All Politics is Local W/poll

When I was younger, local elections didn't interest me at all. That changed for me when I enrolled in my local community college, and became aware that although many of my instructors were liberal or independent, almost the entire administration of the college were very right wing.

cross posted at Musings

In retrospect it seems simple. College and school boards are listed in local elections as nonpartisan offices, yet the preponderance of those administrations at least locally are dominated by Republicans.

Why should that matter, you ask? Because the people making financial aid decisions, content decisions, and even tenure and pay scales for instructors are making those decisions from a philosophical base akin to the one that is informing our foreign and domestic policies. Policies that are blatent failures. Further, local nonpartisan positions act as an introduction into regional and state politics. If we don't ask questions about the politics of the people we put into so called nonpartisan offices, than we open the door to local and regional policies that don't reflect our best interests.

I have begun to ask every candidate for every office what their policical party is. If they won't tell me they won't get my vote.

I would be interested in knowing what other people do at the grassroots level to strengthen the numbers of Democrats holding nonpartisan office, and also what other ideas people might have to promote change from the bottom up!

•  An opposing view

  Adding partisan politics to local elections has been a real goal for local Republicans here in California, where they want to add partisan influence to what are legally non-partisan offices.

  And they don't want RINOs. Instead they want Republicans who swear fealty to all of their party members and their positions, kiss the ring hand of the local boss, and never criticize anyone in the state, local, or national party.

  If your position, and that of the hard right Republicans is successful, there will be no Democrats or moderates on local school boards, City Councils, or other local government positions where I live, and the forward thinking moderates and progressives will disappear.

  Other than the chance of advancement, there is no reason for partisan politics in local elections, and in fact it generally hinders many of the functions that local government does best.

  This is another area where Hiram Johnson and the Progressives had a damn good idea that we shouldn't fiddle with.

  by Aeolus on Mon Oct 16, 2006 at 08:48:28 PM PDT

  •  I am concerned about this

    precicely because I live in California and the republicans have pretty much taken over local politics.  Maintaining nonpartisanship can work where the Rethugs havent already polluted the nonpartisan environment, but when they have one must know the position of the persons running for nonpartisan office or risk putting even more Republicans in positions of power!

    by dangangry on Mon Oct 16, 2006 at 08:57:15 PM PDT

•  And I say this

  As a stealth progressive elected official where the Repubs have a 2 to 1 registration advantage, and there is no local Dem organization to speak of.

  by Aeolus on Mon Oct 16, 2006 at 08:49:45 PM PDT

  •  I understand your point...

    ...tho' it also seems that "nonpartisan" is a misnomer in the situation you describe.

    by luckydog on Mon Oct 16, 2006 at 09:40:41 PM PDT