What Next?!?!

And then, believe it or not, all of those chance questions made me think of the County Party, Public Relations team, of which I am the 'straw boss'. Oh, by the way, in case you had not heard about it, the County Party gave me an award, not too long ago, for supposedly creating, and keeping going, the troika of the County Party communication efforts. That would be the newsletter ("Democrat"), the TV show (Democrats' Forum), and this, the as-yet unnamed County Party website. Of course, you already know, that those are bogus notions, that I really did not, nor can I, make all of that happen. But what can I say; they gave me the award, and now I seem to be stuck with "IT."

Anyway, the bug and the award have given me the opportunity to tell you, the local Democrat, that things have changed, in terms of how the County Party conveys its notions. For those of you who follow the "Democrat," you probably have noticed the evolution, e.g., the shift in style. The newsletter no longer is a lithographed-looking, sort of handout. Its final production comes out of a genuine print shop, i.e. the Goldenrod. The colors on the "Democrat" banner occasionally will change, somewhat mysteriously, I might add. All in all, though, the final end product has been noticeably improved, to me at least.

The "Democrat" no longer demands that its readers refuse to buy grapes; nowadays, of course, we could ask that you not buy any bananas [That's a joke]. Instead, there generally are some well-written articles, plus a few which purposively are provocative. And, of course, one or two mediocre ones will creep in, now and then, as well.

The authors vary from elected officials to aspiring candidates, from local County Party leaders to previously-known, but seldom heard-from, Democrats; almost all have been coaxed into giving their political views. Occasionally, an unknown Democrat will make a showing, too. There have even been a couple of times when a popularly-renowned Republican has been asked to submit some unique ideas, i.e. from his/her perspective. In any case, the "Democrat" basically has become a lot more readable, plus has contained a lot more that makes you want to take time to read it.

As for the County Party TV show ("Democrats' Forum"), it has its own set of unexplained mysteries. Traditionally, the Forum has used an interview format, with new guest(s) being chatted with every two weeks. The big piece of logic behind that format is that's how often CableVision permits the County Party to use the community access equipment, i.e. every other Sunday afternoon. Thus, during those mid-day-of-rests, when you might still be thumbing through the morning paper, or you then might happen to be getting sick of your in-laws' inane remarks (made while eating your cold fried chicken), stop a moment, to think about the team. Indeed, that might be just the moment when the County Party is working at showing off some Democrat, elected or not, by taping an interview.

Now, the "Democrat" is delivered about once per month, via snail mail, to 600 or so addresses. In turn, the "Democrats' Forum" is broadcast three times per week, on Channel 20, to 100,000+ receivers. To me, the "Democrat" makes a great leap of faith, toward professional quality. In contrast, the "Democrats' Forum" often looks like amateur-night, gone bad.

Nonetheless, had you as a local Democrat watched each and every "interview," then you would have acquired an excellent, grass roots understanding, of what the 'flavors' are, in the political mix of Lancaster County. Democrat Governor and County Commissioners, School Board members and even the Register of Deeds have all withstood the 30-minute taped interview. Like the "Democrat," there have been multiple aspirant Democratic candidates, who have put forth their ideas during one of the "Democrats' Forum" shows. Slightly different than the "Democrat", though, has been the assortment of local County Party officials, noted local civic leaders, plus the stray local lobbyist or two, who also have aired on "Democrats' Forum", rather regularly.

The last of the County Party conveyances of ideas is this "thing," which you are now reading, i.e. the County Party website. The first year of its existence (1997), the website had 800+ 'hits'. The second year, the 'hits' more than doubled. Who knows what the number will be for 1999, except that it is likely to be larger yet; as we all know, absolutely every modern day company, each toothpaste advertisement, and most self-appointed swamis have a website address, and every one of them religiously keep tracks of their 'hits'.

Most of our website 'hits' have been from the US of A. However, we have a 'hit' from Niue {GO LOOK IT UP!}, as well as from other foreign countries, too. In any event, it always has seemed to me an incredibly exciting reality, that some political notion, given first life here in Lancaster County, not only can be read by a local Lancasterian, but by a vast number of other people, somewhere out there, well beyond the boundary of our County line.

In addition to much of the types of people and notions as are found in either the "Democrat," or the "Democrats' Forum," or both, the website has other features as well. One of the features there that I always have enjoyed has been the "columnists"; almost sounds a little subversive, no?!? The 'columnists' are local Democrats, who generate political opinions, on matters which have to do with Lancaster County. The viewpoints of the 'columnists' seldom are seen anywhere but on the County Party website. Even so, there are potentially millions who could be readers of these local ideas; why, a 'columnist' could be famous in Niue, and yet be totally unknown hereabouts.

So, you are asking, what does all this have to do with poor pest control and bogus awards? Well, by analogy, your Public Relations team has pushed and wheedled its way into all manner of places, often crossed new frontiers, plus has made new boundaries. By doing the customary, and the not so customary, this team has ended up changing the expectations that others have of it. And since the County Party team has this working troika, whatever there is to be communicated can be taken near and far, solely or in an overlapping fashion. To me, the best is but yet on the horizon, only dimly glimpsed.

Having all of these ventures in communications, past and present, naturally shouts of a host of many, all of whom I have purposively left unnamed here. These have been people who have put in countless hours for each tidbit of County Party 'information' that you have consumed. Not only do they believe in the Democratic County Party, but they believe and trust in the thousands of you, the collection of Democratic voters in this County.

Thus, the award that I received was not so much for what I did, but represented all that they had done, i.e., on the team. Now, you might have thought that the various team members would wait with awe for my sundry leadership pronouncements. Well, fortunately, and not-so-fortunately, the team members frequently have taken me with much less seriousness than I myself have. Irrespective of that sort of happenstance, though, the team has consistently turned out a superior product of County Party information, on a solid dependable basis.

As for the County Party award itself, it turned out to be a beautiful, but blank, 11"x14" picture frame. Near the top of the front is printed, "This Frame Is Suitable For Displaying Your Diplomas, Awards, Certificates, Letters, And Other Treasured Documents." Since there was nothing in the frame, I had the great idea of going back to where the lady bug was, so that I could capture her, with scotch tape, and thereby put the diminutive creature right in the middle of the glass; she would then be my permanent, inspirational reminder.

But alas, the lady bug had since gone. And on that basis, then, it seemed that I too should so be from here. However, I have appreciated that you have read, this far. My ongoing hope is that you will continue to sample all of the well-nigh, daily wares of the Public Relations team, in whatever form you discover them. And in this day and age, who knows what you will find there, next!!!