Donkey Tails
 By Maury Goodman
  November 2007
 For the "Warrenville Today" Newspaper


 

Democratic Candidates on the Ballot in DuPage County

The filing period has now ended, and the candidates for office in the February 8 2008 primary are now known.  In Warrenville, Dirk Enger will be on the ballot for County Board in District 6.  There will be 2 Democratic candidates for Congress in Congressional District 6, as well as 4 in CD 14 and 1 in CD 13.  Senator Durbin is running for reelection to the U.S. Senate, and there will be 11 names on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for President.  Between the 3 Congressional Districts in the Warrenville area, there are 47 candidates for delegate to the Democratic Convention.

 

Democratic Committeemen Candidates in DuPage County

In each precinct, there is a Democratic Committeeman and a Republican Committeeman.  In many precints, those jobs sit empty.  The number of Democrats who filed as precinct committeeman candidates took a big jump this year,   In DuPage County there were 117 Democratic committeeman candidates in 2006 compared to 237 this year, which is 37% of precincts.  In Winfield Township, the number went from 9 to 13 out of 35.  In Naperville Township the number rose from 6 to 25 out of 60 precincts.  After the election, many precincts get appointed precinct committeemen. 

 

Voting in the Primary

I often get asked how to register as a Democrat.  The answer is simple – you don’t have to do anything.  Every registered voter is eligible to vote in the February 2008 primary.  When you sign in, you will be asked if you want a Democratic or Republican ballot.  If there are any referenda, you will also be offered the opportunity to take a non-partisan ballot, which would have the referenda on it, but nothing else.  If you took a Republican ballot in 2006, you can take a Democratic one in 2008, and vice-versa.  This time you can also take a Green Party ballot, but I don’t think there will be any candidates for anything.

 

Dick Durbin sponsors cybercrime bill

The Leahy/Specter/Durbin cybercrime bill will help us expand and strengthen existing identity theft laws to keep up with the ingenuity of today's identity thieves.  It will also help victims of identity theft receive full restitution -- not only compensating them for their direct losses but also for the loss of time and money spent restoring their credit. 

But identity thieves don't just target individuals... cyber criminals often try to manipulate American businesses as well.  That's why the legislation would also expand the coverage of federal computer fraud laws to small businesses and corporations.   The Senate Judiciary Committee has already approved this critical legislation. Now they are working to build the support needed to pass the bill in the full Senate and move it on to the House of Representatives for action.  Already, the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007 has widespread support, including from the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, federal prosecutors and investigators who specialize in identity theft cases, business groups, and consumer organizations. 

 

Rob Bisceglie elected chairman of DuPage County Democratic Party

At a special meeting of the Democratic Party Central Committee, Rob Bisceglie was elected the party chairman.   With a degree in political science, he had a job in Washington trying to help foster democracies in countries around the world.  He noted first hand that bad government can have a bad effect on people’s lives, while good government can have a good effect on people’s lives.  He is committed to running strong campaigns for good democratic candidates in DuPage County

 

Jon Myers hired as part-time political director

Our former political director had the job just a few months, and has moved on to the private sector.  Jon Myers is the new political director of the Democratic Party of DuPage County.  He has responsibilities for various documents and volunteer coordination.  If you would like to volunteer at the office in Lombard, you can contact him.  His email is myers@dupagedemocrats.org

 

The Warrenville Curmudgeon has failed us (so far)

I enjoy reading the Warrenville Curmudgeon, even when I don’t agree with her, such as when she complained about Spanish in the paper.  And I have so far resisted writing about issues that aren’t directly related to the Democratic Party as it fits in to local, state and national politics.  But I make an exception.  The addition of television ads at gas station pumps makes life worse.   I started seeing them at Shell stations about a year ago.  I pretty much stopped going to Shell stations about a year ago.  The Shell in Warrenville put in these monstrosities more recently.  Last week for the first time, I saw the same thing at another brand gas station. I drove in and drove right back out again.  You can certainly choose not to look at them, but there is no way not to listen to them, and they are obnoxious to the point of being maddening. This is the sort of thing where the Warrenville Curmudgeon should be leading the complaints, and her failure to so is worthy of scorn.  But Shell deserves much much more heaps of scorn.  I would hope that a large fraction of the consuming public would just refuse to go to gas stations where they have these televisions.  Curmugeon?



Feedback

It is welcomed and appreciated maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org