Since I often hear that precinct caucuses are the grassroots foundation of our democratic system, and I know that thousands of Coloradans did not attend theirs last week, it must be my journalistic duty to tell people what they missed.
Chaffee County has 15 precincts, but only two caucus locations: one in Buena Vista for the north end, and one in Salida for the south. The Salida site is just about across the street from me, so when I got a reminder call, and I started to equivocate about attending because the weather has been so noxious, the caller laughed and said she’d see me there.
I didn’t see her among the two dozen citizens who did come. I tried to forget that there was a cozy fire across the street, and focused on politics.
However, there wasn’t much to focus on. Two years ago, Precinct 2 had some hard-core Dean and Kucinich supporters who wanted to make sure their candidates were supported at the county assembly, even though Kerry had the Democratic presidential nomination sewed up by then.
This time around, Bill Ritter is the only Democratic candidate for governor, the highest position on the ballot. No Democrat has announced for House District 60, currently held by freshman Republican Tom Massey. There is a Democrat, Gail Schwartz, running against incumbent Republican Lew Entz of Hooper for Senate District 5.
That’s got to be a tough one to represent, since it includes both Pitkin County, home of Aspen and one of the richest counties in America, and Costilla and Conejos counties, both among the poorest.
But the bizarre boundaries don’t stop there. We’re in the 5th Congressional District, which is basically Colorado Springs plus some boondocks counties for population padding. We are part of the padding.
Ten-term incumbent Republican Joel Hefley is retiring. The seat is a Republican slam dunk. Even so, there’s the prospect of a Democratic primary between our own Curtis Imrie, who ran against Hefley in 2002, and Jay Fawcett of Colorado Springs, a Gulf War veteran. Finally, a contest, something to discuss when we broke up for our precinct caucuses.
Although the Democratic Party tries to be the party of inclusion of youth, minorities, women, etc., the entire caucus for Precinct 2 consisted of three middle-aged white guys: me, my neighbor Hugh Young, and former Salida Mayor Ralph “R.T.” Taylor. Since R.T. was late getting to the table, Hugh and I elected him caucus chairman just before he sat down. I served as secretary since I had a pen. Hugh said somebody just had to be a regular citizen, and he’d enjoy the job.
We were supposed to select four delegates and four alternates to the April 15 Democratic County Assembly. With only three of us present, we had no choice but to select ourselves, even though none of us really wanted to go. We had to decide how to divide the delegation between Fawcett and Imrie for a congressional seat where a Baathist has a better chance than a Democrat. We went with Curtis, since we knew him. All politics is local, right?
Then it was time to propose resolutions. We passed two, proposing changes in the Gallagher Amendment and simplification of the business personal property tax, thus putting us in the running as the most pro-business Democratic precinct caucus in Colorado.
Hugh went home to eat. R.T. and I tackled the paperwork. I was secretary but I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to fill out and sign, and this was, after all, a somewhat official process at the grassroots of our republic.
For years, we never had to worry about such things in Precinct 2. Joanne Gleason, our precinct committeewoman, knew the system better than garage bands know the chords to “Louie, Louie,” and she tended to the paperwork so that the rest of us could just argue politics. But she retired and moved away to be closer to her children.
Fighting with those forms made me realize how much our political system depends on her and her colleagues in all parties. There’s no glory in it, no public office, no public policy – but they keep the wheels turning for the rest of us. Bless them all – if the system ever works, it’s because of them.
Ed Quillen of Salida is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday.
