Political evolution, again

I got the first actual campaign letter today of the season. At least, it was the first for me. Even then, it wasn't really addressed to me, but to the person whose mail I am charged with taking care of. You get the picture.
Anyway, it wasn't really a letter, but a postcard. The card didn't really get into much depth, or issues, or really anything of substance, preferring to focus on the gold and purple logo and three-word slogan that have become nearly ubiquitous the last three years. I suspect that is mostly because the senders of the postcard, since the point was to ask you to vote for all three of the candidates whose names are listed, must be very confident that by now they have solid name-brand recognition, which isn't beyond reason as the Wisdom, Integrity, Family party have really dominated the last two Council elections. Indeed, by the end of the summer, I may end up being the only non-Wisdom, Integrity, Family party Tribal Council member left. I'm not going to lie, that is not a prospect which makes me optimistic, even giving the benefit of the doubt to some of this party's members alongside whom I work.
In looking on Grand Ronde On-Line I could see last night that my brother finally posted an introduction of his political action committee, the Grand Ronde for Open and Honest Leadership. Obviously, that was not news to me, having known about it for months, but for some reason the idea of a formal party I find on some levels encouraging, and even exciting. I really have no interest in being a political Last of the Mohicans, so seeing that help might be on the way, uncertain though it might be this year, is kind of a relief. But even more importantly, as the Tribe continues to grow financially, meaning the stakes in Council elections are higher, I am happy to see the first vestiges of a watchdog organization growing, because the more that we can make our electoral process based on issues and in the case of incumbents voting records, the better off our Tribe will be. I am genuinely hoping that others will agree.
I anticipate that there will probably be an attack or two lobbed against the PAC, though when or where that will come is not really certain, it seems that political attacks recently have usually come in public Council meetings, the infamous Leno letter notwithstanding. I could be wrong, maybe there won't be any attacks at all. But based upon the underground anti-ABC/PPP campaign that I've had to witness the last three years, it still might be safer to assume some sort of smear strategy will be waged. And why not? If a strategy works I would expect people to stick to it.
The real question is how effective will the PAC be? In reality we have kind of witnessed a similar occurrence before, in the Grand Ronde Voices Across America, the only other group I remember who would send out questionnaires to candidates and make those available to any interested parties. That was effective, as the three years I followed that process every year at least one of their endorsees was elected. Whether they regret endorsing some of the candidates they did might be another issue, but I do remember looking forward to reading the candidates' responses to questionnaires, as they were more informative than most campaign letters. There seemed to be a truly interested group of Tribal members back then and maybe, just maybe, this PAC is the kind of thing that will stir them.
I do know this. When I look at the Wisdom, Integrity, Family party letters of the last two years and many of their endorsers, a good deal of those people are not people who I see perusing Grand Ronde On-Line very often, much less this blog. Yet some, when I've spoken with them, seem pretty certain about why they are supporting those candidates that they do, which has made me immensely curious as to what gets discussed at their Sunday meetings in Sheridan, and what it is about me, as well as Angie Blackwell, Buddy West, Kathleen Tom, and Wink Soderberg, that incites such a strong desire to see the Council cleaned of our presence. I probably will never know, even though some of their supporters, or at least individuals who attended their meetings, clearly like me and one or two of them have even gone so far as to repeat what has been said about me and others at those meetings. The likely truth is that many of their supporters just know and like them on a personal level, and they just flat-out don't like me, Angie, Buddy, Wink, or Kathleen, and never will, which for many voters is reason enough to cast their ballots the way they do. I don't obsess over the idea, but more than anything it just makes eager to see more transparency in the selection process and political rallies of any perceived political groups in our Tribe. Republicans and Democrats both hold public conventions this summer, in fact they are televised. Voters get to see and hear what gets said and done at the rallies of both the party they support and the party they oppose. That's the way it should be.
The PAC, I think, is a step in that direction, one that was taken before but is happening all over again. I am glad.