Our Voice: Nonpartisan should mean nonpartisan

Nonpartisan races, by definition, are meant to be free from party affiliation, bias or designation.

For those who prefer to keep that ideal alive, the injection of party politics into this year’s local races is unsettling.

Back in the ‘40s, corrupt, big-city politics was prevalent in the East. Washington state lawmakers — concerned that unethical party bosses might get a foothold here — approved legislation that set the standard for nonpartisan races for city councils, school boards and port districts.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman said the new law took aim at the political machine. People didn’t want a “New York-style” government invading our communities, she said.

That attitude has since continued in Washington, making the majority of our voters among the most fiercely independent in the country.

Now, however, there appears to be a push by some political party hard-liners to get “their” candidates elected for local, nonpartisan positions.

This fall, Franklin County Republicans recommended one Pasco City Council candidate and endorsed another. Franklin Democrats endorsed three.

Across the river, the effort was more pronounced.

Benton County Democrats recommended 13 candidates in nonpartisan races, and Benton County Republicans officially endorsed 13 (although they may reconsider one of their picks — Lloyd Becker for Richland City Council).

Benton County Republicans also sent out thousands of postcards listing their endorsements.

Party leaders say their effort to weigh in on local races engages the community, and gives their members an idea of which way candidates lean politically.

From their perspective, we can see the appeal of getting involved.

If like-minded people share the same ideology as a candidate, why not spread the word? If business groups and labor unions can back a candidate, why shouldn’t political parties?

If we can fill a city council with (take your pick) conservatives or progressives, wouldn’t that be great?

If someone heavily involved in a political party wants to run for a nonpartisan race, that’s fine as long as the focus is on providing civic leadership rather than promoting a political party agenda.

There is not a Republican or Democratic way to fix a pothole, as the popular saying goes.

But a letter circulated around the Tri-Cities by the Benton County Republican Party raises a red flag. It stated that “one of our major objectives is to elect Republicans to every office. Although the upcoming elections for city councils, school boards … etc. are nonpartisan races, we still want to elect candidates who support our BCRP platform.”

Local, nonpartisan races should be about the candidate’s qualifications for the job, not whether they are in alignment with a certain ideology.

Since we interviewed almost all candidates for our own recommendations, it is obvious to us that in some cases the parties are supporting candidates with a deep sense of politics rather than civic experience.

Benton County Democrats appear to have been careful in using the word “recommend” instead of “endorse” because it carries less weight.

Allison Murphy Dabler, current chair of the Benton County Democrats, said in an online Herald comment that listing local candidates was “our way of participating in our local representation, regardless of partisanship.”

Even so, there is still a danger that by recommending certain candidates, some people will vote only the party line — which contradicts the nonpartisan purpose of those races.

Richland Mayor Bob Thompson told the Herald, “With partisanship, you get locked in on politics. Do I think it’s good? No, I don’t.”

We don’t think so either.

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Our Voice: Nonpartisan should mean nonpartisan."