Because I am both running a new business and getting ready for tax season, there is not a whole lot of time today to continue my camp series. Thus I have decided to write about some stuff that has happened in town this week. Some of it is positive and some is just awkward.
Follow me down the orange rabbit hole for all the goings on.
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I have written a lot lately about my town and the crazy stuff that goes on here. I wasn't planning on writing anything else about the community, but it's just too interesting too pass up.
Like everywhere, it is election time for the local chambers of commerce. I decided to volunteer to serve on the nominating committee for the new chamber, not because I had any desire to nominate someone but more to find out what other people thought about whom they wanted to nominate and why. It was at the committee meeting where things started to get interesting.
I went to the meeting planning on recommending as many of the officers remain the same due to the organization being new which would allow the organization time to go through the growing pains and become run under new officers in the future. While three officers are likely going to remain the same (The President hasn't said if she is accepting her nomination.), I was shocked to hear how people felt about the two other officers. The four other people on the committee were in favor of not nominating them because those two were the two main people causing friction not only in the community but in the chamber itself. What I found most ironic was the person most adamant about not wanting them back in power had just been arrested for assault due to spitting tobacco juice at another resident of the community. Maybe someone needs to take a good luck in the mirror. In the end, we ended up nominating one person for each position except one where we nominated both combatants and a third person.
Then came Election Day which of course was horrible around the country. However things were brighter close to home. My voting precinct had two open seats: one for the State Assembly and one for the US House. I am happy to report both went blue. Yes both districts are gerrymandered for the Democrats but in the wave, I wasn't sure what would happen especially in the Assembly race. While it was close in the House race, our new Assemblyman won by 10 points. A big win in my mind especially considering how many Republican areas the district covers. The largest voting block in the district is a heavily Democratic city and our new Assemblyman is born and raised there which helped. What also helped is that the Republican decided to run a campaign based on the premise that he and the person who was likely to win in a neighboring district would vote as a two person bloc.
My district is comprised on two distinct areas: one area is the town where I live, the city to south of us and the hamlet to our north; the other area is comprised of a portion of a heavily Hasidic section of the South Shore. Both candidates are Jewish but the Dem is a Reform Jew. The Hasidic community there has already done a wonderful job destroying the public education system there even though very few of their children actually attend public school. Plus they are able to browbeat businesses into following Jewish customs, whether or not the owners of those businesses are Jews, or they will not patronize them. The real problem with the Republican candidate running on this platform is that it would effectively kill any representation the communities around me would have in the Assembly. Considering we were among the hardest hit areas on Long Island and the other areas our district covers were among the least affected that would be crippling for our communities. Because of this, many people who are Republicans here did the smart thing and voted Dem thinking first of their community and not of their party. It was really nice to see so many Facebook posts in support of the Dem candidate.
Finally my sister and I attended the meeting of the old chamber this past Thurs. It was nomination time for them as well. I again wanted to go to see what people were going to say about potential candidates. I fully expected going in to see the current slate officers re-nominated for another term. Boy was I wrong. This is where things really went off the rails in a way.
Apparently three of the officers (Treasurer, VP, and President) has all taken on new positions with other organizations and no longer wanted to serve in their current positions. I was all set to nominate a friend of mine to be Treasurer when after several moments of silence passed after the current president asked for nominations, he ended up nominating me. I was instantly thrown into a very awkward position given how hard I have tried to stay out of the war between the chambers. After taking a pretty long time to consider whether to accept the nom or not, I realized by being in a power position I could have the chance to try and stop this war in its tracks, so I accepted the nomination.
The meeting then turned more awkward when after finding no one to run for either VP or President, my sister ended up getting nominated for President. She was really embarrassed and I told her she could say no. It really was strange as we are first year members and have only had our business open for 3 months. We had been sitting next to a gentleman who had also just recently opened a business in town and he said he would take the Presidency if my sister would agree to be VP allowing them to team up to handle the work load. This gentleman is likely around my age and could even be younger which would put three people in their mid-30s or younger all with very new businesses in officer positions in the chamber.
Personally, I was really surprised about how gung-ho the other members are about this. I understand their thought process. Having young, energetic people who would likely bring a very different perspective to the organization could be just what we need. But still, the three of us have very little experience running a large organization with many moving parts. I, for one, am hoping since all three of us are in good standing with both chambers, we can find a way to bridge the gap and finally unite a community that really needs to come together.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Chrislove, who stepped in to do the community stuff when I was delayed getting home. Thanks to him, I was able to bang out a complete diary.
TOP COMMENTS
November 8, 2014
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From arizonablue:
Thanks to se portland's comment in today's Happee Caturdai Pootie Diary, never again will a Kossack misidentify a cat! Check out the visual guide that even a dog could understand!
From indie17:
This comment by EngineerScotty is a good one.
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Flagged by bill dog, this comment by arizonablue is an excellent rebuttal to an anti-choice comment.
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TOP MOJO
November 7, 2014
(excluding Tip Jars and first comments)
Got mik!
1) “Obama’s arrogance: Translation: by LiberalCanuck — 252
2) And he is a terrible historian by John Campanelli — 203
3) We need Elizabeth Warren as Minority Leader by Ditch Mitch KY — 184
4) Here's my symbol to the racist idiots at KSTP. by DerAmi — 151
5) One minor nitpick by elmo — 150
6) let's hear the putative party leader HRC back this by annieli — 137
7) Thank you, scribe. by belinda ridgewood — 130
8) Sadly, I have no trouble believing it's America. by Eileen B — 129
9) He never had a filibuster-proof Senate. by jem6x — 114
10) T&R by Youffraita — 108
11) I just can't by kamala — 106
12) Mayor is critical of police, seeks reform. by SoCalSal — 102
13) holy shiznit by kamala — 102
14) Back in the early 80s, my sister, then 30, by raincrow — 101
15) Let me suggest that what you missed is by hannah — 98
16) Drop outs.. by scribe — 96
17) Congratulations, we can win elections by a2nite — 93
18) The real subject of history by WinSmith — 91
19) A beef with the mayor, more likely. by SoCalSal — 89
20) Fwiw, when cops pull me over and question me by raincrow — 87
21) Chuck Todd is a Moron #52 by WinSmith — 85
22) It is totally about undermining her by Nowhere Man — 84
23) Not only is it a gang sign, it is a sign that by Calvino Partigiani — 82
24) Wouldn't surprise me by Youffraita — 80
25) The cops obviously have something against by Jeff Y — 80
26) A donation to the organization he volunteers for by Eileen B — 79
27) My 'backstory' becomes less believable, does it? by David Harris Gershon — 74
28) Powerful writing by janis b — 72
29) LBJ also didn't hesitate by gchaucer2 — 71
30) Your story shows how some of the very nefarious by livjack — 70
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TOP PHOTOS
November 7, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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