Parties should stay out of local politics |
“The local Liberal party machine is getting behind ‘X’s’ run for mayor,” a friend told me a few weeks ago.
“The local Liberal party has a machine?” I queried in surprise.
Granted, it’s been some time since I’ve been involved in the inner workings of the Liberal or any other political party. Truth be told, I can remember when the Liberals actually had something approaching a machine in Peterborough.
There was a federal election in 1972. David and I were fairly new to the city then and I wanted to lend a hand getting our Liberal member, Hugh Faulkner, re-elected.
That’s when I first met Marg Tunney, who was probably the closest I ever came to a “political boss.”
Within hours of the writ being dropped, this nurse at St. Joseph’s hospital had Faulkner’s campaign up and running. All the wheels in place. All the gears oiled. It was a joy to behold if you were a political animal.
It, too, eventually ran aground. Faulkner lost to Bill Domm in 1979.
I have yet to witness a “Liberal machine” as effective as Tunney’s.
So, I rather dismissed my friend’s comment about candidate “X” being supported by one now.
Then, three more people told me the same thing.
Introducing partisan politics directly into local municipal politics is a huge mistake. I assume that there will be no endorsement, official or otherwise, of any candidate by any party.
If the Liberals want to know how big a mistake it might be, they need only look to Toronto’s 1969 mayoral race, where the Liberal-endorsed Stephen Clarkson came a distant third, losing to Bill Dennison and probably costing the much more progressive Margaret Campbell the election.
In the end, the city paid the price for that little venture.
Most, although not all, candidates for municipal office, probably have partisan affiliations of one kind or another, but they seldom play out around the council table.
The issues are different. They are local issues — property taxes, road, bridges, sewers, arts and sports facilities, snow plowing, garbage, people sleeping in tents in your parks and under your bridges.
There are no Liberal roads, no Conservative sewers, no NDP ice rinks.
Sure, a mayor’s or councillor’s personal political leanings may well determine how they vote on some things, particularly social and economic issues, but residents want local issues looked at through a local lens.
They don’t want their mayor or councillor tied to some party platform or machine that has nothing to do with their city or their ward. They don’t want the nasty partisanship too often found federally and provincially played out around the horseshoe at city hall.
Things have been polarized enough lately.
The wise candidate will try to seek support across party lines and make that obvious to the public. They should make it clear that they aren’t going to follow any partisan agenda just to please the “machine” that orchestrated their election.
And individual members of that machine should be looking for the best candidate regardless of the political card in their wallet.
Municipally, I had three different campaign managers. Two were Progressive Conservatives. The third was (I think) a supporter of the NDP. They didn’t worry about my politics, which were well enough known since I had run federally (and lost) as a Liberal. Nor I theirs.
If there is a Liberal (or any other party) “machine” here, it should tread carefully as we head to October’s ballot box.