Thursday, May 02, 2013

Endorsing Ten for Council Is a Stupid Idea

I don't know who put the idea in the public sphere for the Cincinnati Democratic Committee to endorse ten candidates for the City Council Election, but who ever did it is either insane or plain old stupid.

There are nine seats on council. Any more than nine endorsements means that Dems will have no choice but to work against other Dems. Additionally, as Chris Seelbach points out in the article from the Cincinnati Business Courier, linked above, too many people would over-vote, thus invalidating their ballot for council.  Yes, that is a negative implication about the high level of ignorance with the voters, but not enough people read directions. As long as you have ten names, people will fill the box next to ten names.  Additionally, whoever is listed last on the Dem flyers that are handed out to voters would also get royally screwed by voters paying attention to the nine limit.

I am not sure if it is David Mann's effort at publicizing the ten endorsement idea or some other misguided individual, but whoever is behind it better end it, now.

This year's voting cycle process for endorsements is very shady with two situations that should never have happened. We have one instance of nepotism from the Thomas family and another instance of political favoritism from the Mayor's office. We don't need a third instance of a former politician mucking up the process.

Mann may have been something in politics 20 years ago.  Much has changed since then and I am skeptical that a politician who won the same seat as both Charlie and Tom Luken will have the ability to change with the City.  It is obvious that the Lukens don't want the City to Change and Cranley & COAST are in their camp.  Mann may be a third way or may surprise me with a vision of the future for our City.  I don't see that yet and this bid for an endorsement underlines my initial opinion of him.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with you but I would take it a step further - eliminate party affiliation altogether at the local level. What I mean is that on the ballot just list the name of the candidate and not the party. This forces voters to do their homework and in theory will hopefully lead to them making more informed choices instead of voting a straight party ticket.

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    1. That is the case now, just a list of names for council, no party ID. This is why lists are handed out to voters so they know something, other than a name . Forcing voters to think is a fool's errand. Forcing them to vote, might be more effective, if the stick is applied well.

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    2. Whoops..I guess for some reason I thought that I remembered them listing party affiliation. Last time I voted for council it was early/absentee and now that you mention it there were no affiliations on the ballot.

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  2. "I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers and Me

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