Commentary

Picking A President –

Party Leaders Know Best

Party leaders,

Sing the blues;

When we voters,

Get to choose.

It seems only yesterday that Connecticut didn’t even have a presidential primary. Our delegates to national conventions were chosen by party leaders, subject to challenge. It was not a pretty business. The rewards, however, were great. Connecticut’s legendary Democratic chairman, John Bailey, became national chair for delivering not only Connecticut to John Kennedy, but other states as well. Many got patronage jobs and influence.

But in the 70s most states, revolted by patronage scandals, switched over to primaries, so that voters could decide for themselves who their party’s candidate would be. That switch was not a pretty business either. Here the governor, House speaker, Senate president, and most other Democratic leaders opposed the change. They furtively built more road blocks than the Chechen rebels, but when a vote finally made it to the floor, they had to submit to public clamor. Suddenly we all got to vote, and since then there have been hot statewide elections for delegates.

But Democratic Party leaders are still nursing a grudge. Both national and state rules have steadily nibbled away at the importance of the primary’s outcome. Unelected “super” delegates have regularly been added, diluting the results of the election. In fact in 1992, even though Jerry Brown won Connecticut’s primary, Bill Clinton had more Nutmeg votes at the National Convention. Most super delegates went to him.

The same could happen this year to Bill Bradley. The super delegates are for Al Gore. This reflects Gore’s old bond with State Chair Ed Marcus and Connecticut lobbyist-supreme, Peter Kelly. Over the years they have enjoyed some payoff for helping Gore become vice president, but they see real pay dirt if he makes it to the White House. It’s been a long wait.

And just to make sure Connecticut ends up a Gore state, Marcus slipped through a new rule as to how those super delegates would be chosen. It used to be that the elected delegates would get together and pick the rest. That meant if Bradley came out on top, his folks would have some say in naming the extras. No more. Under the new rules, the State Central Committee, loyal to Marcus, would pick them. Bye-bye Bradley.

As you might expect, old-time reformers are up on their haunches over that one. They have filed a complaint with the Democratic National Committee, a procedure which makes patent approvals seem expeditious. You won’t read much about all this in your local newspaper, either. But you can be sure that the battle over who rides in on the president’s coattails still goes on with switchblades and brass knuckles in the back room.

In New York it’s the Republicans who misstepped. You may have read recently that Gov Patacki and his allies just gave up their attempt to keep John McCain off the ballot in many places. After New Hampshire, that was looking ridiculous. But that’s often what it takes – public ridicule – to force politicians to give up their conniving against fair elections. The rewards – both in power and money – are so great for helping the winner, that democracy may cheerfully be lost in the shuffle.

Likewise with campaign finance reform, party behavior is just as self-serving. The governor and legislative leaders tout reform, but they don’t really mean it. It could strengthen their opponents. Thus they dissemble. The only thing which ever forces them to relent is, again, public ridicule. The Silvester scandal has helped a lot with that, but the previews of this year’s reform options make them all look more fake than real. At least these local battles over political power should help us fathom the more brutal ones we read about abroad.

(Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist)