that far left, which might help to relieve county voters of the burden of trying to take Jeanette and Bruce seriously and end their political futures. If so, they might want to consider naming the organization after Skip Jackson, a democrat to whom which those of us on both sides of the aisle can easily summon respect. If they followed his philosophy, they might just get somewhere politically.
It would be much more fun, however, to have a socialist party in the county. When they would eventually split, we might even get communists to beat up on as well.
UPDATE: Today I’ve seen a huge spike in traffic coming from the GeneralAssembly and the Governor’s office on this story and the two previous resignations of Vic Bras and Matt Harrision. The DPVA and the Democratic Caucus appear to be very concerned.
UPDATE 2: A reader helps out by informing me I spelled Jim Alcauskas’ name wrong.
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It’s “fiefdom,” Greg, not “feifdom.” If your going to emulate one of my favorite images, please spell it correctly.
And are you referring to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA)?
Thanks for the catch, James. And yes, I am.
This explains a lot. Gary Friedman has secured residents in the Woodbridge District so he can run against Hilda Barg. After reading the resignation letters I can now understand the motivation behind his actions. He is trying to be the knight in shining armour to the Democratic Party. They weren’t very good to him bringing in Sharon Pandek to challenge Corey. A reliable source told me that Ernie and John Jenkins worked relentlessly at convincing her to run.
The Republican candidate in Woodbridge is Chris Royse. Chris’ background in impressive, he is smart, polished and would bring the the Board of County Supervisors strong experience in bio-technology, homeland security and emergency readiness. We need this experience and out Board. He has some strong endorsements and will be a more than formidable candidate against Gary.
Gary has to win the Democratic nomination first.