Hunkering Down in the Political Trenches

Allen Wilson lives and breathes politics. The Diamond Bar conservative is just about as involved in the Republican party as one can be, short of being elected to office.

On Sunday, Wilson returned to Diamond Bar from Sacramento where he joined the state Republican Party as a delegate — in his fourth appointment — and still spared time to post an article about Pomona politics to redcounty.com, where he is the Los Angeles County editor.

Wilson also represents the San Gabriel Valley as the party's regional vice chair for the Los Angeles County central committee. But his level of party involvement is not his only distinction.

"I carry the voice of five million (registered Republicans) as the lone hearing impaired Republican (delegate)," Wilson said. "and I'm trying to carry their voice as well as all of those in the district."

Aside from the problem of good representation, Wilson said he faces more practical challenges.

"The challenge for me at the central committee meeting or the delegation is that they don't have an sign language interpreter or a screen reader," Wilson said. "I have to watch the person and read their lips."

Wilson said training his friends in the central committee and party delegation to face him while speaking and to speak more loudly takes some time, but his closer associates have learned.

"A lot of people know of my disability and they know that I have a passion about opening doors for the deaf and building awareness," Wilson said. "But we still have a long way to go and I try to educate my peers in the party."

He said a number of barriers still exist.

"The California channel is not even closed captioned," Wilson said.

As a non-profit, the channel is not required by federal law to provide the service, Wilson said.

"We do not want a handout, we want a hand up," Wilson said. "Hearing people need to understand that deaf people have a lot of challenges in our lives."

Wilson said many of his friends in the deaf community have trouble finding a job — and confidence — because of their hearing impairment.

"I tell them, 'you can do it — you've got to reach for it,'" Wilson said.

Wilson's hearing impairment has not stopped him from getting involved.

"I was raised to not be sorry for your disability but to be grateful because you're on God's green earth," Wilson said.

If he misses something during a delegation hearing, Wilson said he can often turn to social media channels to find out what people are saying on Facebook or Twitter and jump in on the discussion.

At last weekend's convention, Wilson wrote that he rushed to the lobby of the Sacramento Hyatt when he read on Facebook that a group of disabled protesters that had arrived at the state Republican party convention.

Wilson wrote, in an article at redcounty.com:

"I saw a deaf gentleman signing with an ASL Interpreter, then I managed to have an engaging conversation with him in sign language... The gentleman was explaining to me about the daily challenges he and his disabled wife are confronted and the fear of the proposed cut backs made by Governor Jerry Brown and the legislature. I stressed to him that funding in all areas of state government were subject to cutbacks, because there is not enough money to squeeze out of all the taxpayers."

Facebook and Twitter, he said, have changed the way he engages in politics.

"Before, when there was no Facebook or Twitter, you had to go to a town hall meeting and now you can chit chat and retweet what somebody else said," Wilson said.

And Wilson is versed in the lingo of the age: to "retweet" is to relay another Twitter user's message onto one's own social network — a quick, digital "check this out!"

The retweet is what brought Wilson into the limelight for a flash during the 2010 California gubernatorial elections, when he sent out the message, "Tomorrow, I get to fire my Senator and hire @CarlyforCA to be my voice as U.S. Senator from California!" to state Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina's campaign.

A retweet from the campaign put him in front of Fiorina's 346,611 Twitter followers. According to tweetstats.com, Wilson has averaged 188 tweets per month since opening an account in October of 2009.

Wilson said the new media landscape is helping to create what he said is missing in today's politics: "dialogue."

"(Social media) has helped my political activism and I've gotten some Democrats to interact with me," Wilson said. "It allows me to have a voice in our political process."

And Wilson makes this voice clear on issues like taxation, immigration, and political strategy for a party he said has too much in-fighting in California.

"The Democrats have fights but they're not outspoken about it and we as Republicans put those battles out there," Wilson said. "We don't have so many ideological battles, but personality battles."

Wilson himself gets animated when discussing local, state, or national politics, and his own political involvement.

"My father served in Vietnam, my uncle served in Korea, and my great grandfather served in the Spanish-American War," Wilson said. "I may not have been in the military, but I will be in the political trenches to make sure that we keep freedom right."

Wilson does not just have his eye on Sacramento. He is also highly involved in politics in his own backyard.

At a recent city council meeting, Wilson questioned city officials about . In short — every other week, Wilson reads the city council agendas.

Across the board — locally, statewide, nationally — Wilson said there's one area where he will not budge.

"We've been taxed to death in this state," Wilson said. "I will never waver on taxes."

Wilson's discussion of the issues runs the gamut — from national to local politics, personal and party squabbles — but amid any conflict or controversy he can find some resolve.

"One of the things that I agree with," Wilson said, "we are most fortunate to have a messy democracy."