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CROSSING DOUGHERTY COUNTY PARTY LINES
Election is crucial to Democrats

• Dougherty county's Democratic Party chair says the 2008 election is pivitol for the county, state and country.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Constance Burkes is one of those people who can aptly be described as a force of nature.

An educational consultant who serves as chair of the Dougherty County Democratic Party, Burkes has a resume that can go one-on-one with anyone’s. The former Albany State University professor is a Fulbright Scholar, a diversity advocate and a social services expert whose list of “firsts” would make any group’s who’s who roster.

She’s the first in her family to graduate high school and college, the first African American to coordinate the West Virginia governor’s regional multicultural camp for youth, the first African American from West Virginia to be named a Fulbright Scholar and the first African-American woman to be named chair of the Dougherty Democratic party.

“When I arrived in Albany, one of the first things I did was ask where the NAACP, local Democratic party and League of Women Voters headquarters were,” Burkes said while taking a break from candidate qualification last week. “I couldn’t find any of them. When I finally found out where the NAACP headquarters was located, I asked someone on the block for specific directions.

“When they couldn’t tell me, I knew there was work to be done.”

Ever the activist, Burkes settled into adjusting to life in Albany before a historic state event woke her up to the reality of the task ahead.

“When Gov. (Sonny) Purdue was voted into office,” that was a wake-up call,” she said. “That was the first Republican governor in this state since Reconstruction. I knew it was time to get busy.”

So Burkes got together with local movers and shakers in the Democratic Party and helped reorganize it. In 2005, she was selected to chair the local party, and she has since been busy transforming it into one of the state’s most active groups.

Under Burkes’ leadership, the Dougherty Democratic party has reached out to local church, educational and civic organizations, has put together drives to register new voters and touch base with inactive voters already on the rolls and created programs that directly reach out to young people in the community.

The state Democratic Party has lauded the Dougherty group’s efforts, and many statewide Democratic groups have called on Burkes to help with their organizational efforts.

“I see voting not as a meal, but as a way of life,” Burkes said. “It’s a way of empowerment unlike anything else in this country. (Voters) get to decide who represents them in office, and those people in office determine many factors that directly affect everyone’s lives.

“It’s a responsibility we all share. We are responsible for putting qualified people in office, and we are responsible for holding those people accountable. If they don’t do the job, it is incumbent upon us as voters to put them out of office.”

Burkes said the Democratic Party — from local to statewide to national offices — will put forth a strong slate of candidates for the July 15 Democratic primary in the state and for the Nov. 4 General Election that will put someone new in the White House.

“This is a significant election in the history of this county, this state and this nation,” she said. “I think (Democrats) have some good people running and, as this has long been the party of diversity, I think we have candidates who will bring a spirit of inclusion.

“The Democratic party’s bylaws stipulate that we cannot endorse any of our candidates in any race that has a Democrat vs. Democrat. Once the primaries are decided, though, we will throw our support behind our candidates. I think it’s important that we get maximum participation from our voters to assure that Dougherty County continues to move up the ladder.”

That’s a move Constance Burkes has been making all her life.

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