PRECINCT COMMITTEEMEN STILL NEEDED IN POLITICS

BY

JOHN J. DUNPHY

Author’s Note: I served as the First Precinct Democratic Committeeman in Alton, Illinois from 1988 to 1995, when I loved to Godfrey, Illinois. I wrote this column for the 10/20/1996 edition of The Telegraph, my hometown newspaper.

Campaigning has changed a great deal since I wrote this piece. E-mail and web sites were still something of a novelty in 1996. Today, of course, both play vital roles in any election campaign. In the interest of inclusiveness, the term “precinct committeeman” has been replaced with “precinct committeeperson.” American society is now even more mobile and fragmented. Even the most conscientious precinct committeepersons these days are rarely acquainted with more than a handful of voters in their precincts or even their immediate neighborhoods.

I moved back to Alton after my first marriage broke up, but returned to Godfrey when I remarried. I became a precinct committeeperson in that village and even served as the Godfrey Democrats recording secretary. Hopefully, the minutes I took will someday be regarded as literary masterpieces by historians. Well, by a few historians, anyway.

— John J. Dunphy

A final note: I hadn’t thought of that Radio Shack Tandy 1000 for decades until I rediscovered this column. Rest in peace, buddy.

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John J. Dunphy is the author of Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois, Lewis and Clark’s Illinois Volunteers, From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois, Murder and Mayhem in Southwestern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials. He is also the author of the following collections of poetry: Old Soldiers Fading Away, Zen Koanhead, pagan rites, Stellar Possibilities, Dark Nebulae, Bullet Cluster and Touching Each Tree.