Overlap with BCDCC

Since the 8th LD lies entirely within Benton County there is a great deal of overlap between LD and County Party activities. It doesn't make good sense to wear out our volunteers performing activities that address almost exactly the same audience with almost exactly the same active participants. It should also be noted that due to population concentration in the Tri-city area there is also opportunity for joint action and coordination with the Franklin County organization. Therefore it is reasonable to have some understanding of what works best at the LD level, the county level, and the metropolitan level. There is no official governmental jurisdiction for the metropolitan area but there is a natural organization in place called the Tri-city Democrats.

The backbone of the Party is, of course, precinct committee officers (PCO's). A new batch of PCO's have been elected this last November. Sadly we have many more precincts than we do PCO's. Via the appointment process, it is possible for every single person who wishes to be a PCO to be appointed to that position. Being a PCO carries the challenge of representing the Party to supporters in a given geographical locatian and of representing the location to the Party. Appointments for PCO's are under the purvue of the County Central Committee but I'm sure the County would find it helpful if the LD organization would make recommendations for potential PCO appointments.

A properly functioning LD organization should essentially be focussed on LD issues. The most essential of these are the LD elections and support for our LD candidates. The LD organization should be able to relieve the County organization of its heavy lifting in this area and allow the County more freedom and resources to deal with issues and candidates at the County and higher levels.

There is an opportunity the 8th LD organization has by virtue of its overlap with the Benton County jurisdiction. It can serve as a test lab for new ways of doing things. Any successful techniques can be offered to the county (and even the metropolitan area) for emulation. Any failures can be handled and lessons can be learned without doing violence to processes at the higher levels. With this in mind, let's take a look in some following articles about some new things to try.