stay on of off the bandwagon
Posted by blackramfarm on November 12, 2009
I got an invite to the annual Vermont Republican Party Fall Dinner, it will be at the Hilton in Burlington tonight. Rob Roper and the crew tend to put on a fine party and tonight’s celebrity guest will be Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President Bush 2. Could prove to be interesting. All the big wigs will be there too, and I expect the speeches will be the preaching to the choir type. This is their fund-raiser and I anticipate there to be a huge hat being passed around. I have been getting a lot of phone calls asking me to donate as well. Turns out the company that does the telemarketing for the VT-GOP is from Iowa. What is up with that? Don’t we have folks in this state that can make annoying phone calls?
My friend Jim Hoognagle down in DC is a die-hard liberal and will shake his head when he reads what I am up to, but you can count on friends, old and new to question your choices. Turns out I have lots of liberal type friends and I am finding that I am far more independent than anything else. I don’t fit squarely in the round hole and I doubt that will change anytime soon. But for now I am still listed as a Republican in Vermont but feel like I am drifting away. I am not able to connect with many of the choices that Republicans are pushing. I will say that I am very concerned about the amount of debt that is building up and am wondering how we are going to pay the bill for all of the stimulus stuff. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had any stimulus lately. I still make $19,250 working for UVM. The flip side is that I have free education and a terrific health care plan for me and bub that costs about 27 bucks a month. So add that in and based on the cost of trying to get insurance, I am on the plus side. Maybe. It is still not a livable wage.
So the invite came from Bruce from church who asked if I was going, and I said, I can’t afford the ticket, so he snagged me one. I am not sure that the party really likes me though, I am a bit too independent and uncontrollable. I also like a bunch of folks who happen to be democrats and have written about them. I am looking at tonight’s event as an opportunity to see if I want to stay on the band wagon or simply watch it roll down the road without me.
I know that party is desperate to find candidates for the next election, and I have been asked a couple of times if I will run again. I would go up for a House seat against Shap Smith (speaker of the house) or Peter Peltz, who hasn’t screwed up enough for folks in my district to vote any-one-but-him. So running would be a complete waste of time and more importantly money. I think that running for a seat on the local select board is more manageable and realistic. Local folks know you and being independent isn’t a negative. Running for a state seat means having a party affiliation, and although there are three to pick from here, I am not of the progressive ilk.
I have a feeling that the conversations tonight and the speeches are going to leave me flat. I sure hope the food is good.
Nichole said
Jealous. Have fun. It’s an experience to be had if nothing else.