Saturday, February 10, 2007

Another fine mess....Ollie

As I noted in my very first post on my blog, and others in there response as well, it is voting along party lines that has given us what we have for council.

If voting Democrat is the only way you are going to vote then I guess you’ll just have to live with what you’re voting in. If this Mayor and Council is what the party has to offer I feel sorry for you. There are 8 members of council and the Mayor from the Democratic Party. Do you think they could agree on just one major issue? Not only can they just not agree on any major issues they actually fight and bicker over everything like elementary school kids. Oh wait!! The common elementary school kids aren’t throwing F-BOMBS and accusing each other of being thieves on public record.

So do I believe the answer is to vote republican? Nope!! I do not like partisan politics at this level of government. Neither party across the board is going to have the best people for every job every election. If voters are going to vote for local politics they need at least to be forced to look at issues and individuals before voting. I have seen it work well.

City Council, the Mayor, City Law Director and City Finance Director are all non-partisan positions. Anyone with enough signatures on a petition runs in the primary. Three top candidates run in general election. If you cast a party vote at the top of your ballot you will not be voting for these seats. The voter must read the local candidates names and mark the choice.

This gets the candidates to the people. Party affiliation will not get them elected by it’s self. People who care about the community will at least make an effort to know the candidates.

Now I am not saying the system in New Albany is broke, but the system is perfectly designed to get the results it is getting!!

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