By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
A majority of the Beaufort County Democratic Party’s executive committee voted Saturday to fund a local party headquarters as part of an election-year strategy to ward off Republican assaults.
The next step: raise funds to pay for the headquarters.
It’s projected that keeping a headquarters open for nine months could cost the party $7,965.86, including utilities, other costs and a $450-a-month rent for office space on Washington’s Market Street, said Alice Mills Sadler, the county Democrats’ chairwoman.
Trouble is, the party had only $4,028.96 in its treasury at last report, according to the minutes of an October meeting.
“All of us Democrats know it takes money to run a party; it takes money to run a campaign,” Sadler told around 25 committee members and guests at Saturday morning’s session in Washington.
It appeared that two committee members voted against a motion to approve funding the headquarters, though the “no” votes seemed conditional.
John Murphy, vice chairman of the Democrats’ Woodard’s Pond precinct organization, voiced a “no” during a final call on the motion.
Earlier, Murphy had said the party should raise additional funds before committing to the expense of a headquarters.
In related comments, Serena Gaynor, Blounts Creek precinct chairwoman, told the committee that Democrats opened a satellite headquarters in donated space in Aurora during the 2008 election season.
The Washington headquarters would be “some distance” from Aurora, she pointed out.
“You know, I can only bring so many people in my little car,” Gaynor said.
Gaynor said the cost of running the satellite headquarters might reach just $350 because the donated space is available again this year.
Doug Mercer, a Washington city councilman, observed that similar requests for satellite headquarters could flood in from other localities if the committee acquiesced to the Aurora plea.
“The next thing you know you’re going to have four or five satellites,” Mercer said, adding that could increase operations costs.
Sadler advised the committee to focus on the main issue of a central headquarters.
“In the election, I think you need a headquarters, and then you’re going to have to raise money for it,” she stated.
Murphy made a motion to table the headquarters issue altogether, receiving a second, but the majority voted down his motion.
“One of our issues is always money,” Sadler acknowledged later while handling a portion of the agenda dealing with precinct reports.
Later in the meeting, Sadler said the county party plans to hold a fundraiser in the spring, with a hoped-for goal of $12,000.
“And I hope we meet and exceed that goal,” she said.
Also during the session, Murphy asked that the committee mull over publicity and media relations.
Murphy said Beaufort County Republicans had been receiving “quite a bit of press,” and that the Daily News had reported being unable to reach representative Democrats for comment.
“The paper’s been silent on our activities,” he said, adding that the party needed to boost its image.
“I think we really need to improve our visibility because the Republicans are sucking it up,” Murphy asserted.
Responding to Murphy’s query about facilitating media contact through another party officer, Sadler replied, “Not without them knowing what I want said.”
She said the committee has a designated publicity contact.
Sadler indicated that she’s interested in press that addresses the party’s goals and targets, and continued by saying the issues she hasn’t been available to discuss with the media were issues the party wasn’t zeroing in on.
“I’m not interested in dog-fight press,” she said.
Soon after, Sadler had to exit to attend a funeral, designating Ann Cherry, secretary, to run the meeting.
After Sadler left, Gaynor said the executive committee hadn’t met since Oct. 17.
“That’s too long,” she said. “In the meantime, other people are getting their message out here, and we’re going to get stomped if we’re not careful.”
She later added that some intra-party e-mails gave the impression of “an in-house fight,” saying, “That kind of stuff could destroy us.”
Some of those present chided the Daily News for what they termed inaccurate reporting.
John Chrystal, chairman of the North Creek precinct, said a candidates workshop scheduled to follow Saturday’s meeting wasn’t sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of Beaufort County, a group that isn’t officially affiliated to the Democratic Party.
The PDBC devoted a portion of a late-2009 meeting to discussing the workshop. A WDN article on the meeting reportedly led some area Democrats to wonder aloud if the progressives were attempting to put their imprint on the workshop.
“The Progressive Democrats, we’re just providing bodies,” Chrystal said. “That’s all.”