Washblog

   The election of PCOs in the primary of even numbered years is very new, like so far once. Before it was in the general. The change came with the rest of the blanket/montana/closed/open/whatever primary stuff.
  I've been an elected PCO for the better part of 20 years (once the auditor or the USPS lost my filing), and it has always been that elected PCOs vote at the biennial county party re-organization meetings. I've cited the specific RCW before here on Washblog.
  When we've (Whitman)had our act together (I did it when I was vice chair), we've twisted arms and talked people into running for PCO, filled the form out for them, and paid the $1 filing fee.
  On the other hand there was the time that I and the other two elected PCO's re-org'd alone. We elected Ya-Yue as committeewomen that time. Paul and the rest are history now.

  What you are missing is: One PCO is in many ways a thankless job. If done right, it means walking around (driving in larger) the precinct and bothering people.
  Two, most people aren't really that political on an every day basis. REAL PCOs need to be.

   The real activists need to face the facts. The elected PCO (plus appointed after biennial re-org) are the basic "grassroots" of the formal patry organization. The Committee People from the Counties and LD's represent the local org's to the WSDCC. The WSDCC is bound by RCWs, adopted bylaws, charter and subject to DNC rules.
   (by the way, it isn't cheap to be a state committee person, and even more expensive to be a member of the DNC, and I'm really only counting travel expense).

  Yah want to change it, start paying attention year round, not whining about what is now.

Dave Gibney Pullman

Precincts are a terrible political division in our state. They are created by Auditors to manage what voters are eligible to vote for which offices. They are never meant to be representative of the electorate. The size and composition of precincts very widely, both within and between counties.

Each precinct only elects 1 PCO.

Consider this example: Pierce-2065 has only 1 registered voter. If that person runs for PCO and votes for himself he is elected.  Pierce-2025 has 2,948 registered voters. So the 1 voter in Pierce-2065 has the same weight as the 2,948 voters in Pierce-2025.

Just like all elected offices, the power of incumbency is massive for PCOs. Many young people and new activists never get to be PCOs if their Precinct is occupied by a long serving PCO-even if they are more active than the incumbent.

If PCOs were elected at the Precinct Caucuses instead of the Primary, it would radically change the make-up of the state party.

Another possibility would be to elect 50 or 100 " local representatives" for each LD. This would give much more equal and balanced representation than anything based on precincts.  

That may be true.  It's an interesting point, a worthwhile one.  But I see things very differently than I think you do.  You are describing matters of timing and procedure as being responsible for the low number of PCOs -- particularly elected PCOs.  I see a very different reason for this low number.

Emmett, you're in Olympia.  Maybe the recruitment process is different there than where I live, south King County.  Maybe where you live, finding a PCO for every precinct is a matter simply of looking and asking.  But here things are more the way I imagine it is for Gibney in Whitman County  based on his description of PCO recruitment there. Simply put: it ain't easy to find people who are willing to be PCOs.  Like... much of the time it can't be done.  And because it can't be done, there are few PCOs.  

To increase the number of PCOs, the job needs to be changed so that it can reasonably be done -- and accomplishes something meaningful and, well, is fun.

Why is the job un-doable?  Well, I think PCOs are asked to do something that in most neighborhoods takes an unreasonable amount of time and is unreasonably uncomfortable and even, in some cases, dangerous, to accomplish.  

I believe that the doorbelling/outreach part of the PCO job -- which is its center, its base -- is unworkable in all but the most Democratic and friendly neighborhoods (perhaps vice-versa for Republicans).  Asking someone to do political doorbelling in a neighborhood like mine is tantamount to asking him or her to do something that can't be done within a reasonable amount of time and effort and with reasonable comfort.  Or you're asking people to take on a job and then not do it.  I've learned this experientially -- by trying it out for three years.  It's simply too difficult to do this job.  That's why people aren't doing it.  It's not a workable model.

I think that this reality is well known but that the party hasn't 'caught up' to it.

The basis of the PCO job, being a community liaison to the grassroots political organization, is a great idea -- a fundamentally democratic idea.  But times have changed and the model needs to change.  Door to door does not work now.  PCOs need to be asked to engage with people in different ways -- on different turf, on a different model.  What Ivan is doing in the 34th I think is going in the right direction.  

Voters are now being treated as commodities by political parties and campaigns.  The grassroots political organizations are not like this.  But, in general, the political environment is predatory on the voters.

Just imagine this task of going door-to-door where you're pulling people away from dinner, phone calls, spending precious time with children/family, etc. to try to engage them in a political conversation.  And then imagine this in a climate where many people are facing some pretty intense economic pressure.  People have to work too hard and they don't have the health insurance they need.  They're not able to go to school when they need to.  Some people are afraid of losing their homes.  

Now, imagine, on top of all this, that the Coordinated Campaign and multiple other individual campaigns and organizations like unions have come through the same precinct over and over -- never telling the PCO, just coming through.  Add to that all the phone calls that have been made to people.  And then add to that the bitterness and ugliness of the political communications that people are hearing these days -- attack ads, smears, lying robo-calls, a methodical campaign by Republicans and conservatives to say, basically, that government doesn't work and that all elected officials lie and cheat, etc.  And then imagine the fact that we have just lived through two stolen national elections (I see it that way and many of my neighbors do).  And we're in a bloody war that both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for -- and that politicians lies us into.

Can you blame people for being pissed off?

Now think also of all the people who are, truly, disenfranchised.  25% of all African American males in Washington state cannot vote because of felonies.  Hmmm  ....  that makes me angry and I'm not directly affected. This is not functional.

No, going to people's homes is not the way to do it.  People need to be engaged with in a different way.  PCOs should not be doing what all the other political campaigns are doing.  They should be out in the community doing service, helping.  They should be trying to reach people who do not vote.  They should be organized for political change that gets people engaged and enfranchised.  They should not be sent out to the same same pool of  voters -- frequent voters who are independents or Democrats -- that are the "target" of political marketers everywhere.  

I think that I've learned this the hard way over the last 3 years.

That's a pretty powerful thing, and about (ABOUT) their only legal responsibility.

As a party we recognize these important members of our organizations by having them be the voice for their geographic unit called a precinct.  I my 'small' county, we have precincts that consist of upto 2400 voters.  Others as few as 300.  Some are large geographical areas some are small.  These are all unique as unique as the individuals who are living in them.

I constantly stress that the PCO is important, because that is the legal 'base' of the party structure.  Most forgotten is the 'committee' portion of PCO.

We're a party of, by and for the people ... so those PCOs who choose to go at it alone are taking on a task that might be too big.

So how might it be cracked?

Simple, just like 8th grade story problems:  you start with what you know ("known knowns", if you will).  In this case, you start with who you know in your precinct.  Bring familiar faces together, have them meet and discuss whatever comes up (it's a political meeting!  Politics and organizing will come up).  Find some local issue (we're talking street lights and stop sign-type issues), and see what can be done.

Ask them to look at the list of strong Ds in the precinct and have them note who they know ... encourage conversations amongst them.

You'll develop a critical mass of interested people ... some will want to help ID those not ID'd ("unknown knowns", okay I'll stop with that), or help register the new neighbors.

All that to say that geography is important.  Outreach is important, and the PCO is important.  They/you can't do it alone.