Did Democrats make an unforced error with partisan endorsement in Wichita mayor race? | Opinion

Over the past couple of decades, the City of Wichita has fought a recurring state legislative battle with the Kansas Republican Party over whether local elections should be partisan or nonpartisan.

As the city’s Statehouse lobbyist in recent years, I helped convey the message that local governments wanted to keep their elections nonpartisan, while the state GOP pushed to move local elections to the fall of even numbered years.

That change would put races for mayor, City Council and school boards on the same ballot as the races for president, Congress, governor and state legislators.

Local political parties would select candidates in a primary election, and the general election would list the winners with their party label — along with any independent or third-party candidates.

The GOP’s argument was simple: Labeling local candidates as Republican or Democrat and moving the races to fall would greatly enhance the chances for local Republicans in a very red state to win local races.

The city, along with the Kansas League of Municipalities, the League of Women Voters and similar groups and minds, argued that local issues were a bad fit for partisan politics.

Pete Meitzner, then a City Council member and now a Sedgwick County commissioner — and a Republican —testified that “potholes aren’t Republican or Democrat”, expressing the nearly unanimous opinion of local officials across the state.

The local folks have prevailed so far, as local elections continue to be nonpartisan, although a compromise moved the elections from spring to fall, but kept them in odd-numbered years. That was supposed to spur voter turnout, while keeping away the distractions of national and statewide races.

Well, get ready for a change.

The Sedgwick County Democratic Party broke ranks and endorsed the re-election bid of Mayor Brandon Whipple, a fellow Democrat. In a fundraising appeal, they say: “We must re-elect Mayor Brandon Whipple to maintain our Democratic majority on the Wichita City Council and expand that majority by electing Democrats in District 2 and District 5!” That greatly undermines any future opposition to moving local elections to even-numbered years.

If both parties want to make local races partisan, opposition by the City of Wichita or the League of Municipalities will find little sympathy in the Kansas Legislature. If the Kansas Republican leaders are paying attention, you can expect them to mount another effort to persuade the Legislature to put local elections on the same ballot as races for president and governor.

The big name national and state races would draw more voters to the local races, and Republicans should expect greater success in winning local races.

This fall’s ballot won’t list candidates as Republican, Democrat or independent, but it may be a moot point. The Sedgwick County Democratic Party’s endorsement of Whipple likely will draw a similar response from the local GOP chapter, although not until after the primary election. The local political parties can be expected to throw their weight around during the general election campaign, destroying any shred of nonpartisanship.

It should be noted that this is nothing new to the Republicans, who recruited and campaigned for an entire slate of local school board candidates in the most recent election. The new feature is that local Democrats have now drunk the partisan Kool-Aid.

The Democrats’ endorsement also was a bit odd because it came during the primary election campaign. Political parties typically don’t endorse candidates in a primary, avoiding internal strife that would hurt the party in the general election. The local Democrats didn’t see that as an obstacle in endorsing Whipple, in an apparent effort to dissuade any other local Democrats from challenging the mayor.

Meanwhile, another announced mayoral candidate, Celeste Racette, has declared herself to be “nonpartisan and independent”, hoping that local voters will be turned off by the intrusion of local political parties in what historically have been nonpartisan elections.

The remaining question is whether the local Democratic party shot itself in the foot by endorsing a local mayoral candidate. The short-term benefit from that action may well be offset by the long-term advantage handed to Republicans if the Legislature pulls the plug on local nonpartisan elections.

Dale Goter is a media consultant, former journalist and former lobbyist for the city of Wichita.