It’s a positive sign that Katie Allen says she plans to resign as chair of the Democratic Party in Riley County.
I sure wish she’d done it earlier.
Party officials have no business running for City Commission or school board seats. Those are non-partisan, and should remain so, and so people who are obliged to serve the interests of a political party should neither run for nor serve in those positions. Likewise, the parties should not get involved in campaigns to support one candidate or another.
Why? Well, that’s simple. Partisan politics tends to make a mess of government. You know this in your gut. Who looks at, say, Congress, or the Kansas Legislature, and says, “Yeah, let’s get some more of that at City Hall!”? Nobody says to her husband, “Hey honey, you know what our school system needs? We need board members who stab each other in the back so as to move up the political ladder!”
Look, everybody who pays any attention is going to know that Katie Allen’s political viewpoints are probably more liberal than some other candidates, given that she’s been a relatively high-profile Democrat for the last couple years. That’s fine. Anybody paying sustained attention also knows where John Matta is coming from; he’s been active in Republican Party circles, which I also have a problem with. and – generally, although not always – where Mark Hateohl stands. Bit of a loose cannon there, but that’s another story, and, by the way, loose cannons are not inherently bad.
The problem is the official connection to a party. Having a viewpoint is one thing; being obliged to serve the interests of a party is something else entirely.
School board and City Commission members should not be obliged that way. They need to be able to make compromises and agreements, and they need to be free from partisan entanglements that tend to make such compromises and agreements impossible, or at least far more difficult.
I’m willing to salute Ms. Allen for her statements consistent with that, and I’m willing to say she’s making a good move. I certainly hope she hurries up about it, since there are only a few weeks until the election. I also certainly wish she’d broken ties prior to declaring her candidacy, since even running while serving in a partisan office creates conflicts of interest that have to make voters wonder.
Whether that’s a big enough deal – positive or negative – to swing your vote is up to you, and we’re not going to make endorsements here this cycle. We’ll be providing you lots of information about candidates’ viewpoints on issues in coming weeks, and our standard reports about where they’re raising and spending campaign money, and the nature of their own participation in past elections.
Meantime, as the election nears, let’s hope it continues to get less partisan, not more.
