It was a phone call from her son that propelled Linda Silverman into the political arena.

An Apache helicopter pilot in the Army serving in Iraq at the time, Silverman’s son sounded down when chatting with his mother she asked what was bothering him. He proceeded to tell her about 11 pilots that he had trained that had lost their lives – at least in part to political wrangling in Washington, D.C., over appropriations.

That was enough to send the retired Chevron employee with a degree in financial planning over the edge.

“I don’t necessarily know if it was completely the fault of the Democrats, but they were the ones that were in power at the time and you just don’t play politics with funding while a war is going on,” she said. “Anytime you start horsing around with somebody else’s kid – that’s where I draw the line.”

So along with husband Rich – who had long been interested in local politics and had served on commissions and worked on campaigns when the couple was still living in Concord – Silverman began to get involved with local Republican groups with the hope of doing something that can make a difference.

Now, just a few years removed from their first meeting of the South San Joaquin Republicans, the couple is gearing up to serve on the party’s San Joaquin County Central Committee. They were elected in the June primary after serving as alternates.

“I think that the result kind of surprised us at first,” said Rich Silverman. “When we started out and learned about it and its functions we found out that nobody from Manteca was represented in our district. When we saw the number of positions that were available, and that they’d be filled by appointment if they weren’t contested, we thought we’d run.

“We don’t have anything against Tracy, but Manteca is a city that’s growing and getting big, and it should have a voice in government as well.”

Known as the starting blocks of national political parties, central committees – organized by counties and under the umbrella of the state they’re in – are charged with a variety of tasks from helping local candidates in their bid for office to registering voters during key election years.

The “worker bees” – as Rich Silverman put it – can also help with fundraising and organizing grassroots efforts like precinct walks.

Four years ago the local central committee played a role in welcoming John McCain to Stockton when he was campaigning during his run for President, and did the same when George W. Bush visited while in office to stump for a Republican gubernatorial candidate (Bill Simon) by giving a speech at the Stockton Civic Auditorium.

“We laugh about a lot of the things that are going on, but there’s a lot of apathy when it comes to politics today,” said Linda Silverman. “We knew that we had to do something to help out and make a difference and keep the politicians in check.”

And what better way to do that then to team up and do it together.

“We like doing things together – we think of our marriage as a partnership and while we haven’t yet had to vote on anything for this where we’ve been on opposing sides, we think we’ll have fun with this,” Rich Silverman said. “Whether it’s talking a walk or working in the yard, it’s more interesting when you have somebody else to do it with. We’ll see how this works out.”

Being able to communicate, says Linda Silverman, is the best thing that the couple – both of whom were previously married and have been together for 33 years – has going for them.

“Sometimes it’s scary because we complete each other’s sentences,” she said. “But we walk around the park everyday and we have good discussions about whether Willie (Weatherford) is doing good on one topic or what (Bill) Berryhill did on another or who the best candidate in this particular race is.

“A lot of people are afraid to come out and say things like that. But I think our discussions.”