State Rep. Al Williams To Lead Legislative Black Caucus
According to the Blog for Democracy, State Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, has been elected chairman of the 50-member Georgia Legislative Black Caucus.
I am a big fan of Rep. Williams. He was re-elected on November 7 to his third term in the House with 67.5 percent of the vote.
I wrote the following about him in a 1-18-05 post partially entitled "A shot heard (or that should have been heard) round the state":
Rep. Al Williams, whether planned or just given that he is a natural, delivered the highlight of the day for me.
Rep. Williams of Liberty County reminded us that currently we are in a war for the soul of the Democratic party. We have the problem and face the challenge of bringing back within the fold white males.
And to compound this challenge, we risk losing Hispanics and other minorities.
While acknowledging that historically being the big tent party makes it tough to hold our various constituencies together, it is something we must be vigilant about and do.
And we must quit allowing it to be said that our party has a problem with God, morality and ethics. Since when, he asked, was our party not a party about God, morality and ethics.
He said it was hogwash and a crime to let the Republicans get away with claiming to own God, to own values.
Just because our party is for choice does not mean that we have no morals.
And to hear otherwise from national party members perceived to be elitists and claiming to speak for the party does nothing to help. As he put it, "The average voter in Hahira [a small, rural community in Lowndes County] could care less" about such elitist talk.
The days of the party operating 7 months out of four years must end. E-mail is great, but nothing beats the knock, knock, knock at the door as we canvass the neighborhoods.
I could go on and on with Rep. Williams message to the troops, but you get the idea. But I can't quit without sharing a line that Rep. Williams attributes to Rep. Calvin Smyre: "Coal runs a train; gold runs a campaign."
I am a big fan of Rep. Williams. He was re-elected on November 7 to his third term in the House with 67.5 percent of the vote.
I wrote the following about him in a 1-18-05 post partially entitled "A shot heard (or that should have been heard) round the state":
Rep. Al Williams, whether planned or just given that he is a natural, delivered the highlight of the day for me.
Rep. Williams of Liberty County reminded us that currently we are in a war for the soul of the Democratic party. We have the problem and face the challenge of bringing back within the fold white males.
And to compound this challenge, we risk losing Hispanics and other minorities.
While acknowledging that historically being the big tent party makes it tough to hold our various constituencies together, it is something we must be vigilant about and do.
And we must quit allowing it to be said that our party has a problem with God, morality and ethics. Since when, he asked, was our party not a party about God, morality and ethics.
He said it was hogwash and a crime to let the Republicans get away with claiming to own God, to own values.
Just because our party is for choice does not mean that we have no morals.
And to hear otherwise from national party members perceived to be elitists and claiming to speak for the party does nothing to help. As he put it, "The average voter in Hahira [a small, rural community in Lowndes County] could care less" about such elitist talk.
The days of the party operating 7 months out of four years must end. E-mail is great, but nothing beats the knock, knock, knock at the door as we canvass the neighborhoods.
I could go on and on with Rep. Williams message to the troops, but you get the idea. But I can't quit without sharing a line that Rep. Williams attributes to Rep. Calvin Smyre: "Coal runs a train; gold runs a campaign."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 10:46 PM
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