Minor Annoyances or The Case of the Missing Committeeman

I ran for State Legislature in 2004 and lost in the primary, but that wasn’t the only primary I lost. I also lost the Primary for Precinct Committeeman representing the poor Trailer Parkish area of Garden City. The man who beat me was Ryan Davidson. I met him at a Conservative event. He advised me that he’d thought of running as a Libertarian Committeeman at the same time, but you could only run for one at once.

Well, I moved out of his precinct to my current precinct in Southeast Boise and was elected Precinct Committeeman for Precinct 99 (a post which I’m leaving this year.) In my 2 years, I’ve only missed 3 meetings. During that time, I’ve heard the name Ryan Davidson called more than a dozen + times at Central Committee meetings, but each time, our Secretary might as well be Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day off, because I have yet to see him at a meeting.

Davidson’s extracurricular activities including trying to get drugs legalized in Hailey. Now, maybe Davidson is one heck of a Precinct Captain, walking his Precinct and passing out Republican literature but is not the meeting attending sort (doubtful, but possible), and maybe he made the 3 meetings I missed. However, if his attendance at Central Committee is any indication, why is he seeking another term?

Does the Precinct Captain position look good on the old resume? If not, why is he taking a seat and not serving. Worst of all, by holding the seat, it makes it impossible for the party to be able to even find a proxy for their absent committeeman because the Proxy has to be approved by him. 

This year, I’m leaving my position on the committee because I can’t commit to the work that comes with the position with my blogging and other responsibilities. If you can’t handle the job, then the wise thing to do is to focus on what you can do and let someone else take the position. Sitting their holding a seat that you’re not willing to do the work for is just poor form.