I hope you had a meaningful holiday season. Now that the hustle, bustle and gentle reflection of December are past, it is time to face the challenges of the New Year – an important election year.

Those challenges include: electing a Democratic Governor, electing a Senator we can be proud of, electing as many local Democrats as possible and – above all – reelecting John Spratt. As you can tell by reading the papers, Congressman Spratt has been targeted once again. This time his opponent will be well funded and will resort to anything as he has proven time and time again in his local races. We must rally around our Congressman!

We begin meeting the challenges by reorganizing our precincts on Saturday, February 20 from 10:00 am until noon. All the precincts will meet together at the Coal Yard Restaurant, 105 Garner Street, York, 29745 (just off Liberty Street/Highway 161 in downtown York). Coffee and snacks will be provided. We are meeting all precincts together this year so that Congressman Spratt can address all of us. At this Precinct Reorganization Meeting, individual precincts will also elect officers and pass resolutions. More information about the precinct meetings will follow. Remember, you must attend the Precinct Reorganization to be a voting delegate at the County Convention and to go to the State Convention.

The County Convention will be Monday, March 8 at 7:00 pm at the Freedom Center, 215 E. Main Street in Rock Hill. We will hear from local and state-wide candidates, pass resolutions on to the State Convention and elect county officers. A listing of the York County Democratic Party officers and their basic requirements for serving are on the reverse side of this letter.

The Convention will be a bittersweet time for me. As some of y’all know, Mary and I are moving. Soon we will no longer be residents of York County. It has been an honor and privilege to serve as your chair. My last official act as chair will be to call the Convention to order.

Filing for elected public offices (county council, state legislature, etc.) will be March 13 through 30. Filing will again take place at the law offices of Morton and Gettys on Oakland Avenue in Rock Hill.

Please do not hesitate to call me on my cell phone at 803-517-4046 if you have any questions about running for county party office or elected public office.

Sincerely,

Jim Watkins

Chair, York County Democratic Party

York County Democratic Party Offices

Chairperson

First Vice Chairperson (different race from Chair)

Second Vice Chairperson (different gender from Chair)

Third Vice Chairperson (under thirty)

Secretary (appointed by Executive Committee)

Treasurer (appointed by Executive Committee)

Executive Committeewoman (meets with State Executive Committee)

Executive Committeeman (meets with State Executive Committee)

First Alternate Committeeperson

Second Alternate Committeeperson

The basic requirement for serving as an officer is to attend meetings (second Tuesday evening of each month) and be an active member and/or convener of a party committee (Communications, Membership, Candidate Recruitment and Support, Budget and Fundraising). It is really important for party officers to be present at monthly meetings. We make group decisions and we need everyone participating in those decisions.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm and is filed under 2009, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.