It hasn’t drawn a whole lot of attention, but there’s an election in Pennsylvania this year. Statewide, there are elections for the state appeals courts (Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Courts), and there are some local elections as well. Here in Erie County, there are elections for the County Council, County Executive, Eire City Council, and Mayor of Erie. While Eire County has been reliably blue for decades past, it made news last year when the County broke for Trump. Because of this, Republicans are determined to flip both Erie’s Mayor’s Office and the County Executive’s Office. Polls do not look good for the Democrats right now. It will be a close race, and it would be devastating to the Party if they were to lose both of those offices. While the County Executive has traded parties since I’ve been here (16 years), it has been more than 50 years since Erie has had a Republican Mayor. What worries us is how beholden the candidates are to the upper echelons of the GOP, and what horrific changes they might implement.
In light of this, I had a disturbing conversation with a colleague of mine today…
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The Democratic candidate for Erie County Executive is incumbent Kathy Dahlkemper, who served in Congress for PA-03 from January 2009 to January 2011, when she was thrown out by Tea Party hysteria. She pretty much kept all her promises from her 2008 campaign, including voting for the PPACA, aka Obamacare. However, she appears to be vulnerable again in her current office due to the same sort of sinister forces. Her Republican opponent is Art Oligeri, who has been quoted as saying “I like what’s happening at the national level.” He’s a trumpster, and is likely to do what he can to undermine civil, workers’, and immigrants’ rights.
So, a colleague stops by my office today and mentions the election. He says he’s seriously thinking about voting for Oligeri because of his stance against establishing a community college in Erie County. Now I have long felt that the lack of a local community college has been a fundamental and obvious deficiency. People wanting to learn a trade end up having to attend local for-profit trade schools that charge much more than a community college would. There is no question in my mind that the region would benefit from such an institution. Strangely, there is a lot of push-back to the proposal, however. Establishing the college would raise local taxes, and other local institutions fear the competition. In fact, this is the principal fear of my colleague: the community college could draw students away from our university, at least in their early careers, and possibly threaten our careers. I don’t doubt that the coming of a community college will bring a certain amount of turbulence to the local higher education market, but I also think that more educational opportunities are always better, and that a community college will benefit our university in the long run.
But here is the irony. This colleague of mine who is drawn to vote for a Republican for County Executive is a brown man with a foreign accent. He is also a citizen, but being a citizen has not saved foreign-looking citizens grief from ICE. ICE activities in the City of Erie are at an alarming level already, but if the Republican wins the County Executive’s Office, it will only get worse. Oligeri will certainly encourage cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. Is my colleague really willing to make that devil’s bargain, to vote for the guy who could putatively save his job, but risk damaging his family and community?
Further, the idea of voting for a Republican for his/her position on one issue while ignoring the rest of his/her platform has proven to be disastrous. Repeat after me: A bad Democrat is always better than an (apparently) “good” Republican, because the Republican will always support his/her party line to your detriment.
Frankly, this election is already reminding me of last year, in a very bad way. I’m worried, and unfortunately, I’m not in a position to get out and campaign right now. (Right now I need to get back to grading exams to be turned back tomorrow—I will probably not be able to tend the diary this evening. Sorry.) I’ve done what I can—signed post cards, registered students to vote, etc. I’m hoping for a Trump backlash, but the electorate here has become unpredictable. We just all need to get out and vote.
And on that note, let’s get to the comments:
Top Comments (November 1, 2017):
From Avilyn:
I'd like to nominate this comment by elfling, from Chris Reeve's diary Looking back 360 days will not win elections 5 days away because it lays out the importance of focusing on local elections, and the difference they make.
(An extra-appropriate comment, given the topic of tonight’s diary.)
Top Mojo (November 1, 2017):
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Top Photos (November 1, 2017):