Time to Focus on the Issues, Not the Parties

This year the Arizona State Legislature passed a law that affected only one municipality in the entire State. Tucson!  Normally the legislature cannot do this, but in this crazy legislative year, they figured a way to do it. How you ask? Make a law that everyone else already follows, except of course the City of Tucson. That’s right; the City of Tucson is the only municipality in the State of Arizona that still had partisan, citywide elections for its Council.

It should be no surprise the Chamber wholeheartedly supported this effort by Southern Arizona Senator Jonathan Paton. Bringing Tucson in line with the rest of the state is good for both those running and the voters. It has become evident that our two major political parties have grown further apart and leave most of us feeling lost, and the issues at hand even further lost. And that is my point. We have become too consumed with what party a particular candidate has next to their name, rather than where they stand on the issues of great importance to our community.

A less talked about aspect of this legislation is the ward only election. Currently a councilmember can lose their respective ward, but still serve on the Council if they win citywide. What type of representation is this? Why do we have the ward system if it is only good at face value? Making races ward specific makes it much more likely that we will have better representation on the issues of importance and maybe, just maybe, finally be able to convince a few neighborhoods to annex into our City.

The City Council has decided to file suit against the State claiming the State does not have the right to impose this practice – of fairness and equality – on a chartered City. I say “Who cares?” In a recent Arizona Daily Star poll, 65% of its readers disagreed with the City’s decision to file suit. Of the same respondents, 63% believe the City should have non-partisan elections. This goes to show how out of touch our Council is with our community and their constituents. Perhaps the most astounding part of the poll was the 59% of respondents who think City government will get better with nonpartisan elections. While I do not see this as such a silver-bullet to fix City government over night, it will put us on the right track.

So my point is this: Don’t sue the State over something that is good for our City. At a local level, it is the issues at hand that matter the most, not the polarizing ideologies found at higher levels of government. Those running for City Council don’t have a vast district with multiple cities to campaign in. They don’t have to have televisions ads to reach those in outlying parts of the state. They don’t need a party headquarters that will fundraise for them. What they need are their neighbors, walking door to door, talking about the issues that affect their neighborhoods and the City.