With less than two weeks until Primary Day, this column could easily be dedicated to previewing a handful of interesting contests playing out in Republican and Democratic circles. But I’m confident Citizen readers will research the candidates, read The Citizen profiles on candidates, make an informed decision and show up to vote Aug. 7, so I’ll leave the prep work up to you.
Regular readers know by now I often go to painstakingly-long lengths to describe my desire for our elected leaders to make choices and decisions with good government principles behind them, not purely politics. I often have to use hypothetical situations, wishful thinking, and broad strokes of the brush to paint that picture. Last week, a tangible example was finally found.
When it comes to the competitive race in southern Platte County for County Commissioner of the 1st District, Pauli Kendrick and a handful of other long-time Democrats find themselves split between the responsibilities they have towards two different roles. As Chair of the Platte County Democratic Party, Kendrick is charged with promoting and supporting the party’s candidates and principles through thick and thin. On the other hand, her civic efforts have transcended into non-partisan activities without party labels at times as well. This includes her term as mayor of Weatherby Lake and a recent stint on the Park Hill Board of Education.
With no Democratic candidate filing to run in November, the winner of the August Republican primary between incumbent Kathy Dusenbery and challenger Beverlee Roper will go on to take office in December. As someone opposed to Dusenbery’s re-election for various reasons and a long-time Weatherby Lake neighbor of Roper’s, Kendrick decided to lend her efforts in support of Roper, whose candidacy has garnered significant support from the Republican establishment.
Despite the simple reasoning behind Kendrick’s decision, which has little to do with a shift in personal ideology, Roper’s Republican supporters have over-emphasized this as a positive indictment for their candidate’s wide-ranging appeal. This hasn’t been sitting well with local Democrats, who believe it is inappropriate for their chairperson to be involved in the race. Democratic central committee members went to great lengths voicing their displeasure with Kendrick at last week’s monthly meeting. Their argument was that as elected representatives of the Democratic Party in Platte County, no committee member should publicly support a candidate of another party, no matter who the candidate is or what the circumstances are.
After all the passionate and strong-felt opinions were expressed, the floor was open for Kendrick, who had calmly refrained from responding up to this point. Collected and composed, she delivered what I believe was one of the most well-reasoned political defenses I have heard in recent memory. She talked about the lack of cooperation between parties at the national and state levels, discussed her disapproval of the way Platte County business had been handled in recent years, and talked about the personal reasons she was supporting her candidate. It was a refreshing statement from a person who - no two ways about it - genuinely wants to see what she believed could be a positive change.
Kendrick is making a decision other Democrats might also
make this August. They’re voting to have a say about the future of leaders in Platte County,
in a race their party has failed to field a candidate for. As long as the local
Democratic Party continues to fall short in recruiting and supporting qualified
candidates like they have in recent years, it’s a dilemma their supporters will
be forced to deal with more and more. Other than electoral defeat, this is one
of the additional side effects of a local Republican Party whose organization
and growth has outpaced Democrats in the last decade.
In the end, Kendrick and other Democrats who decide to pick
up a Republican ballot instead of a Democratic ballot want to have a say in who
represents Platte
County at the local level.
There are less than a handful of Democratic races on the state level, but they
recognize the old adage that all politics are local still holds true and it
makes the biggest difference in our daily lives. They aren’t doing it to
compromise their political principles. Though in the absence of a candidate available
from their own party, a higher standard of principles surface. They respect their
right to vote and recognize that duty to country, state, and community comes
before party affiliation.
Maybe if similar decisions were made more often in the
course of actual governing, we’d think more highly of our elected officials.
