David Plunkett is the new Democratic State Committee representative for Towns County following his election by the Towns County Democratic Committee March 9. Members of the State Committee adopt Party policy, legislative platforms, amend the charter and bylaws, and nominate and elect state party officers and Congressional District chairs.
“I appreciate the trust shown by my fellow Democrats in electing me to this position and look forward to promoting support for Democratic candidates and Democratic policies which promise a better and more prosperous future for all Georgians,” Plunkett said.
Plunkett, a retired attorney, has been an active member of the Towns County Democratic Committee since moving to Young Harris in 2017. He also serves as one of two Democratic appointees on the Towns County Board of Registration and Elections.
David Plunkett
Prior to moving home to Georgia, Plunkett was senior staff attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., served as legislative director and counsel to a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and was an elections specialist with the Alabama Secretary of State before that.
In Alabama, he was responsible for negotiating legislation to centralize voter registration in that state and worked on passage and implementation of the state’s first major reform of its campaign finance laws in 70 years.
While working for Democratic members of Congress he pursued federal campaign finance reform and helped negotiate authorization of a $1.6 billion science project at Oak Ridge, TN. He served as associate staff to the House Budget Committee from 1994 to 1996, the period that put the United States on track to budget balance and surpluses during the final four years of the Clinton administration before Republican policies under President George W. Bush sent the country spiraling into ever deepening deficit spending and debt.
“I’ll never forget listening to Republicans ranting about how our budgets would wreck the economy and destroy the country during committee hearings,” Plunkett said, recalling that experience. “Instead, Democratic policies of responsible spending and equitable taxation generated a period of extraordinary economic growth and job expansion, reduced poverty, led to the creation of whole new industries, and generated hundreds of billions of dollars in surpluses that could be used to pay down the national debt. It took Bush and a Republican-controlled Congress to sabotage the economy and bring about the financial calamity that our children and grandchildren will now have to pay for.”
At CSPI, Plunkett worked on reforms to the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety laws and regulations and served on the boards of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, which promoted better funding of FDA’s food and drug inspection programs; the Conference for Food Protection, which writes the model code used by states to guide inspections of restaurants and small food suppliers; and the Equitable Food Initiative, which works to improve relations between farm managers and farm workers.
A Georgia native, Plunkett lives with his wife, Vickie, in the house his parents built in Young Harris. He is a journalism graduate of the University of Georgia and received his law degree from the Antonin Scalia Law School (formerly the George Mason School of Law). He volunteers at Hope House of Union County, a charity that helps people facing a financial crisis remain solvent. He is also the author of two novels and a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.
The Towns County Democratic Committee is dedicated to supporting local Democratic candidates and the promise of an opportunity-driven society that serves all citizens of Towns County, allowing all of us to enjoy a better, safer, and more secure future. The Committee meets the second Thursday of each month at 5:30 pm in the Towns County Civic Center to discuss ways to improve life in Towns County, Georgia and the country. Anyone interested in bringing people together for a better America through respect for truth and the rule of law, pursuit of democratic principles of freedom and self-determination, and recognition of the dignity of all people, regardless of faith, origin, or race are welcome to attend.
