Political experience shouldn’t be a liability for candidates

Over the last several months, the Los Angeles Times editorial board conducted interviews with more than 100 people running for local and federal offices on the March 5 ballot. Again and again, we heard a similar refrain from the politically inexperienced candidates: “I’m not a career politician” and “We need to stop electing career politicians.”

But what’s so bad about being a career politician?

In every other industry, professional expertise is considered a good thing in prospective employees. In elections, voters are essentially hiring their representatives for local, state and federal governments. But politics is unusual in that on-the-job experience can be seen as a liability rather than an asset.

Imagine a hospital executive vetting job candidates and thinking, “I don’t want another career surgeon.” And what person facing criminal charges would want to hire an attorney who declares, “I’m not a career lawyer”?

That’s preposterous. So is the idea that there’s something wrong with people who choose to make a career out of public service. Like any professional, lawmakers hone their skills over time. It’s the rare individual who can arrive in City Hall, Sacramento or Washington, D.C., and quickly excel at shepherding bills into laws, overseeing government agencies and delivering for constituents.

It’s even sillier to hear so much disdain for people who have served in political office — from people running for political office. What will these candidates be if they are elected and decide to serve more than one term? Career politicians, or close to it.

And if they’re good at their job, why shouldn’t they parlay their experience and skills to seek a promotion by running for higher office?

Of course not every “career politician” is the best candidate in every race, and the impulse to reject “career politicians” out of hand is understandable right now. There’s a lot of frustration among voters about the current state of affairs, so “politics as usual” doesn’t sound very appealing. The worst example of all is Congress, which seems incapable of passing any meaningful legislation.

Still, rejecting an experienced leader in favor of a rookie can be dangerous. Sometimes the right choice is to trade long-term elected officials for people with fresh ideas, but not when their only crime is choosing to remain in public service. More often, their expertise is just what we need.