Appeared in the Glens Falls Post-Star on July 23, 2026:
The Other Velvet Rope
I simply cannot financially afford to be in politics.
A year ago I accepted the role of Democratic Committee chairperson for the Fort Edward Democrats. Retiring early from academia, I thought it would be a good way to dig deeper into the world of politics in a region where my party was struggling. I wanted… I want… to make a difference. And I’m all in. But the cost is exorbitant.
In an election year, events in support of our local candidates are held regularly. And as Democrats in Washington County, we are outnumbered and underfunded; every dollar has to work harder here than it does downstate. So when our candidates present meet-and-greets with donation tiers, I understand the reasoning. Fundraising is how a campaign survives in a district where the other side is already loaded or self-funding to the tune of millions. At first, I jumped in and gladly paid the price of admission. I got to know our local candidates, maybe even befriended one or two. But now that we’re closer to Election Day, the prices are rising, and the tiers are stacking.
I’m okay. My family is fine, although within our house, my wife and I have some serious concerns about our and our country's financial future… especially in regards to healthcare. But I now feel priced out of the very events I wholeheartedly want to support. I deeply care about this region and I adore our candidates; however, the velvet rope has fallen, and like an unfashionably dressed patron, I am standing on the wrong side.
Here’s what troubles me most: I’m not describing a personal budgeting failure. I’m describing the going rate of admission to democracy in a district where Democratic policies will improve people's lives. The messaging is mixed and, for me, this is a moral issue.
Grassroots politics is supposed to run on community grit, not entry fees. When the local committee chair, the person supposedly closest to the ground, has to think twice about a "cheap" ticket that would cost more than a week's grocery bill, what does that say about who actually gets a seat at the table? It says the table was never built for us in the first place.
This isn’t a complaint about any one candidate or campaign. Campaigns need money to compete, and I don’t begrudge anyone the tiers; I understand the math. But I think we, as a party, need to reckon honestly with what we’re asking of the volunteers who hold this whole thing together between elections: the local committees; the petitioners braving the elements as they go door to door; the people who show up to stuff envelopes, make phone calls, write texts, and bake cookies because they believe in something. We ask for their labor for free and then price them out of the room where the actual relationship-building happens.
There’s a version of Democratic politics that still believes in this: that a retired teacher in Fort Edward and a dairy farmer in Lisbon are on the same side of the rope, not opposite sides of it. Place over party. Neighbor over net worth.
I don’t have a tidy policy fix to offer here, only a plea to the people running these campaigns, at every level, from town committee to Congress: find a way to let the people who can’t pay still get in the room. We are the ones who will be here in January doing the unglamorous work of keeping these towns and villages organized long after the donor events are a memory.
I still believe in this work with all my heart and I will fight with every ounce of my being to get our candidates elected. I just wish it didn’t cost so much money to prove it.
Brian P. Katz is a retired college professor and current Chair of the Fort Edward Democratic Committee.
https://poststar.com/opinion/editorial/article_d546770a-cc6a-43af-94f1-3c4de61e56ac.html
