My First Step into Politics?

OK, probably not, but still…

Volunteering to be a picket captain for a strike that didn’t happen apparently got me on SPEEA’s list of People Who Do Things. One of the Things we do when we’re not planning for a strike is have Council Representatives who represent specific districts (geographical concentrations of SPEEA members).

Council Rep is an unpaid position, and has almost no power. It somewhat unsurprising, then, that the union has trouble filling the slots. The Everett region has 29 districts with one to six representatives each (total of 59) for which we had 61 candidates. However, candidates must represent their own district. Eight of those districts don’t have enough candidates this year (four, including one with two seats, have none) and ten have more candidates than seats, the latter triggering an election. I’m in one of the remaining eleven districts that managed to have exactly as many candidates as seats, which means we (and the folks from the under-represented districts) will automatically get seated.

Now we get to the tiny shred of politics. I didn’t just throw my name in the hat on my own. One of the union staff called me and asked me to (see above note about People Who Do Things). In order to transform myself from ‘interested’ to ‘candidate’ I had to collect the signatures of 15 of my fellow engineers endorsing me for the position – or, since they wouldn’t be bound to support me if we actually had an election, endorsing me over an empty seat.

I collected 18 (the form had spaces for 18 in case some non-union engineer sneaks in by mistake). Yes, I physically walked up to 18 people (more than that, actually, I asked a few people who were Techs, and thus not eligible to sign due to arcane union rules) and asked them to sign something supporting me, personally. I wrote up a brief (84 words) statement about myself in case the race was contested.

And I did it in four hours, in between other tasks at work.

I’m sure it isn’t the shortest campaign in history but it was, in fact, a campaign.

Sure, I’ve been elected before. I held offices in APhiO and KGB in college, for example. However I never, that I remember, actually spent time trying to drum up support, no matter how fleeting. Candidate statements, if any, were brief and usually verbal-only during whatever meeting the elections were held at. Further, the offices were secondary positions. Secretary, Sergeant At Arms, Historian, and so on, rather than President, Treasurer, or some such. Staff officers, in military terms, rather than command positions. Well, one exception; I was the Chapter representative for an APhiO National Convention.

Council Rep is a very junior post too, but it is a command slot.

This position also has one other difference from any elected position I’ve had to date. It is a consciously chosen stepping stone to something larger – in this case, eventual participation in contract negotiations between SPEEA and Boeing.

OK, I only beat an empty seat. Still… everyone has to start somewhere.