In our many years of Friday Night gatherings, there are a few subjects that we seldom broach. One of those is politics although I have to say that in the last two or three years we have, indeed, done a bit of serious broaching… How can anyone avoid it these days?
But any political discussions we have are mostly about national concerns. We have stayed away from local politics. In a small community (and I’m talking the Peninsula or even Pacific County here – not our miniscule village of Oysterville) where friendships and politics often overlap in strange ways, it makes for better social gatherings to leave political opinions out of our chit-chat. Last night was a huge exception.
We devoted our Friday Night to a Meet and Greet for Pam Nogueira Maneman who is running as an Independent for the office of Pacific County Prosecutor. We had met her at a similar gathering at the Shelburne a month or so ago and we were impressed. We wanted our friends to meet her and to hear what she had to say about her own plans if she is elected and how her philosophy differs from the current status.
Usually, attendees at our Friday Nights are a bit of a surprise – our friends just come if they can, knowing we’ll be here unless we’ve let them know otherwise. There have been a few times when only two or three other people have been here but usually it’s more like thirteen or fourteen. However, for this Meet and Greet, we wanted to be sure that Pam would have an audience, so I let our “regulars” and a few others know and asked for RSVPs.
There were fourteen of us and it was a perfect number. Pam took ten or fifteen minutes to talk about her background and experience – born in Brazil 27 years ago, an exchange student at Raymond High School, graduated from high school in Brazil, undergraduate work at UW, completed three-year UW law school program in two years, became a U.S. citizen, has worked in law offices in both Pacific and Grays Harbor Counties etc. – and then it was just questions, answers, and lively discussion. Everyone seemed appreciative of this opportunity to meet Pam and I believe the feeling was mutual.
I understand that the AAUW will be sponsoring a Candidates Forum for all those running for County offices – July 10th, Ilwaco High School, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Pam says she will be there for sure. So will we! (I didn’t realize until last night that voting in the primaries begin July 20th here! High time to become better informed!)
I am sorry that despite being landowning taxpayers we cannot vote. She surely would have ours!