The jaw-dropping indictment of Leland Yee (D), a California State Senator who apparently moonlighted as an organized crime figure, along with a few other corruption arrests in the past week have been both disturbing and detrimental to the Democratic Party.
It seems we, as a country, party and movement, tend to focus on the big leagues: the 587 House members, Senators, Governors, the VP and the President. Maybe a few big city mayors as well. What we often fail to look at is the thousands of elected officials in the "farm league" if you will, other statewide elected officials and state legislators. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of local elected officials across the country.
For whatever reason (sheer numbers are certainly part of it), we have trouble keeping track of minor league politicians, which is where most of the big leaguers are raised and where most of the corruption in government occurs. It's downright rare to find a truly corrupt Congressman, but we all know that town halls and statehouses are, relatively speaking, crawling with corrupt creatures who fly under the radar because no one's paying attention.
This lack of attention creates two problems. The first, obviously, is corruption. No explanation needed there. But the second is the failure to find good, strong candidates for office. I'm absolutely certain that there are thousands of exceptionally capable, progressive, hard working and otherwise amazing Democrats in town halls and statehouses who fly under everyone's radar, whether it be by lack of ambition or our affinity for others. When we aren't paying attention to the lower rungs of government, we completely miss the opportunity to improve the one level (federal) that effects all of our lives.
Think about how many elected officials there are in most Congressional districts. Hundreds upon hundreds. We don't know their names, and very few outside of their districts or communities are aware of the hard work they do. And yet, these are the people most needed at the federal level, both the serve in Congress and provide a show of strength in unwinnable districts.
The mantra of this site is electing more and better Democrats. That's a great goal, but I rarely see discussions here about state legislative races or local mayors. Ambition, I think, is generally a good thing, but sometimes the best people to serve are those who do not aspire to go to Washington. It then becomes our job to seek them out and help them achieve office, so that they can finally push this country forward.
I can tell you that I am going to try to do this with my home state of New Jersey; I would like to go through the whole roster of elected officials and try to find the ones who truly shine, and share it here. Maybe I'll have the time, maybe I won't; but it's a starting point.
The fact is, if we want to push the country forward, sometimes we have to give a little push to those who can do it.