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12.23.2006

ER - County is in need

County is in need of progressive, civic-minded individuals
12/22/2006

Dear Editor,

I, Shannon Gillespie, wish to offer my personal thanks to those 1,677 Democratic voters in the 3rd District who elected me on June 6 to represent their interests on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee. Unfortunately, I will be unable to serve my elected two-year term of office.

The current members of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee have selected Shane Brinton to take the central committee seat for which I was elected.

At Shane Brinton’s personal request, I had a conversation with him after my election to the HCDCC. I was impressed with his directness and honesty, especially regarding the well-known sad state of affairs concerning our local, entrenched Democratic politicians.

On June 10, Shane Brinton posted these forthright comments online at the Humboldt Herald (humboldt-herald.blogspot.com)

“Richard [Marks] pulled 25 percent without (HCDCC Chairperson Patrick) Riggs or Berg/Chesbro/Thompson. With Democratic and/or union support, he could have taken out Nancy Flemming, but people like Riggs and Loco Solutions don’t care. They want Nancy to look more powerful than she is, so that they can scare us and keep us in line. A runoff between Marks and Neely would have threatened established Democrats and created the possibility for a paradigm shift in the party and the local progressive community. It’s the same reason that Riggs withdrew his endorsement of me during my school board race. Real progressives are scary because we can actually create change. Yes, please vote for Bonnie. We have to beat Arkley/Flemming. But don’t forget how we got here. Don’t forget that 17 members of the Democratic Central Committee handed us a runoff between two Republicans.”

Furthermore, I would like to encourage anyone who may be interested in running for your political party’s central committee in the June 2008 primary election to contact the Humboldt County Elections Office at 707-445-7581 for more information.

You do not need any money to become a candidate. All it takes is a petition signed by 20 registered voters, and you are on the ballot.

Humboldt County is in need of progressive, civic-minded individuals who are willing to take a stand against the ineffective, unresponsive political “leaders” of our community. It is time for a change, and you can be part of it. Please, get involved.

Shannon Gillespie, Arcata

(Rob and Cherie Arkley own Security National, which owns The Eureka Reporter.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shannon is right on! The current, ineffective crew at the HCDCC must go.

Anonymous said...

I agree. The Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee is in need of new people. This current group is incompetent, to say the least. Get involved, indeed.

Rose said...

You are not overstating the case.

Anonymous said...

Just 20 signatures and you can be on the ballot. Sounds pretty simple to me. The local political establishment (Republican, Democrat & Green) are all equally embarrassing. Time for a revolution in Humboldt County? I'd say it's long overdue. I think we should all run for the central committees in June 2008, just to make things interesting.