Donkey
Tails
By Maury Goodman
December 2005
For the "Warrenville
Today"
Newspaper
Precinct Committeeman
Elections
At the March 21 primary, there will be elections
for
precinct committeeman. A precinct
committeeman serves a two year term. The
responsibility of the precinct committeeman is to serve on the
executive
committee of the County party, but that just meets once every two years
to elect
a party chairman. Committeemen also
participate in their Township Democratic Organizations.
But the main responsibility of most
committeemen is to provide an information conduit between the party and
the
voters, both by providing election materials to the voters before
primaries and
elections, and by bringing the views of the voters back to the party
though
township and county meetings. There is
certainly a wide variety of levels of activity among precinct
committeemen. While not a prestigious
position, it is the backbone of the party which helps keep Democracy
working in
the United States.
There is hardly ever a contested race for precinct
committeeman and many precincts do not have any candidates on the
ballot. In such a case, someone could wage
a write-in
campaign, but that is difficult because you have to declare your
candidacy at
the election commission and get at least ten write-in votes. It is much
easier to pass a petition, where
again you only need the signatures of ten registered voters. The
deadline for turning in petitions this
year will be December 19 2005.
After the primary, if a precinct has no elected
committeeman, one can be appointed by the County party chairman upon
the
recommendation of the Township party chairman.
Winfield Township
has historically had a good record of appointing a full slate of
committeemen. The Committeeman
coordinator in Winfield Township
is currently Lee Fazoli.
Web Pages serving the
Democratic Party in Warrenville and DuPage County
Political Parties in Illinois
are organized by county and township.
Warrenville residents are mostly in Winfield
Township, but those south of
Townline Road are
in Naperville Township.
Each organization maintains a web page, but
there is some coordination. The hub is
the web page of the Democratic Party of DuPage County, which can be
found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/
There are over 200 pages of information, such
as records, plans, structure, contact information and newsletters.
While it is a challenge to keep such a site
fresh and up-to-date, a continuous effort has been made to do so since
its
inception in 1994. The Winfield
Township Democratic Organization maintains a web site which can be
accessed at http://www.winfield.dupagedemocrats.org/.
It contains information about meetings,
events, Township Officers, etc. The
Naperville Township Democratic Organization maintains it web site which
can be
accessed at http://www.naperville.dupagedemocrats.org/
This is more of a blog format, which
means that members contribute random thoughts which appear on the front
page. Information about their events can
sometimes be obtained, but it is harder to navigate.
You’ll always find some interesting views
there, of course.
State Treasurer Candidate
Democrats hold all state offices except State
Treasurer.
Those candidates are running for reelection in 2006. A
Democratic
candidate for State Treasurer is Knox
County State’s
Attorney Paul Mangieri, At the October 2, 2005 meeting of the State Central
Committee in Springfield,
he received the unanimous endorsement for slating as the Party’s
candidate for state treasurer. He said he plans to continue
in the
mold of other downstaters who served with distinction as state
treasurer, such
as Adlai Stevenson, Alan Dixon, and James Donnewald. Upon graduating
from St. Louis law school
in 1984, Paul volunteered for active
duty with the United States Navy serving as a Judge Advocate General
Corps
officer (JAG) from 1984 to 1987. While in the Navy, Paul was
stationed on
board the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. Paul saw deployment overseas
to the Mediterranean Sea and in 1986 he and his
shipmates participated in one of America’s
first military actions against terrorism with the bombing of Libya
for its international terrorist acts. For this action, Paul’s ship
received the
Presidential Unit Citation. During that same time, for his
individual
achievements, Paul was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy
Achievement
Medal Navy Expeditionary Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Following military service, Paul returned to the Abingdon/Galesburg
area. Paul
was engaged in the private practice of law from 1988 to 1996, where he
specialized in trial litigation. In 1996, Paul was elected Knox
County’s State’s Attorney.
Duties of the State Treasurer
A reader pointed out that it would be helpful to
describe
the responsibilities of our elected officials. Some offices are a
bit
obscure. The Treasurer is the State's banker. He or she is
responsible
for the safekeeping of taxpayers' money, and also invests that money to
maximize the State's financial resources. As stated in the
Illinois
Constitution, "The Treasurer, in accordance with law, shall be
responsible
for the safekeeping and investment of monies and securities deposited
with him
[her], and for their disbursement upon order of the Comptroller."
The Comptroller and the Auditor are different state offices related to
finance.
Young
Democrats Hear Hillary
On
Saturday, December 3, the American Democracy Institute held its Midwest
Regional Summit for youth leaders in Chicago. Roosevelt University's historic Auditorium Theatre hosted the
standing-room-only crowd of young people, including many activists,
local
volunteers and students. All of them came out early on a Saturday
morning
to demonstrate that young American progressives want their voices heard
in the
policital system and are searching for ways to make a difference.
Speakers at the Summit included Illinois Governor Rod Blagojovitch and
William
McNary, president of USAction, and the keynote address was given by New
York
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton's speech, which covered a wide array of topics,
condemned
the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan and included an appeal for Congress to
take
action.
Governor
Blagojovitch explained his attempt to pass a ban on violent and
sexually
explicit video games. William
McNary had the crowd on its feet as he
emphasized the huge potential energy and power of the voices of our
youth, reminding us that youth movements in Germany tore down the Berlin Wall, in South Africa brought down apartheid and in the 60s in America fought segregation.
Anyone interested in helping to maintain a young Democrats
movement in DuPage County should contact
youngdemocrats@dupagedemocrats.org
Upcoming Events
Many events of interest to Warrenville and DuPage
County
Democrats can be found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/dupagenews.html
Send information about events that aren’t
listed to webmaster@dupagedemocrats.org
Feedback
It is welcomed and appreciated
maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org