Elections chief registers as independent

Tallahassee Democrat ^ | Posted on Sun, Jan. 19, 2003 | David Twiddy

[davidosborne]

Quietly, without fanfare, Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho has switched his voter registration from Democrat to independent.

[davidosborne]

MY 2 cents Worth from another Related Thread ** Action Alert ** They just keep SWITCHING AND SWITCHING

[davidosborne]

Pass it on..

[concerned about politics]

Another rat jumps ship.
Lets keep the truth about socialism failures comming. It works!

[concerned about politics]

People are running. They don't want to be labled as Democrats . It's too demeaning.

[davidosborne]

well that is one way of putting my FRiend.. I think Scott Maddox is going to try to put a "new face" on the same old Liberal rhetoric and give us more seats.....

David

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Quietly and without fanfare...he breaks free of the organized crime ring. Someday a Democrat will feel free to criticize his party out loud without fear of retribution.

[davidosborne]

"Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you'd agree that the greatest diversity of all is diversity of thought," Maddox told an interviewer. "It is unhealthy to have one party in charge of everything."

Excerpt from another Article....Maddox, state Democrats at a crossroads

[davidosborne]

At home, the new state and county chairman has some prestige at stake in the technically nonpartisan races for mayor and Tallahassee City Commission. Asked whether it would be embarrassing to be succeeded by Republican John Paul Bailey, Maddox smiled and said, "Most people think John Paul is a Democrat."

[Clinging Bitterly]

You need to read the rest of the article to see what this is all about:

>>Sancho said he hasn't had any falling-out with the Democratic Party. He did it because of the new Leon County charter, which calls for nonpartisan elections for his office.<<

Good thing or bad thing?

>>"The only thing that it really means is that your party affiliation is not printed on the ballot," Sancho said.<<

This sounds like something I am familiar with.

>>"You still have a First Amendment free-speech right to tell voters your party and who you support or what you believe, if that's what you want to do."<<

They generally won't, though. They quickly learn that this is an opportunity to keep that ideology thing hidden.

And finally:

>>both parties have bought lists of all registered voters in the city so they can help the "nonpartisan" candidates they support in next month's Tallahassee elections.<<

Yup and they do have the inside scoop there. The parties (especially the Democrats) will continue to boost their candidate any way they can (even financially, whether or not it remains technically legal. My hunch is that Sancho remains a Democrat, through and through.

I've written on FR before that I don't think the local races should be nonpartisan, because that system lends opportunity to those who would deliberately mislead voters in order to gain office. Party labels and and the reporting requirements for legitimate party funding help to belie the pretense that one stands for something other than his real intentions.

Doesn't seem to be a common system in the south and east, but here in Oregon it is the norm. It gets Democrats elected by people who wouldn't normally vote for one.

Not much good about that, if you ask me.

Dave in Eugene

[davidosborne]

I read the whole article earlier today in the paper... I think local races SHOULD be non-partisen.... especially here in Tallahassee... too many partyline voters who don't have the slightest clue what the liberal vs. conservative agenda is... I hope it causes the people to take a closer look at the candidates they plan to vote for..

[Clinging Bitterly]

>> I hope it causes the people to take a closer look at the candidates they plan to vote for..

My experience from these parts is it won't. Candidates around here are all wishy-washy and won't say much about the real issues. They just want to make a change, take care of the children, generic stuff like that. At least a party label is some information. A party's backing (or lack thereof) of a candidate can be useful information, and sometimes all you will get. No party label means that information can be concealed.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!