Hats are off, and rightly so, to
netroots hero Brian Keeler -- our own
NYBri.
Kos says all there is to say on the subject of shaping up our own farm team. This is how it's done. There is no substitute for the experience that's gained this way. Which is why it's so incredibly important to recognize and support the people who are doing what Brian is doing.
Which brings me to my point...
There must be something in the water up there, because just to the west of where Brian has staked his claim, there's yet
another longtime Kossack making waves and putting it all on the line.
Our own Kelly Keck, known to you and me as kelk (and yes, you read that right, that's UID# 4022) is running for New York State Assembly.
This is no spur of the moment decision. Nor is this something Kelly decided on when he read about Brian's decision. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed to have to say that we all missed his announcement of it, made right here at Daily Kos on March 28th!
Kelly's not a grandstander, I guess. But let me make mention of something I happen to have learned about him: he's been quietly climbing the ladder for some time now, doing all the things that people who crash gates do.
Let me let him tell you exactly what he's been up to:
Last year, I decided that I had had enough and formed with a group of family and friends the first Stamford Democratic Committee in Delaware County, New York. My new town chair and I then decided that the best way to revitalize Democrats in our heavily Republican town in Upstate New York would be to actually run for office. So we did. And despite losing the election to the incumbents, the simple act of running for office has changed my life so completely and has lead to my decision to run for the 107th New York State Assembly District.
Did you catch that? There was no active Democratic Committee in his town, so he got together a group of friends and family and made one!
My town chair and I have gotten our largest town's Democratic Committee to meet for the first time since 1994. We are helping other towns that have had some organization make it better and meet more regularly. (emphasis mine)
And in a development that we sometimes deride as "insiderism" elsewhere, Kelly discovered something that's actually a universal truth in political organizing: 90% of life is just showing up.
. Also in the process, I found myself last week being voted upon to join the New York State Democratic Committee from my State Assembly District, which I won unanimously.
So let's check that and review for a moment:
Fed up with inaction and the decay of the Democratic presence in his part of the state, Kelly revived a Town Democratic Committee that hadn't met since 1994, ran for local office when no one else would, got himself elected to the New York State Democratic Committee practically by accident, and now...
And now we return to the beginning and the 107th New York State Assembly District currently held by our O'Reilly-quoting Clifford Crouch, who is very well liked and admired here. He has also never truly faced a Democratic opponent, but that will change this year. After reading TrueBlueMajority's diary, I have decided to run against a popular Republican incumbent, if only to do the following:
1. Get on the ballot.
2. Get better name recognition.
3. Use my candidacy to energize the Delaware County Democratic Committee.
4. Challenge an incumbent where no one else wants.
This is the year. This is the moment, where we can show that progressive candidates can and do perform. This is the year that we will start taking back our country!
But, you might ask, what has Kelly been doing with his newfound influence in the local Democratic party? Well, that explains how it is that I've come to follow what he's been up to. Seems the Stamford Democratic Committee recently took up and passed a Vermont-style impeachment resolution, at Kelly's urging.
And as proud as I am of his efforts there, I really couldn't recommend his candidacy to you any more than his own chronicling of his political evolution can. I encourage you all to spend a lazy weekend moment, if you've got one to spare, reviewing his diary history. It's not voluminous, though it goes back a long way. I think you'll be inspired as you watch him discover Howard Dean and emerge from lurking back in January of 2004, dash to New Palz, NY to marry his partner in February, boil over about bogus Health Savings Accounts, then convince a non-voter to head to the polls for Kerry in late October, run for Town Board in July of 2005, revive the Stamford Democratic Committee in August, raise money for local candidates in September, help encourage the reversal of local Dems decision to endorse unsecure electronic voting mechanisms, and finally decide to run for state assembly.
If this isn't everything kos is talking about and marvelling at in Brian's story, then I don't know what is.
So although I come to awareness of his candidacy through an admittedly personal bias -- that being his interest in state-based impeachment -- I'd ask you, no matter what your stance on the I-word (or the process by which you'd see it done) to consider supporting one of our own in his quest to crash the gate.