BBQ Politics

My name will be on the ballot this year for the New England Barbecue Society Board of Directors. If you are a NEBS member, I ask that you please consider voting for me when you receive your ballot next month.

I attended the monthly NEBS BOD meeting yesterday as a guest, as I have been doing for over a year now. The nominating committee is working diligently this week to finalize their recommendations to the BOD in regards to who will be on the ballot (in addition to me) and also how many Directors will be on the Board next year. The way it is looking, there will be six spots available and four incumbents up for re-election. Assuming the incumbents will all get re-elected, and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't, that leaves two available spots.

I really can't bash the four incumbent candidates who are running for another term. They are all fine people, and each of them brings something to the table and will continue to contribute to the good of barbecue in New England.

My "platform" is simple:

1) To improve member services in order to retain current NEBS members and to increase membership. The best way to do this is to ask members what they want to get from their NEBS membership and then, as a Board, figure out the best way to make that happen. More barbecue/grilling classes (both beginner and competition level) and additional member discounts are two things that immediately come to mind, but we should let the membership tell us what they want.

2) To promote barbecue in New England. This is very broad, I know. But I think more can be done to spread the word that barbecue is alive and well in NewEngland. The success of competition teams like iQue and I Smell Smoke!! are certainly getting the attention of the barbecue community, but there are other ways to promote barbecue in New England as well. Holding informational meetings across New England, forming more relationships with barbecue restaurants, and getting more ink in the local press are other ways to do this besides competing in contests. And we need to do this across ALL of New England...not just in Massachusetts! Otherwise we might as well call ourselves the Massachusetts Barbecue Society.

Regardless of who you end up voting for, I hope you will do your research beyond the standard questions/answers that appear on the web site and in the National Barbecue News. Ask the candidates questions. If the person is an incumbent, ask which committees they were part of this past year and what their duties were on those committees. Ask what was accomplished on those committees. If the person is not an incumbent, ask how many BOD meetings they have attended as a guest this year. My answer: all of them. Since a NEBS member can participate on committees without being on the BOD, ask the person how many committees they served on this year. My answer: three, which is more than some of the already elected Directors served on.

Thanks again for considering me, and happy voting. Hope to see you all at the NEBS holiday party on December 5th!