Politicians or Firefighters?

I would like to hear peoples experiences with politics in their dept. I am a Captain of a volunteer dept and personally am fed up with politics in the volunteer side. When and were did we go wrong and how do we change it. Im fed up with people best interests and the total ignorance in neglecting the job we do. When does it stop is it when some one gets killed? In my dept you have a handfull of serious and dedicated firefighters who are devoted to bettering themselves and the dept that we serve. We also have more than our fair share of politicians who the dedicated members have to listen to when we try to change policy for the better of the dept.(these are also the members you never see at calls or training) I can go on for hours with this I just wanna know when does it end any ideas? Please rant and rave and let it all out we need to share our experiences because im fed up and im sure theres plenty of you out there as well.