Annual Dorchester County Democratic Dinner, and Election 2012

The Dorchester County Democrats’ 2012 Alice J. Cicenia Dinner is over but certainly will not be forgotten. With this being an election year, a fired-up crowd of over 130 Democrats attended our annual dinner and fundraiser, held at the Holiday Inn Express on Saturday, September 29. Elected officials including Dorchester County Councilman Willie Davis, Summerville Town Councilman Aaron Brown, State Sen. John Matthews, and Representatives Seth Whipper, David J. Mack III and Patsy Knight were there, as were candidates Miriam Birdsong, running for Dorchester County Council District 6, Paul Tinkler for SC Senate District 41, and Bobbie Rose for U.S. Congress, Congressional District 1.  State Party Executive Director Amanda Loveday and neighboring Berkeley County Democratic Party Chair Melissa Watson also attended the dinner.

While the Alice J. Cicenia Dinner is our annual fundraiser, it is also a time for Dorchester Democrats to come together to get reenergized as we pursue our mission of turning Dorchester County blue, and to recognize those who have dedicated their lives to this cause. Last year, we established The Alice J. Cicenia Distinguished Service Award, presented to individuals who have worked tirelessly in the pursuit of Democratic values. This year’s recipient is Dr. David E. Rison. With wife Susan and daughter Jennifer in attendance, David was presented the award from Chairman Hayes, who stated that David exemplifies the meaning of public service through his life’s dedication to the Democratic Party, and his many years of service to the County Party.

Rep. Mack’s keynote address touched on many important Democratic themes. Filled with personal stories and anecdotes, Rep. Mack also focused on the serious side of politics, stressing that we Democrats should not let others define who we are; we stand for strong support of the middle and working class, strong public education, strong support to small business, strong effort for jobs that provide a living wage, and affordable health care.  We also support balancing the budget and keeping middle class taxes as low as possible. We need leadership to make County and State Government efficient and effective, which the Republicans have failed to do!

Our candidates like Patsy Knight, Paul Tinkler, Miriam Birdsong and Bobbie Rose stand for fairness, support to voters, support for those who have less than we have. This means that when it comes to balancing the county and state budgets, our priorities are to put our children first. We believe we are called by our God to ensure our children, the next generation, will have good schools to learn in, food to eat, medical care when needed, and good living-wage jobs available when they graduate from high school and college.

Unlike the other party, Democrats do NOT believe in  getting rid of regulations that have given us clean air and clean water, giving away millions of dollars of state budget funds destined for public education to private school vouchers for the rich, and reducing taxes to a level that is causing our infrastructure to crumble.

I do not think Summerville needs any more motivation to elect Miriam Birdsong as the first woman to County Council from District 6, to re-elect Patsy Knight to continue her outstanding support of the voters of District 97, and vote for Bobbie Rose for Congress.