Patricia Bourdoumis: thousands
like her will get out the vote
POLITICS, it has been said, is the
engine of government. If this is so, then
the analogy can be extended to call
precincts the boiler rooms of politics. In
these confines you can find the precinct
committeemen converting local talent
into the energy that makes the political
system work. It is incumbent upon any
student of government and politics now
and again to go into these boiler rooms
and talk with the people who end up
with raw knuckles and callouses the day
after an election. The morale, attitudes,
and stamina of these people provide
important clues as to the general
condition of the political engine.
Patricia Bourdoumis, a native and
resident of Hillsboro, the county seat of
Montgomery County, is the mother of
two young children and secretary to the
principal of Hillsboro Junior High
School. She has completed one year of
college at Washington University in St.
Louis and is married to Nick Bourdoumis, who works for Illinois Consolidated Telephone Company. She became
active in politics because she likes to
meet people and finds the issues interesting. Previously serving as secretary to
the Montgomery County Republican
Central Committee, she was her husband's campaign manager in his unsuccessful 1974 bid for treasurer of Montgomery County. Currently, she is
Republican precinct committeeman of
Hillsboro's fifth precinct, one of the
most populous in that county.
In two interviews over a four-week
period last summer, I talked politics
with Committeeman Bourdoumis.
Most of the time she sat on the edge of her chair, prefacing each comment with
a deep breath that must indicate some of
the potential energy that she brings to
her job as precinct committeeman.
Burns: How much time does your
precinct work take?
Bourdoumis: All day election day, of
course. Before the election, we have
workers going house-to-house throughout the entire precinct. We make phone
calls before the election. This generally
adds up to a solid week. The organization and distribution of literature takes
a lot of time, too. I try to make a list of
what I have to do each day before the
election. Of course, I was helping my
husband in his race, so I was even busier
last time. Scheduling becomes very
important. Getting literature out, meeting people, and attending party functions in the county take every night as
the election gets closer.
Burns: Do you find that, because
you're a committeeman, people come to
you for help in other things that require
phone work, contacting people, and so on?
Bourdoumis: Oh yes, Cancer Crusades, school bond issues, ice cream
socials — people are always looking for
someone who knows the area and is
willing to work. Ifs hard work, but it
keeps you in contact with your neighbors. That's the best thing about it.
Going to different places in the county
and seeing people that you have met
while working on this project or that.
Burns: Do you know all of the voters
in your precinct by name?
Bourdoumis: Sure, I've lived here all
of my life. New people move in all of the
time, of course, but working with the
school system keeps me in touch with
the new people.
Burns: How important is personal
contact in politics?
Bourdoumis: Oh, it's really important. You can never overestimate its importance — especially in the smaller communities. People in small towns
want to know that they count. Too
many politicians forget about these
people.
Burns: Does the system work the
other way? Do people come to you and
say that this is bothering me, or can't
you do something about such-and-such?
Bourdoumis: Yes, they want to know
about particular candidates. If they're
having a problem with government,
they want to know how to contact
someone who can help them. Sometimes they want a job, or want to know
how to go about getting a job.
Burns: And what do you do?
Bourdoumis: Having been secretary
to the central committee, I merely call
the offices of our legislators. They take
care of it from there. Usually they return
the call. Other precinct committeemen
go through their county chairmen.
Burns: Have you ever supported
candidates that were Republicans, but
that you personally didn't like?
Bourdoumis: No, never.
Burns: Do you think that most precinct committeemen feel that way?
Bourdoumis: I doubt it. It's hard to
tell really. We don't usually talk about
that sort of thing.
Burns: Would you "lay off a candidate if the party told you to?
Bourdoumis: No, not if I were convinced he had the right ideals. I'd give
him a chance if I personally believed in
him. I might be wrong, but I'd let the
voters decide that for themselves. It
would annoy me a little to be told to do
something like that.
Burns: Do you have any personal political ambitions?
Bourdoumis: Not at this time. The
amount of time and money that has to
be spent in a campaign is tremendous.
It's easier for people who have money,
because they can just leave their jobs to campaign.
10 / March 1976 / Illinois Issues
government seem more alive to them and really impressed them. Representative [Douglas] Kane [D., Springfield] was at the Burbank School fifth grade. He answered questions about the legislature and the most pressing issue to the students: the selection of the state animal. It may seem trivial, but it's a great experience for them. Maybe once this interest is started, it will continue.
Burns: Is becoming a precinct committeeman a good place for a younger person to start in politics? What advice would you give to a young person who wanted to start in politics?
Bourdoumis: I started with the Young Republicans, did a lot of work with them, and learned the ropes, met people. I'd tell them to start in organizations like this first, then become precinct committeemen.
Burns: You've said that the best part of your job is meeting people. What is the worst part of your job?
Bourdoumis: People telling you that they'll do one thing, and then doing another.
Burns: Could you expand on that?
Bourdoumis: People telling you that they'll vote your ticket or candidates, and then they either don't vote or vote for someone else. I'm not sure why they act that way. This sort of thing was my biggest disappointment when I started in politics. When it comes to politics, people seem to draw a line. When they step over that line into politics, they behave differently than they did on the other side of the line. Thank goodness, most of them return after it's all over.
Some 11,600 elected Republican and Democratic precinct committeemen in downstate will join Mrs. Bourdoumis in getting voters to the polls on March 16. Captains in Chicago and Cook County's 4,835 precincts are appointed by elected ward and township committeemen.
