So, things were quiet over the summer. After the primary debacle, I contacted a friend who is pretty politically savvy and asked for his help. He agreed that the PAC had no clue what they were doing, and agreed to help me out. He shall be known as The Voice. (for reasons)
The Voice knows people. He has been involved with local politics and more for years. He had to swallow hard to help out someone running on the Democrat side (not as hard as I did!) but we managed. He advised me to start a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, etc. I did all that. Not sure how much good it did, but it was something more than what was being done previously. I also ordered some adorable business cards from Zazzle, who ended up giving them to me after the first order got messed up. Yay, Zazzle.
I published all those social media sites in September (I’ve since taken them down) and then met with the group. I handed out some business cards to friends and neighbors but most of them are still sitting in the boxes. Maybe they’ll get used in a couple of years, we shall see. At this meeting, yard signs were discussed and lots of bitching about how much money the other guys had because they had gotten backing from some of the higher ups in the Republican party and were going with a PAC that has a lot of money. There were signs all over for the other guys, and I had a feeling it wasn’t gonna go well for us. But we kept hearing that “write ins never win” and “we have this person on our side, or that person.”
Yeah, well, so much for that. Meanwhile, my husband was under intense scrutiny at work. He was suddenly being called into disciplinary meetings, only to be told that “well, it’s okay, you’re doing great.” Really?
And then I spoke up against the facilities manager. This guy, known as Cue Ball, wanted a new truck. He informed the board that it was desperately needed because the weather gods had told him we were going to get 1000 feet of snow. (I made that part up. He did tell them that it was absolutely necessary for plowing) The Farmer suggested that the school outsource plowing, that it wouldn’t cost nearly as much as a brand new Ford 350. (Which, by the way, does not mean 350 dollars)
Cue Ball was quite vociferous in his denial of ever having outsourced plowing. I sent a text to the Farmer, during the meeting, that indeed we had and I had first hand knowledge of it. I sent him details, and he spoke out. It got ugly, fast. Not to the point of blows, but it revealed Cue Ball’s real personality. Remember, this guy was my husband’s boss.
The truck was purchased, and the Bear was suddenly incapable of doing anything right. His work was criticized – he was called into meetings and then told that everything was fine. He was called into a meeting because of something he did, explained why he did it, walked out with no disciplinary action. Things escalated. The day after the primary, he was called into a hearing. I can’t say much about it because we’re still pondering things, but he was given a choice of retiring or fighting and since he had surgery coming up, he decided to retire. But that’s not the end of that story – yet.
So nothing was done. I wanted to talk about finances, why so much money was being spent on new trucks that we don’t need while the roofs are still leaking. I wanted to talk about waste, why so much stuff is thrown out instead of being donated or sold or returned. Nope, I was told to focus on education. Well. That would have been fine but no one was actually talking about anything. Except for the other guys, who were all over the place.
I actually talked to one of them at a board meeting. Seems like a nice guy, we have a good bit in common So there’s hope
On election day I was a poll watcher for a few hours. Now, remember, I was running as a “cough” Democrat. So the opposition, the “real” conservatives, were across from us and I was at a booth with a couple of other people who were handing out information. One was a young girl, probably in her early 30’s, late 20’s. Almost immediately, she announced to me that she used to be a Republican but couldn’t tolerate some of the things “they do.” I laughed, and said, “I used to be a Democrat but I couldn’t handle the intolerance of the party of tolerance.” She was immediately on the defensive, “what did SHE do that was so intolerant?” Annoyed, I said, ‘Y’all celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we’re not the same.” She threw up her hands and said, “Don’t talk to me about him!” I said, “whoa, did you ever watch anything beyond a clip of him speaking?” I was actually saying the last part while she was shouting at me, hands in the air, “NO NO!” I said “okay.” And went back to talking to other people.
About 10 minutes later, she came back. She wanted to show me where she got her news. At this point, you’ve talked over me, yelled at me, and you think I want to continue to interact with you? I said, ‘I have nothing to say to you. You talked over me and refused to let me finish a sentence.” She insisted, she was just trying to educate me. Wrong thing to say to someone who is twice your age (at least) and has 3 degrees. I said, “i’m not here for this, and I”m not continuing this” and walked away.
And then she informed that the guy across the way who was wearing a t-shirt with a confederate flag on it was causing her extreme anxiety. It made her afraid for her child. (Her child wasn’t there.) She’s lost so many rights! I said, “let me tell you about fighting for rights.” She was not about to hear anything. I turned to my friend and said, “I have to go.”
I’m still shaking my head.
At any rate, that mess is over. I will continue to go to board meetings and speak out, and I actually had a very friendly conversation with the two “real” conservatives at the last meeting. In the meantime, my nephew is staying here with us for as long as he wants and I’m sure there will be more – and more fun – stories to share.
Suziecreamcheese Sings the Blues 
