TRUST AND A CUP OF COFFEE GO A LONG WAY:
Profile of West Side Ward Chair Dorothy Wilkinson
By Sue Wolinsky
THE SCENE: A LOCAL COFFEE SHOP: She sat at the small table at the local coffee shop. Across sat two of Dorothy Wilkinson’s West Side precinct chairs. The conversation was lively, going well. “This is exactly what we need – to get to know each other,” she thought as she sipped her hot coffee. They talked about neighborhoods and voter lists – and how important it is to get Democrats identified and engaged now, four months before the Albuquerque city elections and less than a year prior to the 2022 primaries. Then the conversation focused on how difficult it is to contact local Democratic apartment dwellers. “We need to find a way to engage these voters,” she said.
“Well, let’s invite them to a shrimp boil; a good ole’ Louisiana shrimp boil!” Carole Eberhardt piped up. “I’ve done this a hundred times. You give me a list of our apartment neighbors and we’ll invite them to a crab boil in my yard. It’s plenty big and we will have fun.”
Dorothy, West Side Ward 23B chair and an apartment-dweller herself couldn’t believe her ears. “A shrimp boil?” she asked Carole. “Why, that’s very generous of you. This is a great way to get these voters engaged. A yummy meal and a chance to meet area Dems and some of our elected officials,” Dorothy said.
The shrimp boil will be held in August. Here is the postcard invitation that West Side Precinct Chair Mary Robert developed. A team of ward volunteers will address the postcards and call the targeted Dems a few days before the event.
STRATEGY PART 1: GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER: This is a typical conversation that this first-time ward chair has with her precinct chairs, one or two at a time; no more. She was elected at the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County spring meeting and soon after was elected to the State Central Committee (SCC).
Getting to know each other is Dorothy’s number one goal when first meeting with her precinct chairs. “We have to get to know each other, to trust each other. That’s the first step,” she said. “Then we (ward chairs) have to give them confidence, share some concrete ideas about what they could do, how they could reach out. Pretty soon they are coming up with spectacular ideas; one idea building on another.” So Dorothy thought, “how can we build on this to activate more apartment dwelling Dems?”
Within a matter of minutes, the synergy at the table boiled over into a plan. “If I just come up with an idea, it’s not going to work. But if we develop it together, we have a better chance to be successful,” she explained. A second event in another part of the ward is being scheduled for September. Her quiet, easygoing and persistent conversation style seems to be paying off, along with her cheerful smile and generous spirit. Ward 23B was reorganized after the 2020 election to align precincts with NM house districts. She has been meeting with many of her precinct chairs for the first time. Those she’s met with are getting engaged, with mucho gusto!
- Of the eight new precincts in her ward, only two lack chairs; she’s working on getting those seats filled quickly.
- She was also part of a team of phone bank volunteers to meet weekly in support of Melanie Stansbury in her Congressional bid.
- She spearheaded and helped publish a ward newsletter, which resulted in eight of her ward’s voters attend a West Side Ward Cluster Social in mid-July.
- She is engaging with volunteers in meaningful tasks that support our Democratic values. She and several precinct chairs attended the rally for Melanie at Mariposa Park the weekend prior to the election.
She’s only just begun. “I want to bring more new people and young people into the ward. I want to keep the established and active Dems engaged. The only way I’m going to be successful is to make sure precinct chairs and others in the organization are willing to reach out their hands,” she said.
STRATEGY PART 2: SHARING. “I believe in sharing information,” Dorothy said. When she recently developed the ward’s successful budget and grant application for the county party’s $200 ward grant, she shared drafts with all her precinct chairs. She believes this is successful because of that openness and inclusivity. Part of the grant will support the August shrimp boil; part will support the September event.
She also believes in giving her ward team credit when they are successful. “I believe I have to give credit where credit is due and not take it myself. We are a team,” she said.
HER ROOTS: Dorothy is a native New Mexican, raised in Carlsbad. She graduated from Carlsbad High School and earned a teaching degree from New Mexico State University. She taught for a year in Socorro but spent most of her teaching career in Gallup until she retired in 1999. She cherishes her time living in the beautiful country in northwestern New Mexico. “I became very appreciative of the Navajo philosophy ‘to walk in beauty.”
Along with teaching while she was in Gallup, Dorothy served as president of the McKinley County Federation of School Employees for about 20 yrs. “We fought for the right to bargain collectively. We continued to fight for collective bargaining for a long time… It took from 1972 to about 1997 to get collective bargaining for school employees,” she said. The victory was short-lived, as this piece of sunset legislation expired in 1999. While there, she also supported the campaigns of former Gov. Bill Richardson and former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. She retired in 1999.
She moved to Albuquerque in 2000 to enjoy her retirement. For 16 years, she enjoyed being with family, church friends, teacher friends. This restful lifestyle, too, proved to be short-lived, because when Trump was elected president in 2016, she knew she had to get back into political organizing.
“I saw a sign on my apartment complex bulletin board about Democrat precinct meetings. Two of us attended – Ivan Pfeiffer and me. He became ward chair. He asked me to become the precinct chair; I yes. We went to West Side Dem (WSD) meetings together. I got involved with the Keller campaign in 2017 and met other Democrat activists… By 2018, it became very clear to me that nobody expected me to sit around and do nothing,” she said. So she started talking to folks in Precinct 171 in her apartment complex.
“It was go-go-go. I saw the West Side turn from red to blue in 2018 and in 2020. I knew I had to do my part to make sure ‘the good guys won. I also did phone banking for the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party,” she said.
Those were her political formative years. Little did she know how they would prepare her for her work as Chair of Ward 23B.