What does a homegrown citizen movement look like?
Jefferson County, West Virginia is a rural county located 60 miles northwest of Washington, DC. It is known for being the location of John Brown’s Raid and other significant events in American history. Tourists flock to enjoy breathtaking scenery.
Jefferson’s neighbor, Loudoun County, Virginia, is America’s fastest growing county. In the late 1980s, land speculators swarmed into Jefferson County viewing its untouched farmland as a developer gold mine.
The speculators were welcomed into Jefferson County by “Court House” insiders. This web of family and business elites had run Jefferson since the Civil War. Elected and appointed officials had grown arrogant, unaccountable, and out of touch with the citizens they were supposed to serve. By the late 1990s, they were about to leverage their unchallenged power to reap the riches of urban sprawl.
In 1998, the developers briefly exposed their agenda by presenting a master plan to run water and sewer lines throughout the Jefferson County, literally laying the groundwork for explosive growth. Local officials embraced the plan. More importantly, they shut down public comment and held countless meetings without involving, or even informing, the public.
The water and sewer master plan, and the blatant abuse of power by the Court House elite, were the sparks that ignited one of the most successful local reform movements in America.
A dozen concerned citizens mapped out a strategy to create a “level playing field”. This meant opening-up public meetings to the public; making public documents readily available to the public; making sure elected and appointed officials served public, not private, agendas, and making sure the rule of law prevailed.
The first step was creating an information network so the diverse and geographically dispersed concerned citizens could communicate and share knowledge. The “Listener” website and forum quickly grew to 1,000 participants. It spawned home-based gatherings to discuss what to do. One group, the “Sewer Underground” met bi-weekly and focused on stopping the water/sewer lines.
As local officials flaunted their conflicts of interest, it became clear that only by electing “reform minded” candidates would things change. Reformers ran classified ads in the local newspapers to recruit candidates. In 2000, one answered the call.
This first candidate had never run for office, in fact she broke out in sweats when speaking publicly. She ran for County Commissioner against a well-financed and well-connected member of the Court House elite. She lost, but inspired others.
In 2002, “Citizens for Jefferson’s Future” ran another set of ads for candidates. This time they fielded a complete slate for the School Board and for two County Commission seats. They won them all. Their 2000 losing candidate was one of the landslide winners for the School Board, ending years of nepotism and sole source contracting.
In 2004, Jennifer Maghan, a recently returned veteran, answered the ad for County Clerk. She was interviewed by reform leaders at the local Dairy Queen. It was a critical moment. The longest serving clerk in West Virginia was retiring and the Court House elites wanted complete control of voting and public records. The local media consistently supported the Court House candidates and denigrated the reformers.
Jennifer was outspent 10-1, but her charismatic personality and the 2002 momentum won the day. The reformers also won another County Commission seat achieving a 3-2 majority. Jennifer became the first Republican to become Jefferson County Clerk since the county was formed in 1803. She also became the first Korean-American to be elected to public office in West Virginia’s history.
Emboldened by two series of victories that shocked the Court House elite, the reformers moved swiftly to revolutionize the County’s government, digitalizing documents, creating websites, and ushering in the most open and transparent government in the state.
Battles were won, but the war continued. The developers created their own Political Action Committee (PAC) and hired consultants. They fought their way back into a County Commission majority in 2008.
Thankfully in
2010, Jennifer was re-elected by the largest margin in the county’s
history. She was catapulted to national
prominence by turning her opponents attack, “stop stirring the pot”, into her
campaign symbol. Her ads went viral and
were merchandized as t-shirts. They became iconic in the battle to topple the Court
House elite. It bolstered the election of
a reform-minded judge, who won by a landslide.
In 2014, a veteran was recruited to run for County Commission. He was the first candidate to exclusively use Facebook to achieve victory. That same year, the reformers recruited two faith-based House of Delegate candidates. Both became the “gold standard” for door-to-door campaigning. One won and one lost. The one who lost ran for State Senate in 2016 and won, having been outspent 21-1!
2016 was the landslide year for the reformers. They won everything. Two Commissioners, a new Clerk (as Jennifer retired), all state legislative seats in the County, and for the first time since the County was formed in 1803, a Republican County Prosecutor.
Today, Jefferson County remains a model for open accountable government and citizen activism.
The lessons are numerous:
- Have a strategy.
- Have a committed core of leaders who will remain involved for years.
- Realize that it will take years to sustainably prevail.
- Actively
recruit candidates. Do not depend on party functionaries.
- Always
look for new candidates as elected ones will retire or run for other
offices. Never let the other side’s
candidates run unopposed.
· One way to recruit and credential candidates is appoint them to local boards and commissions (planning, emergency service, parks & recreations, etc.). Serving on these panels is a great way to learn about government processes, running meetings, public speaking, and messaging.
- Losses are inevitable. Learn and regroup.
- Good candidates and good issues will live to win another day.
- The
opposition will not give up and will fight back.
- Combine technology (social media) with traditional actions (door-to-door).
- Money matters but mobilizing volunteers and igniting “fervor” among your supporters matter more.
Deliver on your promises. Voters want change – give it to them.
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