Local GOP goes MIA; Election Day oddities
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share thisThere isn't much at the top of the local ballot to inspire voters today because most races were decided in the spring.
With the exception of district attorney and judge of common pleas, Republican lines on the ballot are blank. The GOP did not muster effective candidates for the party's own nominations for county sheriff, recorder of deeds and register of wills, ceding those offices to three long-term Democratic incumbents.
That is unfortunate because election campaigns are not just about winners and losers but about raising issues concerning the operations of the offices at stake. Challenges of longtime incumbents are even more important in that regard.
Lackawanna County Democrats are equally remiss regarding the district attorney's office. That post inherently contains enormous power. Incumbents should be made to defend their records in campaigns as a matter of the public interest. The Democrats' failure to mount a challenge, in a county where qualified Democratic lawyers are thick on the landscape, is a failure not just of political recruiting but of civic duty.
Throughout the region many other important positions - school board seats - are not contested today because they were, in effect, decided in the spring primaries.
State law allows school board candidates to file for nominations by both parties, under the theory that doing so will diminish party influence in the administration of public education. All that the system truly diminishes, however, is voter choice in the General Election and, therefore, ideas on running the schools. Does anyone truly believe that candidates aren't political because they have secured both nominations?
Write-in mania
Scranton government's near-term future appeared to be cast in the spring primary. Mayor Chris Doherty and Councilwoman Janet Evans each won both party nominations for their respective re-elections. And Mrs. Evans' favored candidates for council, Pat Rogan and Frank Joyce, won Democratic nominations for the two other seats. Douglas Miller and Lee Morgan won the Republican nominations. Meanwhile, Councilman Bill Courtright won both nominations for tax collector, meaning Mrs. Evans' likely coalition would be able to name his replacement in January, thus gaining a veto-proof majority on council.
Then Gary DiBileo, who lost in the spring and four years ago to Mr. Doherty, announced that he would seek again to unseat the mayor today through a write-in campaign.
And, just last week, Councilwoman Judy Gatelli, who lost in the primary, announced that she would conduct a write-in campaign.
Whether candidates who lose in the primary should be allowed to conduct write-in campaigns later is a sporadic issue. But there is no doubt that, in this election, it has made things more interesting.
Mr. Bumble in Clarks Green
In Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist," an incredulous Mr. Bumble is informed by authorities that the legal doctrine of coverture supposes that a wife acts under the direction of her husband.
"If the law supposes that," Mr. Bumble declares, "the law is a ass - an idiot."
It's a phrase Clarks Green election officials should keep in mind today as kindergarten teacher Chris Arcangelo arrives at the polls with about 20 of her red-white-and-blue-clad charges.
Mrs. Arcangelo has brought her class to observe her vote and learn about the process for every primary and general election of the last 13 years. During the most recent primary, however, an election official told her to halt the practice because it is not allowed by law, which allows one adult to be accompanied by one minor.
Mrs. Arcangelo has recruited one adult volunteer to accompany each student. In order to disprove that "the law is a ass," election workers should greet the contingent with enthusiasm.
7 posted comments
I'm a very conservative young guy and a registered republican. I'm also not a religious nut. In fact, I hardly attend church anymore because I'm too lazy. Most conservatives are not religious "nuts" that is just a made up liberal label to trick you and to discredit us. We mainly dislike excessive gov't control/interference and excessive bureaucracy that slows down economic growth & impairs personal freedoms. Conservatives are looking out for you. Vote (R) and give us a chance. You've got nothing to lose.
Locally, the best candidates won't run for office. They're much too smart to get involved with the "special" element of local politics.