Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Although municipal elections are non-partisan, they have become increasingly partisan over the years. Many people have asked me about party affiliation and party "tickets", which is often how municipal elections are handled in the Northeast and other places. From an official perspective, municipal races are non-partisan, but there is a lot of party involvement in many races.

As I mentioned, partisan politics have crept into municipal elections in recent years. This has been mostly due to the establishment of political "clubs" which are based on party affiliation.
Has this been a good development in municipal elections? In my opinion and experience, no. There are two reasons why I feel this way.

First, local issues are very different from those at the state and national level. Local elected officials should do what is best for the municipality, and not give the appearance that decisions are being made based on party influence. Second, in my opinion, the local parties in this area have based their endorsements on the popularity of candidates already involved in those political circles, not on the issues. This has not been the case in all endorsements, but in my opinion it was in some of them.

Personally, I feel that citizens are better served when political parties stay out of local races and allow candidates to focus on the issues.

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