Keeping it local

Municipalities’ choice should remain

Do cities and towns in Arkansas really need partisanship in their election of municipal representatives?

Actually, that’s not really the question. The real question is whether the Arkansas Legislature should take away the choice of cit- ies and towns in how they carry out elections?

Municipalities under current state law can choose whether to hold nonpartisan elections or party primaries. Springdale Rep. Clint Penzo, a Republican, wanted to change that with House Bill 1655. Penzo explained that his constituents “want to know if the person on the ballot is conservative or liberal, a Republican or a Democrat.”

Thankfully, Penzo’s misguided idea was defeated Wednesday in the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.

But what of his notion? It’s worth addressing in case he or some other lawmaker continues to harbor ideas about hijacking the election process in most of Arkansas’ incorporated communities.

Let’s say Penzo is right, that the people of his hometown want partisanship in their municipal elections. Why shouldn’t he and other advocates of such a change simply convince the movers and shakers in Springdale to choose that approach? Why should Penzo, instead, force not just his own hometown but towns across the state to abide by his idea of what’s needed?

If Springdale decided to go that route under current law, we’d argue against it then, too. Why? Because municipal elections are much different than representative elections covering larger geographic areas, such as the 100 state representative districts covering the state or the 35 state Senate districts, or even the justice of the peace districts that populate each county’s quorum court.

Those larger districts make it more challenging for voters to know, directly, the people who run for office, making the party designation a key marker voters will use to influence their decisions at the ballot box. We’d still argue voters should get to know the candidates and avoid casting ballots based solely on a party designation. After all, there are Republican and Democratic candidates who will make great representatives in government and there are Republican and Democratic candidates who will not. An “R” or a “D” beside a candidate’s name, as any Arkansas political observer can attest, is no guarantee of the quality of a candidate.

In a municipal setting, though, issues coming before city councils don’t readily lend themselves to partisanship quite as much as in the chambers of higher-level deliberative bodies, and cities and towns shouldn’t be forced into making it seem like they do. Paving streets, operating sewer systems, zoning properties and picking up garbage — do those sound like matters to be determined by party?

But the most important argument against Penzo’s scheme is that the municipalities have the choice to go partisan if that’s needed. That choice ought to remain with each community instead of being dictated by lawmakers in Little Rock. That’s why the Arkansas Municipal League and other Republicans on the committee opposed Penzo’s proposal.

We don’t know why Penzo decided the leaders of his hometown lacked the discernment to determine what was best for the people of Springdale. We’re glad lawmakers from other parts of the state took a stand in favor of local decision-making.