CULLMAN – “If you watch the news you can see that the behavior and the rhetoric coming from the Republican frontrunners are downright scary. I’m 76-years-old and I’ve never worried about who the president was going to be if we lost. I knew if we lost that we’d have a president that I didn’t agree with, but now it’s just scary,” was the summation offered by former Cullman County Democrats Chairman Ronald Dillashaw on Saturday morning, March 12.
The Cullman County Democrats gathered for an informal meeting at the Chamber of Commerce, and Dillashaw took the podium for Chairwoman Karen Johnson, who recently returned from overseas. The group brainstormed how to move forward with recruitment and financing of young candidates and party member participation. The members voted to appropriate funds to advertise for party recruitment.
With no Democrats running in the local primary elections, the party had only the congressional and presidential races to decide on Super Tuesday, March 1. Electing Ron Crumpton to be the party’s U.S. Senate nominee for the general election in November, the local Democrats agreed to invite him to speak at an upcoming meeting.
47-year-old Crumpton has lobbied for many years in Montgomery for patients’ rights, medical marijuana legislation and protection of special needs citizens in schools and extended care facilities. He is currently the executive director of the Alabama Patients’ Rights Coalition and the Alabama Safe Access Project-ASAP. A native of central Alabama and current resident of Alabaster, Crumpton will face longtime incumbent Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, in the Nov. 8 election.
Party members also discussed the Democratic presidential candidates and their respective campaigns and applauded both former Sec. of State Hilary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, for running respectful and mature races.
The Cullman County Democrats meet on the second Saturday of each month at 8 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 9 at 8 a.m. in the Chamber of Commerce Conference Room.
