Unslated Candidates On A Ballot Near You

When you go to the polls next Tuesday, May 6, you'll have lots of folks ready to hand you a glossy photo array of their Party's slated candidates.

Harder to find is a list of those candidates on the ballot who are not slated by the Parties - either because they did not pay the slating fee (most of them) or were not the selected slated candidate.  There are a smattering of these folks appearing on ballots throughout Marion County.

Here are the non-slated candidates and the offices they are running for:

Democrats

Congressional District 5

Allen Ray Davidson

Shawn A. Denney

David William Ford

Congressional District 7

Mmoja Ajabu

Curtis Godfrey

Pierre Quincy Pullins

Indiana State House District 93

Ryan Guillory

Marion County Superior Court

Greg Bowes

David R. Hennessy

Christopher K. Starkey

Marion County Sheriff

Mark Brown

Center Township Constable

Johnny Williams

Center Township Small Claims Court Judge

Michelle Smith Scott

Lawrence Township Constable

Stanley Allen Stephens

Lawrence Township Trustee

Paula Redden

Perry Township Small Claims Court Judge

Amanda R. Whipple

Wayne Township Trustee

Douglas Marion White

David King Baird

Republicans

Congressional District 5 (there was no Marion County Republican slating for any Congressional seat)

Susan Brooks

David M. (Mike) Campbell

David S. Stockdale

Congressional District 7

Wayne "Gunny" Harmon

Erin Kent Magee

J D Miniear

Catherine (Cat) Ping

Gordon Smith

Indiana State Senate District 31

Chrystal D. LaMotte

Indiana State House District 91

Michael S. Scott

Indiana State House District 96

Margaret Peggy Jones

Marion County Clerk

Jocelyn-Tandy Adande

Franklin Township Constable

Phil Suiters

Perry Township Trustee

Daniel T. Moriarty 

This list was compiled by comparing the names listed on the Marion County Democrat and Republican Party websites, and names of those who filed to be candidates at either the Secretary of State's Office or the Marion County Election Board.

The Slating Process is Corrupt - Vote Against It

The slating process in Marion County is there to serve the needs of a small group of power brokers who want to be the ones who decide where the spoils of City government go, and many times, to provide employment for their family members.  There may be only one other Boss Hog County in Indiana where slating survives.

Sometimes slating gets excellent candidates.  Other times it picks lousy ones who have a relationship with the County Chairs or others who feel like wielding power in back rooms and out of site of the voters.

They say that the slate is picked by those who know them best - the Precinct Committeemen.  Not true.  The County Party Chairmen appoint the vast majority of PCs, Vice PCs, and Ward Chairs who vote.  Some don't do a minute's work for the party bosses outside of showing up to the slating convention to vote how they were told to vote.

There is no harm done to a good candidate who deserves your vote if a primary election were open to all and YOU, the voter, chose who should represent your party in the fall election.  Good, and even excellent, candidates have been pushed aside for fair to underhanded candidates by the slating process.

The only way to kill off slating and turn the decisions over to the voter is for voters to pass on the message that slating is a malignancy on Democracy here in Marion County, and for those voters to vote for an unslated candidate.

If you are a Democrat, you can vote against slating by voting for Greg Bowes and Mark King for Superior Court Judge as well as Brian Cooper for State House Representative for District 92 or Zach Mullholland in District 100.  If you are a Republican, you can vote against slating by voting for Paul Ogden or Carol Orbison for Superior Court Judge (Go with the O's).

Remember, it is as much your Party as theirs.  Bring Democracy back to the people.


Voter Information Portal -- check here for your polling location and to print a sample ballot.

Star Editorial Board Sides With Voters

The Star's Editorial Board has come down on the side of the voters and calls on the Election Board and Voter Registration to open voter lists to unslated candidates.

These candidates are legally on the ballot.

The voter lists are public documents.

But the Voter Registration Office is run by the county party chairmen - even though the taxpayers foot the bill.  These men are extreme partisans, to the point where even democracy is less important than the unbridled power they wield.  Slating is a farce and worse.  None the less, one does not need to go through slating in order to put their name on the ballot.  In fact, only Marion County and perhaps Lake County in Indiana even have slating.

Those who give voters a choice in the primary are feared by the party chairmen precisely because they provide a choice for the voters.   So, they put as many hurdles in front of those defenders of democracy as possible - including delaying or  outright denying voter list so these candidates can get their message out.

Running for Judge are Republican Paul Ogden and Democrats Greg Bowes and Mark King.  Democrats running for State Rep are Brian Cooper in District 92 and Zach Mullholland in District 100.

All have filed a lawsuit against the Election Board in an attempt to remedy this problem for all of us here in Marion County - the last bastion of Boss Hog politics.  The case is to be heard tomorrow in Judge Rosenberg's Court.

Uh-Oh --- No Slam Dunk For Precinct Committeemen

Well, there seems to be a lot of Democratic panties in a bunch over contested Precinct Committeemen (PC) elections this year. The blame has been lavished upon Brian Williams, announced candidate for Mayor in 2011. Seems Williams brought a stack of PC candidate forms into the Election Board on Friday, just before the noon filing deadline. The 'Behind Closed Doors' column in the Sunday Star said he brought in 200 forms. The word Friday night was 175. All agree they are his supporters. The Star reports that there are 590 total precincts in the County.

So, I looked over the spreadsheet posted on the Election Board website to see what I could see. I filtered and sorted the data and I found that overall, 216 PC slots are uncontested and 152 are contested. 47 of the contested slots have more than two candidates. 08-002 and WAS-050 each have 6 folks running.

Looking at the data from the perspective of when the slots became contested, 47 were contested before Williams dropped his stack on the 19th. And, 23 of the 105 that became contested on the 19th have more than 2 candidates. Now if we think Williams is a smart man, which I do, then I have to guess that he didn't submit more than two candidates for any one PC slot.

Here's how I see the numbers. Roughly a third of all contested PC races were contested prior to Williams showing up in the Election Office. Also, a third of all contested PC races have more than two candidates. This suggests to me, either another agency promoting their own set of PC candidates have been at work, or there is a goodly amount of widespread dissatisfaction with who is in those slots now.

In my opinion, it would be good for the party to see if there is anything it needs to fix before it hoists all manner of derision on Williams.

Lets be frank here. The County Democratic Party was marching in a line to anoint Melina Kennedy as its candidate. Williams actions suggest he wasn't content to go to slating with PCs selected by the 'system'.

Every time I say that slating must go, I am rebutted with the claim that the PCs know the candidates best. Now I am hearing folks that I respect, say that they won't vote for Williams - not because his ideas for Indianapolis are bad - but because he bucked the system. The preservation of the system should not be the goal. We have lost a lot of good people from the Marion County Democratic Party 'system' because those in a position to make changes have not wanted to do so. That is a crying shame.

In any case, here are the numbers Township by Township (I don't know how many precincts in each township, so be aware that these are only the ones for which a person put their name in as a candidate) --

Center (I believe old city limits actually) - 76 uncontested -- 70 contested
Decatur - 6 uncontested -- 4 contested
Franklin - 9 uncontested -- 3 contested
Lawrence - 18 uncontested -- 19 contested
Perry - 18 uncontested -- 8 contested
Pike - 21 uncontested -- 12 contested
Warren - 13 uncontested -- 11 contested
Washington - 34 uncontested -- 15 contested
Wayne - 20 uncontested -- 10 contested

The Problem with Slating In a Democratic Country

My thanks to Paul Ogden for filling in so many blanks in my understanding of slating and how it is limited to Marion County, Indiana. That alone should give Democrats and Republicans pause in supporting the process. For those who don't know, Paul has an excellent blog that I highly recommend. (Ogden On Politics)

The ultimate goal is to elect the best candidates possible for every office in the Country. To do that you really need a process that encourages participation by the electorate as well as a vigorous debate about the issues. Mud-slinging is not an effectively substitute for a discussion of different approaches to challenges, philosophies and visions for the future of any community. And one name on a primary ballot does not a choice constitute. If only one person wants to run in a primary for a particular office, well then, what an unlucky turn of events for the voters. But, if only one person gets to run in a primary for a particular office, well then, that's bad for a thriving democracy.

Take for example the Primary process for Presidential candidates. Last year was an exciting and invigorating election year that was largely driven by an exciting and invigorating race during the Primary season. If a choice for President can exist on a Primary ballot, then surely there can be a choice for Mayor or Councillor or Township Trustee.

The slating process lets a handful of Party activists, lightly or heavily supplemented by the County Party Chairman's placeholder Precinct Committeemen (PCs), to make a decision that rightly belongs to the whole membership of the Party. Slating not only robs the membership of its rightful say in who carries the Party banner into the general election, it also robs the membership of a discussion of what each candidate finds important to the office and robs the membership of a decision on the direction of the party and the direction of the government.

Some try to defend the slating process with two arguments - we don't want to waste campaign money on a fight between Democrats (or between Republicans) and the PCs know the candidates and their platform best.

Campaign finance issues can be dealt with as a separate issue and having slating or not having slating is irrelevant. So, the linkage is a specious argument. As for fighting between any candidates, same party or not, that too is an issue that can be dealt with separately from the issue of slating.

PCs know some of the candidates and some of the platforms, that is true. But again I must say that we are supposed to be a democracy with the voters deciding who should represent them, not a handful of even well-intentioned people cutting off the competition before it gets started.

And from what I have seen, slating conventions can choose not who is best for office, but rather formulate who goes on the ballot using silly and capricious factors. Take for example the Democratic slating convention for Superior Court Judges a couple of years ago. The factor really under consideration was how to keep Becky Pierson-Treacy's name within the first 9 candidates listed alphabetically on the ballot, not a consideration of who would best serve on the bench.

For a fun read I recommend the Bilerico Project item called "The Marion County Democratic Party Has Lost Its Collective Mind".

Now, I don't have anecdotes about the Republican slating conventions, because I haven't attended them. If anyone has a good story to tell, I hope they add their comments.

Nonetheless, by removing candidates from the primary ballot through the slating and purging process, choices are removed from the voters, diminishing the chances that our government will reflect our better selves. This process helps get or keep those well-connect to the County Chairmen on the ballot, but little else, really.

Lets talk.

The Political Party Slating System

Since the slating process has already burbled to the top here, lets lay out what that process is and how it differs from how folks get on the ballot in other areas of the state and country.

I readily admit that I know only snippets of the process of slating candidates for election here in Marion County and nothing about how it is done elsewhere. So, please step in and feel free to correct any errors you see in what I think I know, and add information about how the rest of the state does it and how common Marion County's system is. Plus, any other comments you'd like to make, of course.

For purposes of full disclosure -- let me say that I am a precinct committeewoman in the Democratic Party here in Decatur Township. For me that means a really long day twice a year, 3 out of 4 years, working with a great crew of Democrats and Republicans to ensure that our residents get a fair and honest chance to elect the person they find best on the ballot. It also has afforded me some view of the slating process from the cheap seats.

Here are my ABC's of slating. Please correct as needed.

In order to win election to office, you must win among all candidates listed on the ballot for that office in the General Election (the one held in the fall). In order to get your name on the General Election ballot you must first secure the nomination of the political Party of you choice. For Democrats and Republicans this means winning the Primary Election (the one held in the spring) while the Libertarians typically appoint folks to run in the General Election. We'll talk about the Independent candidates at another time.

When a candidate wants to put their name on the ballot for a Primary Election, they sign up with the Marion County Election Board. If they want the endorsement of their County Party, they must also submit their name to the County Party Office. I don't know if that also entails a meeting with the Party Chairman or not. Plus, they must pass some money, called a slating fee, to the County Party - for some reason I think that amounts to 1/4 of the compensation you would get if you were actually elected to the post you seek. For Democrats, you must sign a statement saying that should you not get the 'coveted' slated spot, you will either withdraw your name from the primary ballot or lose the 'donation' you just made to the party. Should you withdraw your name, that money would be returned to you.

Again, should you win the slating contest in the Democratic party, your 'donation' gets you the 'coveted' title of 'slated candidate' and your picture and name on the literature handed out at the polling place on election day in the spring and again in the fall. I have heard that the Republican party also throws in yard signs.

The slating convention has some speeches and then the precinct committee and vice-precinct committee people as well as the ward chairs all vote. They only get to vote for offices that would appear on the ballot in their precinct, not necessarily all offices. The choice of candidates on the slating ballot are only those who paid the slating fee, not necessarily all those who signed up with the Election Board to be on the ballot. The voting is done on the same voting machines used in the primary and general elections and is overseen by a representative of the County Election Board. I certainly hope that the costs are borne by the parties, and not the taxpayers -- but I do not know for sure.

The persons with the highest votes at the slating convention are the ones who are 'slated'. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WIN SLATING to appear on the Primary ballot. Inclusion on the ballot is secured simply by filling out the proper paperwork for the Marion County Election Board.

That ends my understand, so please add to this so that we are all on the same page with the facts.

Tomorrow I'll plow into what I find wrong about the slating process and how slating itself diminishes democracy.

Lets talk.