Page 32 - Flathead Beacon // 10.29.14

32 | OCTOBER 29, 2014
LIKE I WAS SAYIN’ Kellyn Brown
Partisan Nonpartisan Races
FOR BETTER OR WORSE, SO-CALLED nonpartisan races are becoming extinct. True, there are still elections where candidates are prohibited from declaring party affiliation, such as those for judge- ships, city council and – in some instances – sheriff. But just because they’re called nonpartisan doesn’t make it so.
The most glaring example of that this election cycle is the race for the Montana Supreme Court between Jus- tice Mike Wheat and Lawrence VanDyke. This matchup is far more partisan than many of those in which candi- dates have Rs and Ds after their names. One recent mailer declared which candidate is more like President Barack Obama and which is more like Mitt Romney; the secretary of state subsequently filed a complaint over the mailers, al- leging they violated state law.
That is not the only race for judgeship that has turned political. A candidate for justice of the peace in Sanders County, Mark French, argued that the Montana Judicial Code of Conduct preventing him from touting his Republi- can endorsements is a violation of free speech. The Sanders County Republican Committee, which French’s wife leads, had already won the right to endorse him, but the judicial candidate was still barred from campaigning on the fact.
French’s case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which earlier this month rejected his request to block the state rule. The laws regarding judges’ elections are meant to ensure an independent judiciary, but fewer voters regard these races as nonpartisan, and it will be in- teresting to see how long some of these rules last.
“Activist judge” is now a common term to describe a judge whose rulings don’t align with your beliefs. And it’s not altogether off base to view courts through a political lens. U.S. Supreme Court justices are nominated to life- time terms by the president, and it is an altogether political process. More often than not, Democrats nominate more liberal justices and Republicans more conservative.
There are plenty of other local examples of nonparti- san races that are partisan. Take the recent “nonpartisan” elections for Whitefish City Council in which candidates were often grouped together by their respective politics. In 2009, the council swung right with the election of Phil Mitchell, Bill Kahle and Chris Hyatt. Two years later it veered left with the election of John Anderson, Richard Hildner and John Muhlfeld. The respective candidates’ party affiliation wasn’t listed after their names on the bal- lot, but most voters knew the politics of each.
In sheriff races, a post that has become much more po- liticized in recent years, there are still counties such as Lincoln that host nonpartisan races. But does that really mean the contests are any less political? More often, the answer is no.
It would be nice to think that those who enforce and in- terpret laws, such as law enforcement officers, county at- torneys and judges, would be elected on merit and assumed to be impartial. But anymore, constituents want to know a candidate’s party affiliation, regardless of whether that should influence the way a candidate performs the job.
It’s difficult to understand why some Montana elec- tions are partisan and others not. For example, the Public Service Commission race is partisan. The five members of this board primarily regulate our utilities and oversee safety regulations. It’s unclear how someone’s politics would matter in such a job, but apparently they do.
A handful of states already elect supreme court justices in partisan races, which critics argue has contributed to their questionable integrity. And even if Montana’s judges’ races remain nonpartisan, expect that to be in name only.
OPINION FLATHEADBEACON.COM
TWO FOR THOUGHT
Local Topics, Opposing Views
Supreme Court Election Mailers
By Joe Carbonari
The bogus election mailers sent out to per- haps 100,000 Montanans is a classic in foot- shooting. Unfortunately it is of more importance for its disservice to democracy.
If we are to be voluntarily cooperative as a free society, we must believe in it and it must work. At present we have gridlock and seeming incompetence ... and now close experience with deception near the polls.
The “researchers” probably had it right. They will likely find that their turnout somewhat in- creased and that the overall vote for non-parti- san judgeships will became much more clearly partisan in practice.
In traditionally liberal precincts this should produce some extra liberal votes, as most people don’t know much about the judicial candidates, and this information would be helpful in direct- ing their vote, the same in the more conservative precincts and minds. It will be interesting to see.
As with “dark” money, this manipulation of our voting process is less than ethical and under- mines our society. In whom can we trust? How can we know?
The “researchers” and their abettors are seemingly “tone deaf.” The likelihood is that their action will backfire. Our nonpartisan bias will be strengthened, and our checks on manipu- lation will be more vigilant. Perhaps fewer mail- ers will go out. One can hope.
Pick your experts carefully. They should un- derstand human nature and respect it.
By Tim Baldwin
We have a compelling interest to prevent cor- ruption in our political process and institutions. Montana laws attempt to do this, in part, by lim- iting the money a person can contribute to a can- didate and prohibiting fraudulent or misrepre- sentative political promotion, especially given the reality that impactful promotions can be pro- duced and distributed mostly, if not exclusively, by millionaire entities, not individual voters.
Only days before Election Day, we learn that Stanford and Dartmouth Universities mailed about 100,000 letters to Montanans to, some claim, skew voter turnout in favor of the so- called “conservative” Montana Supreme Court candidates. Some claim that these letters were disguised as an objective analysis of each candi- date and that the individuals behind them belong to conservative “think tanks.” Naturally, accusa- tions have arisen.
Regardless of what comes of these letters, this is certain: our states and nation must enforce laws that punish people who attempt to influence voters through subterfuge and deceit. Simul- taneously, we should look at how lobbyists and foreign interests control our capitals through money, bribes, and power dealing more than the people’s will and Constitution. We should study how we can discourage the corruptive element of human nature in politics. We have anti-trust laws that attempt to prevent commercial cor- ruption. Certainly political corruption is vastly more important.
GUESTCOLUMN | FlatheadCountymunicipalities
Support Creation of 911 District
Beginning in 2009, Flathead County and the cities of Kalispell, Whitefish, and Columbia Falls have been involved in a successful local govern- ment partnership to consolidate emergency dis- patch and communication services. This effort in- cluded the transition of personnel from four differ- ent agencies, the establishment of emergency medi- cal dispatch protocols, establishing a governing board, and identifying a long term funding mecha- nism that has always been identified as a necessity for the operation.
A future funding committee was required by the interlocal agreement and various funding options have been explored since 2009. In recent months the Flathead Emergency Communications Board reviewed five options to fund critical 911 and radio services operational and capital needs. The option selected to present to the voters was the formation of a special (911) emergency communications (911) district. It is believed that this would:
• Provide a streamlined management structure • Create a long- term funding mechanism
• Establish an equitable funding mechanism for
all county residents
In order to accomplish this, the voters of Flat-
head County will need to approve the creation of the special (911) district at the upcoming Nov. 4 Election.
In addition to creating a streamlined manage- ment structure, the implementation of a special
(911) district would also provide an equitable fund- ing mechanism across all county residents. Rather than being subject to fluctuating mill levies that differ from municipality to municipality, the spe- cial district would be funded by the existing county levy that is currently in place and a flat fee applied in a uniform fashion, with residential properties being assessed $25 on an annual basis, and com- mercial properties being assessed $50 per unit on an annual basis.
One thing that has been found to be true in this consolidation effort is that cooperation and com- mitment are instrumental to the success of joint service provision. It has taken some time to get to this point to propose what we feel is the answer to developing an effective and efficient model for the provision of emergency (911) communication ser- vices in Flathead County. It is because we see the improvements that can be realized, Flathead Coun- ty and the cities of Kalispell, Whitefish and Colum- bia Falls have jointly supported placing this issue on the ballot, as the creation of the special (911) dis- trict cannot be achieved without voter approval.
Flathead County Commission City of Kalispell
City of Whitefish
City of Columbia Falls