Somebody's gotta do it Why cursing at the news won't save the nation, but your name on a local ballot can
Book - 2020
"Back in the fall of 2016, before casting her vote for Hillary Clinton, Adrienne Martini, a knitter, a runner, a mom, and a resident of rural Otsego County in snowy upstate New York, knew who her Senators were, wasn't too sure who her Congressman was, and had only vague inklings about who her state reps were. She's always thought of politicians as . . . oily. Then she spent election night curled in bed, texting her husband, who was at work, unable to stop shaking. And after the presidential inauguration, she reached out to Dave, a friend of a friend, who was involved in the Otsego County Democratic Party. Maybe she could help out with phone calls or fundraising? But Dave's idea was: she should run for office. Someone had... to do it. And so, in the year that 26,000 women (up from 920 the year before) contacted Emily's List about running for offices large and small, Adrienne Martini ran for the District 12 seat on the Otsego County Board. And became one of the 14 delegates who collectively serve one rural American county, overseeing a budget of $130 million. Highway repair? Soil and water conservation? Child safety? Want wifi? Need a coroner? It turns out, local office matters. A lot"--
- Subjects
- Genres
- Autobiographies
- Published
-
New York :
Henry Holt and Company
2020.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First edition
- Physical Description
- xii, 222 pages ; 22 cm
- ISBN
- 9781250247636
- Introduction
- 1. Leap, Then Look
- 2. Not Ready to Make Nice
- 3. American Carnage Meets Pink Pussyhats
- 4. A New York State of Mind
- 5. The Confidence of a Middle-Aged White Guy
- 6. How to Get on the Ballot
- 7. Local Campaign? Local Issues
- 8. Calculate Your Win Number
- 9. "It's Complicated!" Is Not Messaging
- 10. Door After Door, Dollar After Dollar
- 11. Finance Forms, Fundraising Platforms, Debate Stage
- 12. Election Day
- 13. Swearing In and Setting Up (Or, All the Responsibility and None of the Power)
- 14. Ethics, Legislation, and Fiscal Policy (Or, Confidence Is What You Have Before You Understand the Problem)
- 15. The Room Where It Happens
- 16. Committee Work (Or, What Do You Do with a Corpse?)
- 17. Human Services (Or, Queer Justice, Government Shutdowns, and Our Kids)
- 18. Affordable Housing (Or, "Not in My Backyard, or Front Yard, or Within Twenty Square Miles, Frankly")
- 19. Balancing the People's Budget (Or, You Get the Representation You Pay For)
- 20. My County Rep Bucket List
- 21. I Believe that We Will Win
- Acknowledgments
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review