Guilford County GOP chair Marcus Kindley believes the reason why the turnout is so low for municipal elections is because they are, by state law, non-partisan races. But, as he points out, the Democrats tend to approach such races with a wink and a nod and help candidates of their Party with fundraising and other support in spite of the non-partisan designation. He also thinks this might be part of the reason why the Greensboro City Council is heavily weighted toward the Democrats. I think he is right.
Instead of lamenting what the other side is doing, it seems that the local GOP would just do as the Dems do and jump right in and help local registered Republican candidates in order to balance things out. So Roch Smith Jr., wanted to know if that was happening. It took a bit of prodding, but Roch finally got Kindley to answer this direct question...
"Mr. Chairman, are you doing anything to help any of the Republican candidates for City Council with their campaigns?..."
Answer from Kindley "...Yes they have and yes we have."
Question from Smith: "So, if I conacted (sic) Sandra Anderson and Diane Davis, they would tell me that they sought local party support and that the party is helping them?"
Answer from Kindley: "Ask Diane... She's been a great help at headquarters, As for Mrs. Anderson, she's never called, volunteered or been involved with the Guilford County Republican Party to my knowledge."
Response and follow-up from Smith: "...I did ask Diane. She says the Republican party is not helping her with her campaign. ...you've also eliminated Sandra Anderson, this makes your claim that the party is helping candidates for city council very strange.... could (you) clarify just who it was you were refering to when you said that the local Republican party had been asked for help and is ofering help. By whom and to whom?"
Smith's question was not filed until 1:30a this morning, so we shouldn't expect a quick response, but I can see where this is heading. And, in fairness, Kindley said that "they have and we have" not "we are and they are". The question is why aren't they?
Despite the widely known fact that the local Democratic Party actively supports Democratic City Council candidates, the local GOP puts up hurdles before they will throw their support behind a candidate. According to Marcus, the local GOP only recruits hard-line Republicans (lately, without success, he says). Finding no suitable candidates who will run, the local GOP will then only help those Republicans who ask for it. But that will happen only after vetting candidates through the local GOP Executive Committee to see if they indeed "deserve" such non-specific help.
It seems to me that instead of bitching and moaning about how the Democrats dominate local elections, the local GOP might instead start doing something about it and reach out to their own. Claiming, as he does, that the the NC Legislature somehow fixed municpal elections so Democrats have the upper hand is just a cop out. Regarding why the change was made all those years ago, Kindley asks... "Could it be they were losing elections when people had a choice?
No Marcus... obviously people still have choices between candidates in local elections. Only now they choose those they percieve as the better candidate based on experience, accomplishments, vision and... most decidedly hereabouts... name recognition and popularity. Hard-line conservatives just aren't real popular in Greensboro, so why not settle for more moderate Republicans who can actually get elected.
It just seems that with few exceptions, local Republican candidates simply won't identify themselves with the local GOP as readily as local Democrats do with their party. If the local GOP really wants to change this, they need to figure out why local GOP candidates don't want to associate themselves with Kindley et al... and change something about the way they do business.
They might start by paying attention to how their elected Chairman can't seem to tell us whom the GOP is, or isn't, or might promote in the upcoming City Council elections. There are two Republicans in the at-large hunt - its time to do like the Dems or be quiet about it.
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Background: The local GOP was involved in the 2003 City Council election. That's when I found out I probably wasn't a good enough Republican. It was fine by me.
9:28:34 AM 
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