J Y Provocative Question #9: Running for Office

In the spirit of election season, running for office is this week’s provocative question theme. Well, we all know that the Big Apple is a democratic town. But some old dude from a Republican political club was knocking on doors recruiting new club members.

Yeah, the old dude knocked on True_George’s door, since he made the effort, I invited him in to hear what he had to say.   

The conversation was pretty good, and Just as this old man was getting ready to leave, he said that the republican party was looking for candidates to hold the Brooklyn borough republican chairman office. Well, I didn’t have anything to lose so I agreed to have my name on the ballot.

I never really did anything since the republican party was sponsoring my candidacy. But, I started getting letters from the Board of Elections letting me know that if I sign the enclosed form that was included in their correspondence I can be removed from the ballot.

The board of elections followed up with more letters insinuating that if I didn’t consent to be on the ballot, that I can get my name removed. I found it really strange for these letters to come asking if it was a mistake that my name was placed on the ballot. Naturally, I ignored those letters.

On the day of the election when I went into the voting booth. I saw that there were only three candidates running for the borough’s republican chairman’s office. I got a kick out of seeing my name on the ballot. I voted for myself, well if anything at least I got one vote.  

When the results came out, I was surprised that I got over fifty-three thousand votes, and was the runner up. The winner only has a couple thousand more votes than I did. Wow, imagine if I campaigned.  I probably could have won.

Nowadays, the only political office that I hold is that of a Union delegate at the government office where I make the daily bread serving as a supervising government bureaucrat.

Yes, you think only the heads of government agencies are the only ones engaging in politics with elected and appointed government officials and the public. I can tell you that politics is prevalent on every level of a government agency, from the lowest person on the totem pole to the highest. The only difference is that the budget is bigger the higher you get.  So, believe it or not politics is a fact of life in a government bureaucrat’s career.  

What True_George experienced interacting as an Union Delegate among the managing bureaucrats, supervising bureaucrats and rank and file bureaucrats, labor relations, and the Union’s governing body is another story.