Chairman stresses poverty

With nearly 11,000 Orange County residents living under the poverty line, the Democratic Party plans to focus on issues pertinent to those people, one party official said.

Jack Sanders, the newly elected chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, explained local politics and shared his plans for fighting poverty in the county during a Young Democrats meeting Monday night.

He plans to make Orange County a model for poverty work and link efforts of the party with UNC’s recently established Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, led by John Edwards, former U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate.

“Poverty is one of the critical issues,” he said. “It touches all of the other aspects of life and issues that the Democratic officials are interested in.”

In addition to an increased focus on poverty, Sanders said the Democratic Party plans to establish communication facilities for political interest groups.

Although Sanders, who was elected as chairman this month, has formulated some programs for the term, he said much work and organization must be done.

“We are a work in progress,” Sanders said. “We are in uncharted territory. We are inventing this stuff as we go.”

The Orange County Democratic Party is scheduled to have its first meeting next week.

Sanders said he is excited to share his plans with the UNC community and hopes to forge strong bonds with students.

“The UNC Young Democrats are a strong and dynamic Democratic organization,” Sanders said. “I wanted to meet the people and tell them about what we are doing.”

The party is looking to formulate stronger ties with the Young Democrats.

“What we need is a two-way street,” Sanders said. “We want the Young Democrats to help out in the elections. There are a lot of student votes here on campus. We also want the Young Democrats to help out with the political interest groups.”

Blakely Whilden, Young Democrats co-president, also said she hopes to develop a good working relationship with members of the county party.

“We wanted to have an understanding of county politics and how we can be influential as a group,” she said.

Members of the Young Democrats said they hope to gain a better grasp of Sanders’ plans during his next visit to campus.

“It is interesting to hear what they are planning to do on a local level,” said Katherine Florio, director of activism for the Young Democrats. “It will be interesting to hear back from him in a couple of months to see what’s been done and where things are headed.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.