Democracy: Do It Yourself

Newtown’s political parties were making choices this week that they hope will determine the choices the rest of the town will make in November. Wednesday’s Republican caucus and Thursday’s Democratic caucus (which took place after The Bee went to press this week) have provided Newtown voters with a list of favored candidates for local elective positions up and down the November ballot. Questions remain over whether there will be a primary for the first selectman’s slot on the Republican ticket, but for the most part, the ballot is set. Or is it?

The problem is this: political parties see as their prime responsibility getting their own candidates elected –– which does not always coincide with providing the electorate with good choices. In particular, they don’t like to see their faithful incumbents turned out of office, even by someone in their own party. That is why, until recently, party bosses on the state level clung so fiercely to party primary rules that made it virtually impossible for unannointed candidates to mount a primary challenge. The system was so unfair, a federal judge declared it unconstitutional last year. On the local level, mounting a primary challenge is not impossible. If Owen Carney wants to force a primary vote in a challenge to the Republican caucus-endorsed candidate, Bill Sheluck, he must collect 243 signatures –– a chore, but certainly not impossible.

Then there is the matter of the Board of Education. Newtown’s rules governing minority representation on the school board discourage competition. Under state law, guaranteed minority representation on elected bodies never rises above one third. Newtown, in asserting its home rule prerogatives, has created two exceptions to that statewide rule in its charter: one on the Police Commission (40 percent minority representation) and the other on the school board (neither party may have more than 50 percent). This agreement by Newtown’s two political parties to divide up the school board between themselves, codified by the charter, creates a situation where competition is not between parties but between members of the same party – hardly an incentive for Newtown’s partisans to provide a real choice in school board candidates. The only exception to this would be if either the Republicans or Democrats nominated an unaffiliated voter for election to the school board, which just does not happen. To their credit, the Republicans this week nominated one more candidate for the school board than there are seats open to them –something they have been reluctant to do in the past. In recent years, local party leaders, with the help of compliant party caucuses, have offered no choices for the school board, effectively appointing Newtown’s Board of Education themselves.

In this season of partisan politics, it is easy to forget that Newtown’s largest bloc of voters is neither Democrat nor Republican. As of July 2, Newtown had 3,322 registered Democrats, 4,864 Republicans, and 6,477 unaffiliated voters. Unaffiliated voters don’t have caucuses and consequently don’t have an automatic mechanism for getting candidates on the ballot. But anyone, party members and unaffiliated voters alike, can petition themselves on to the November ballot under the provisions of the state election laws. By collecting a number of signatures equal to or greater than one percent of the votes cast for any given position in the previous election, petitioners may get their names on the ballot.

If you believe Newtown’s political parties have not provided adequate choices on this year’s ballot, you can do something about it by either running for office yourself, or supporting a willing candidate in a petition drive. To run for the school board, you will need 34 signatures on a petition; for first selectman, 33 signatures; for a council seat in your district, 11 signatures; for the Police Commission, 33 signatures; and for the Planning and Zoning Commission, 33 signatures. The town clerk’s office can provide the details on how to launch a petition drive.

The beauty of the democratic system is that if you don’t like the status quo, you can change things –– and you don’t have to wait for the other guy to do it. With a petition form and a pen, you can do it yourself.