by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Lou Ritter’s timing was certainly strategic. The former Jacksonville mayor pitched his idea of non-partisan elections before City Council Tuesday evening, just as the 19-member body is embroiled in an imminent Council presidency election where party affiliation might mean everything.
Until recently, the Suzanne Jenkins vs. Jerry Holland battle for the presidency appeared to be strictly a matter of who could campaign best based on past performance. Last month, local Republican Party chair Tom Slade confounded the issue by strongly recommending that Republican Council members vote along party lines. With 12 Republicans and seven Democrats on the Council, it would effectively give Holland the advantage.
“Politics aren’t fair — and I’m not asking for fair — but at the same time it shouldn’t be this hard when you have to take on a party head like Tom Slade,” said Jenkins.
Slade downplays his involvement, saying he might have gotten “more credit than I deserve.”
“I suggested to a couple or three of our guys that it would be more appropriate to have one of our guys as president than someone who is going to be co-chair of the [Bill] McBride campaign,” said Slade.
Slade said his interference in the Council presidency race stems from Jenkins’ involvement with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride. Her position as McBride’s Duval County campaign co-chair didn’t sit well with Slade because McBride’s primary goal between now and November is to unseat incumbent governor Jeb Bush. Jenkins has since resigned from the position and offered not to publicly support McBride, but Slade said it’s too little too late.
“I am not in a position to offer forgiveness,” he said. “By the time she decided she was going to reform, the horse was already out of the barn.”
Jenkins supports Ritter’s appeal to move to a non-partisan system, where elected officials would not openly subscribe to any political party, which would conceivably give them some immunity from outside partisan influences.
“It’s hard enough to run for leadership,” she said. “I think by removing the partisanship, while it certainly doesn’t make it easy, it definitely makes it easier. There is not a Republican pothole or a Democrat cracked sidewalk. These are issues that are local and germane to everyday quality of life. There really aren’t any party connotations to the issues we take up and solve.”
Holland, in his quest for Council presidency, has 10 written commitments from fellow Council members. He discounts Slade’s influence.
“If all 10 of my commitments were from one party, I’d say party had something to do with it,” he said. “For some members, yes it’s a criteria and it’s important to them. I’m not sure if you go non-partisan that you completely remove the party.”
Council member Reggie Fullwood, a Democrat, sides with Jenkins and is willing to explore the possibility of a non-partisan system on the local level.
“Our relationships and alliances certainly aren’t based on politics and it’s frustrating when you get political parties involved in a process such as the Council president’s race or Council business because there is really not room for that,” he said. “When we do work up here and we’re supporting a park project or non-profit or a drainage project, it’s not based upon party politics at all. So there’s really very little room for party politics.”
With Democrats outnumbered on a Republican-dominated Council, some make the argument that their willingness to go non-partisan is a product of their waning power.
“Every time the Democrats start to get whipped, they want to change the rules,” said Slade. “Lou Ritter has finally awakened to the fact that Democrats don’t do well in elected office.”
“The reality is that Democrats will benefit from it,” conceded Fullwood. “But then again, each person should be able to run in an election based upon their goals and things that they bring to the community. Let’s say I’m an independent candidate, I would say that it doesn’t matter what my party is. I’m running based upon my vision for the city. That should stand on its own merits versus having a party backing me.”
Neither Slade or Duval Democratic chair Clyde Collins gushed over the prospect of non-partisan elections. Slade contends that competition between parties produces better candidates. It also precludes parties to be involved in local elections, eliminating resources, volunteers and money that individual candidates may not have access to.
“It could create a situation where only wealthy candidates could prevail,” said Collins.
One prominent Council member has chosen to ignore Slade’s suggestion to vote Republican. Republican Council president Matt Carlucci has remained steadfastly in Jenkins’ corner and advocates party-neutral decisions within the Council.
“I think there’s a lot to be said for non-partisan elections,” he said. “But by the same token, party involvement is important in local elections in terms of voter turnout. Even if you had non-partisan elections, people would still be associated with parties and this stuff would still go on. Partisan politics will always be involved.”
In the big picture, neither party appears overly excited about going non-partisan locally. As Collins puts it, local elected seats have become incubators for higher political office. The state legislature is a prominent example. State representatives E. Denise Lee, Terry Fields, Don Davis and Dick Kravitz are all former Council members.
“Going to non-partisan elections takes away from party power and prestige,” said Collins.