January 18, 2008

BCC’s Center For Civic Engagement To Host News Conference
Tuesday To Discuss Details Of Workshop Focusing On How To Run For Office

-One-Day Workshop Is Free, Open To Public and Will Include Panel of Local Elected Officials-

(TOWN OF DICKINSON, NY) Broome Community College’s Center for Civic Engagement will host a news conference to highlight an upcoming seminar called; “So You Want to Run for Political Office and Make a Difference?!”. The news conference will be held at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 22, 2008 in the Klee Room, which is located on the second floor of the Decker Building on campus.

BCC Professor and Center for Civic Engagement Chairman Doug Garnar will host the news conference, which will also include; Broome County Democrat and Republican Chairpersons’ Eugene Burns and Debbie Preston, Independence Party Chairman Paul Battisti and Working Families Party Chairwoman Eileen Hamlin.

The “So You Want to Run for Political Office and Make a Difference?!” workshop will feature a distinguished panel of local political figures from a cross section of parties, gender, and age groups sharing why they ran for public office. Representatives from the BC Board of Election will also explain what is required to get a campaign off the ground and various Party officials explain how they can help.

“The workshop is a response to the continued “retreat by citizens” from the public realm as evidenced by last November election cycle when more than 40% of the local elections went uncontested and only 33.6% of the registered voters bothered to come out and cast a vote,” said Doug Garnar. “All the local party heads would concede that attracting new blood and hopefully young people is a difficult task and they support this type of non-partisan effort. BCC is hopeful that this first of a series of efforts to re-engage the average citizen might bring some “fresh faces” in to the political arena. Entering politics has been described by some as a “leap of faith” and the hope of the BCC Center for Civic Engagement is that we can help people make that leap of faith with some basic practical information.” 

Further discussions will cover networking, campaign ethics, understanding a budget, constituent relations and how to get more experience in the workings of government leading up to running for public office. This non-partisan workshop and light lunch is free and open to 50 registrants. This event is sponsored by the Broome Community College Center for Civic Engagement. Although this program is free of charge, pre-registration is required.

The “So You Want to Run for Political Office and Make a Difference?!” workshop will be held from 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Saturday, February 2 in room 201 of the Decker Building on campus.

A special effort will also be made to draw in high school seniors and local college students.  Doug Garnar and Chris Burger are the workshop facilitators and any questions can be directed to them by contact Doug Garnar at 778-5092/5219 or email at garnar_d@suynbroome.edu.