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What's Going on with the Democratic Party?
Posted
7-21-2000
What is going on with the Westmoreland County Democratic Party? Disaffected
Dems, a fired solicitor, disgruntled legislators, is this a new phenomenon?
Not really! Our party always had some infighting, and while this latest
round of news seems juicy, it isn’t really anything new.
For years, groups within the
Democrat Party have expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership. When
Dante Bertani was chairman, he had to tread the fine line between the Vidmer
and Simon factions and made no one happy by playing it down the middle. Of
course, each faction thought he was favoring the other.
During Rudy Brnilovich’s
tenure, it appeared to outsiders that he was resistant to newcomers and new
ideas. After Ted Simon became chairman, people complained that he did
nothing and also resisted the young people’s entrance into the party
operation. So the dissatisfaction with Chairman Ken Burkley is nothing new.
In fact, it may be the nature of the position. It is impossible to satisfy
everyone or maybe anyone.
I’m not sure of the
intentions of the disaffected group. Organizing a movement within the party
is tough, since the county party is so spread out and rarely gets together.
Are they forming a new club? There are a few democratic clubs in operation
but they have limited resources and don’t publicly endorse candidates during
primary elections. The clubs serve more as opportunities to socialize,
rather than vehicles to affect elections. What is the agenda of the group?
Is it to express dissatisfaction? If that is the case, they can get in line.
If they’re not going to do anything beside grumble, no one will pay
attention.
The whole affair with former
solicitor Terry Jordan was unfortunate. Terry has been my campaign chairman
for years and will continue to be my chairman. There really are few people
that have worked so tirelessly for Democratic candidates at all levels. His
representation of a Republican candidate against a Republican voter’s legal
challenge did create unneeded controversy because of his party position.
But, that is Terry. He was asked to help a client and he did it.
Why Terry’s action stirred
such uproar from some legislators is interesting. I think part of it has to
do with their belief that no one should run against them. I have little
sympathy for that attitude because by nature, politics is competitive. If
you don’t want competition, get another job. By pressuring Chairman Burkley
over the past five months, they’ve created even more dissention within the
party. Well, they got want they wanted with Terry out. I’m waiting to see
what contributions are made by the guys who vowed to not do anything for the
party as long as Terry was solicitor.
The party is very different
than twenty or thirty years ago. In those days, the party raised money,
supported candidates, and very much controlled the process. I don’t expect
or want it to ever be that way again. But for it to even carry on its most
basic functions, it must have money. That money isn’t coming from the
committee people, so it must come from officeholders and candidates. At the
local level, people that contribute to officeholders don’t have great
interest in giving to the county party. When individual officeholders don’t
contribute, it is unfair to those that do. When they attach strings to their
contribution is creates nothing but hard feelings.
I contributed in the years
that the party leaders weren’t my friends the same way as I’m giving now.
When my wife ran, we gave even though the money was ultimately used against
us. Democratic officeholders need to realize that if we don’t pay, there is
no headquarters, less organization, and we might as well just create our own
campaign organizations. I’ll function under that scenario, but I don’t think
it is healthy for the future of the Democratic Party. We need to talk out
our differences, and if we can’t resolve them, then respect our differing
views. What has taken place over the past six months within the county party
is nothing new. But if we want our party to be more effective, we must start
communicating more openly and honestly and all of the elected officials
better carry their fair share of the burden of being a party leader. |
