Local political party committees plan to connect with community in 2007
Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2007
The Washington County Republican and Democratic parties have some new leadership and some new goals to lead them into the new year.
The Democratic Party has a whole new executive committee this year, headed up by Fayetteville Assistant City Attorney David Whitaker. He will be leading the party in an effort to become more active in the Washington County community.
Other Democratic executive committee members include Vice-Chairman Lynn Carver, Treasurer Tim Freeman and Secretary Brock Showalter.
Whitaker said the committee is looking into making some internal changes to help the party run more efficient, but more importantly, he wants the party to become more active in the community. Whitaker said the committee is looking into holding several workshops to teach the party members how to become more active.
"We want to train people on the street level," Whitaker said. "In the past we had a lot of new people roll in five months before an election, and they don't even know why they're doing what they're doing."
Whitaker said the party also wants to increase its visibility in the community. The committee has looked into a new program called Democrats Work, a public-service program in which people in the party can do something for the community.
"It can be as little as picking up litter or as big as organizing a food drive," Whitaker said. "It's important that the Democratic Party is seen out in the community, not just every four years."
Whitaker also said the party is looking into some new tools to help make them more visible.
"We're very interested in revamping our Web site and utilizing Web blogs to reach out to the community," Whitaker said.
Whitaker said the party wants to reach the broadest spectrum possible, and he feels using the World Wide Web will help.
The Democrats will also have some help on the state level. Washington County resident Karla Bradley was re-elected as the first vicechair of the state Democratic Party Executive Committee.
Bradley's re-election is always good for the Washington County Democrats, Whitaker said.
"It's wonderful because we've always had a good relationship with Karla," he said. "She helps us work closely with the state party."
The Republicans are also looking to reach out to the Washington County community. Spokesman Charlie Collins said the party is looking to show its conservative values and reach out to other people who have the same values.
Three of the Republicans' five Executive Committee members are new: Norma Patterson is chairman, Joseph Wood is the first vicechair and Carole McAlister is the second vice-chair. Susan Gressler was re-elected as secretary and Judy Wooton was re-elected as treasurer.
Collins said that members of the Republican Party felt like a lot of Washington County residents don't get a chance to see what they are doing, so they are looking for new ways to reach out.
The party's membership is up by an estimated 75 percent since March. Collins attributed the growth to word-of-mouth publicity.
"We went from the mid-40 s to the low 70 s," Collins said. Collins said the party wants to get its conservative message out to the community.
"We'd love for people to understand what the Washington County party believes in and see if it fits in with what they believe," he said.
Both parties meet at 7 p.m. in the Quorum Court room at the Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College Ave. The Republicans will meet next on Feb. 20, and the Democrats will meet next on Feb. 26.
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