Dem leaders take new posts in WW County

Looking for a change, former Walla Walla County Democratic Party Chair Nina Roth has turned her position over to retired dairy farmer Bill McCaw. Roth will continue to serve the state party as the committee woman for the county, with Conrad Cavazos serving as the county’s male party rep.

Tom Schmerer, an IT contractor, has assumed the role of chair of the 16^th Legislative District, a position formerly held by Pasco’s Roy Dehart. Schmerer lost a state senate race against Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla in 2004.

Roth did a fabulous job during her tenure as county chair in organizing party efforts, including recruiting volunteers, turning out voters at rallies and distributing yard signs. The party has worked hard in this county to make itself heard. And it has had to. The Rs in the county hold such a numerical advantage that they seem to have become lax about such distasteful political activities as door-to-door canvassing.

Finding good Democratic candidates to run in this district is another challenge. In fact, Democratic candidates sometimes feel they can do better running away from the party than with it—some go so far as to say that being hand-picked by the party is, in this county, the kiss of death. So the party doesn’t have much real leverage in enticing good candidates to run.

The strength for the WW County Dems in 2008 may be in the work they have done to encourage grassroots activism among the party faithful here. They have a base to build from, experienced volunteers, and more than a few voters dissatisfied with the direction of the country.

This entry was posted on June 13, 2007 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Rural, Fifth CD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.