Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Oneida County Voters: Choice Challenged!

The petitions are in for Oneida County elected positions! However . . .
There are no challengers for county Executive Anthony Picente, Comptroller Joseph Timpano and District Attorney Scott McNamara. And 12 of the 23 Oneida County legislators won’t face a race this fall, either. . . .
Oneida County Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ford said this could be the year the balance shifts.
But when Democrats challenge only 4 of the 13 (or less than 1/3 of the) Republican incumbent legislators while Republicans challenge 7 out of the 10 (more than 2/3 of the) Democrats, how likely is that?

It actually might be nice to see the balance on the board shifting once in awhile because it would mean that the votes people cast are making a difference, potentially injecting fresh new ideas into local governance.

But where races are uncontested, voting won't make a difference. 

Uncontested elections lead to the conclusion that "the fix is in," discouraging people from voting on election day.

The major party leaders, even when they might like what the opposite party is doing, should be cultivating and encouraging challengers for each office up for re-election, even if only to produce a field of more experienced candidates for future races.

Their not doing so suggests that party leader allegiances may be neither to their parties nor to the voters but to the existing ruling class. . . . and that would be a shame.





6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ray Halbritter must be happy. He doesn't need to send costly endless political mailings in support of his crew in the Oneida County office building.

Anonymous said...

I think the situation says more about the unwillingness of good people to put themselves in political positions given the wholesale disgust of politicians in this country today. Why put yourself through that? There are other ways to give back where you won't be hated from the get-go.

Anonymous said...

There are four obvious facts about local politics. One, the average voter is not smart. Two, so much of the local economy is controlled by the few that it is difficult to raise enough money to run. Three, there is no two party system. Both parties survive on the taxpayer dime and take care of each other. Four, the local business elite loves the plantation here. Labor is relatively cheap as are their mansions. They support the political status quo. For example, when has our business group EDGE, recruited a new industry in? In a place concerned about economic growth the EDGE staff and group would have been replaced years ago.

Anonymous said...

How many times a day does Mitch Ford give the 'ol reach around to Tony Picente? Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

It's really nauseating to see Mitch Ford rush in to sniff Picentes seat evrery time Tony boy gets up off his butt. Nauseating & sad.

Anonymous said...

I was directly told by high ranking county officials several years ago that the collusion between the political parties was such that an incumbent could be guaranteed no opposition for re-election, if he/she had gone along with the power brokers. In this situation the need for term limits is absolute, or when there is no opposition the voters get the option of voting for or against an incumbent's uncontested continuation in office. The present system is totally corrupt.