Here at DailyKos we often focus on the big races, moving our party into power at the gubernatorial or Congressional or Presidential levels. Sometimes when we get a really good candidate (or really odious opponent) we'll go down to the legislature. But there are more and better Democrats at the local level we need to acknowledge and support, as well.
One of them is Doug Singleterry, who is a Councilman in North Plainfield NJ and running for Somerset County Freeholder (county commissioner, for you non-Garden Staters) with Montgomery Mayor Cecilia Birge (who, as a Chinese immigrant who protested during the Tienanmen riots has her own awesome story). The GOP has held every seat on the Freeholder Board since 1982, and Doug and Cecilia are working hard to break through.
Here he is blasting Peter Palmer for saying "So What" to the fact that the County Executive makes more money than most Governors.
The Republicans in Somerset County have been in power for so long that they don't notice that paying your County Executive $150,000 or more for managing the richest county in the country is not overpaying. Especially since counties in New Jersey don't provide a lot of services outside of parks, county jail and court. Almost all services -- police, roads, public health, parks, rubbish removal, leaf removal, fire response, municipal court, etc. -- are provided by the towns.
Yet Somerset County collects more tax dollars than all their towns combined, and they are not ashamed of that. Fewer services, more dollars to pay for it. And Peter Palmer says, "So What?"
Meanwhile elected officials like Doug Singleterry are working hard to provide service to their constituents while keeping salaries low. So low in fact that Singleterry is unpaid for being a councilman. That's right, he makes exactly $0 for this 30 hour a week job overseeing a town.
He was an early supporter of Howard Dean way back in 2003, and pushed me back when I was Council President to endorse Dean. I was running for Freeholder back then, and was worried that being a liberal Democrat and endorsing Dean while running in an all-Republican county would be bad for me. We'd just invaded Iraq, war fever was gripping the country, and our county is only 25 miles from Ground Zero.
But I did as Doug suggested, and came close to winning in an awful environment for Democrats in a Republican county. I did better than I would have hiding what I thought. He reminded me that staying true to my beliefs and politics was a winning recipe, something that I have not forgotten.
In 2005 I started the blog Dump Mike, an effort to beat back the terrible Mike Ferguson (NJ-7). The Dump Mike Blog became Blue 7th, a federal PAC that raised five figures for Linda Stender (who is running again this year) and was credited by Matt Stoller for inspiring the Netroots Endorsement for Stender which netted anotehr $60K. We also blanketed the district with issue related highway blogging and signs, held rallies, got scores of letters published in local papers, recruited about three dozen volunteers to the Stender campaign, and lots of other stuff I've forgotten. The key is we worked the grass- and net-roots to change the environment, and really annoy the hell out of Mike Ferguson.
Why do I say all that? Doug was the treasurer for Blue 7th, working hard to turn Blue 7th Congressional District blue at a time when no one thought it was possible. He internalized the 50 State Strategy and put it to work in our own area, and we almost pulled it off.
Even better, the work we did in NJ7 has laid the groundwork for a more energized grassroots community in Somerset County, one that is working harder than ever to put Democrats like Doug and Cecilia into office in the reddest parts of our Blue Jersey. And the work that Doug and Cecilia are doing now make it more likely that Linda Stender will win her campaign as well.
Amazingly, Somerset County now has more registered Democrats than Republicans for the first time since you could register with a party. We're going to win, and Doug and Cecilia are going to be Freeholders. (Of course, somewhere in the back of my head I hear a little whiny voice saying, "It should have been me!" lol )
I'm proud to call Doug my friend, and to have served with him on the North Plainfield Borough Council and with Blue 7th. He is exactly the kind of person we are talking about when we talk about More and Better Democrats.
I hope you'll consider dropping him $5 or $500 at the Birge and Singleterry for Freeholder website. He, like thousands of others out there, deserves our support.