About that ‘tyranny of the majority’ thing – A state initiative to strip Tucson of its right to govern itself

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In an earlier post I told you about the latest GOP talking points in the Tucson City Council election: that Tucson's citywide all mail-ballot election "disenfranchises" Republican voters, and citywide elections (rather than ward-only) is a "tyranny of the majority" by Democratic voters.

Those talking points were easily disproved by the inconvenient truth of the facts: all mail-balloting has increased voter turnout, and citywide voting has benefitted GOP candidates over the years. 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?' GOP operatives shamelessly compare themselves to those who marched and died for the Voting Rights Act.

What this is really all about is GOP whining that "Paton's Law," which would have imposed nonpartisan and ward-only elections on the City of Tucson, was struck down by the Court of Appeals earlier this year as an unconstitutional overreach by our colonial overlords from the State of Maricopa in the Arizona legislature. You see, Tucson is a Charter City, and under the Arizona Constitution the citizens of a Charter City get to decide for themselves through their City Charter how they want to conduct their local elections.

The citizens of Tucson have steadfastly supported partisan elections (the only city in Arizona which still does so). Previous ballot initiatives for ward-only elections have been soundly defeated by Tucson voters.

So what are our evil GOP overlords from the state of Maricopa and the wannabe tinhorn dictator of Tucson, Jonathan "Payday" Paton, going to do now? They have filed an initiative to change the Arizona Constitution to do away with partisan elections and to impose a "top two" open primary system. Open primary system would kill Arizona's sole municipal partisan race – East Valley Tribune:

A proposed initiative to create an open primary system for statewide, congressional and legislative races would also wipe out the state's only municipal partisan race in Tucson.

If approved, city primaries would allow all registered voters to select among all candidates regardless of political affiliation. Then the top two vote getters would face off in the general election.

State lawmakers voted last year to ban partisan city elections, a move that sponsors conceded would affect only Tucson.

That law, however, was overruled earlier this year by the Arizona Court of Appeals. The judges said the state Constitution gives charter cities like Tucson broad authority over matters that are solely of local concern.

That ruling, however, would be overridden if voters approve the initiative next year, as it would amend the Arizona Constitution.

So our evil GOP overlords from the state of Maricopa want to give all of Arizona the right to decide how the citizens of Tucson are to conduct their local elections. Now that is the definition of a "tyranny of the majority." So much for the "small government, local control" rhetoric of the GOP. Our "big brother" colonial overlords want to crush the right of self-determination and the freedom of the citizens of Tucson to govern themselves. They would appoint Jonathan "Payday" Paton the viceroy of their colony of Tucson if they could.

Of course, in order to punish the citizens of Tucson for their insolence, our colonial overlords from the state of Maricopa are again overreaching. The initiative would make all elections nonpartisan (other than presidential candidates). Initiative filed to scrap Arizona's partisan primary system – East Valley Tribune:

A initiative launched Tuesday would scrap the current system where those affiliated with each party choose the nominees for statewide, congressional, legislative and local office. Instead, all candidates would run in a single primary, with the top two vote-getters in each race facing off in the general election, even if both are from the same party.

Backers have until July 25 to get the required 259,213 valid signatures to put the plan, which already has been adopted in Washington and California, on the 2012 ballot.

The prime force behind the measure is former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson who, when he was a registered Democrat, made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1998. Johnson contends the current system does not work.

* * *

If nothing else, Johnson said that is “a vote of the public that they no longer have confidence in the two parties.” That includes Johnson, who said he is now a registered independent.

And while independents can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries, most do not.

* * *

“They’re leaving a more distilled, ideologically pure voter in either camp which now tend to elect people based on their own ideological purity,” he said. The result, said Johnson, is that those from both parties who hope to get the nomination must court the votes of those on the “extremes.”

First of all, this is a myth. The Republican Party has become more radical and extreme, driven by the conservative media noise machine. There are numerous studies which have demonstrated this rightward shift into extremism. As I have said many times, "this is not your father's GOP." This false equivalency that Democrats are on the far left is complete nonsense. Ask anyone who self-describes as being a liberal or a progressive. Issue poll after issue poll demonstrates that a vast majority of Americans agree with Democrats on the issues, which makes them the centrist or majority party. See Steve Benen at the Political Animal – It’s called ‘The Democratic Party’.

Second of all, this constant attempt to put independent voters up on a pedestal and worship them as an ideal voter is simply wrong. Study after study has demonstrated that independent voters are less informed and less engaged in the political process. This is why they do not bother to vote in primaries — and this is not going to change with an "open" primary. Independent voters are not truly independent, they are "leaners." The actual number of "swing" voters is very small. Party labels and the party platforms and positions parties represent help voters to decide who best supports their beliefs, and that's a good thing.

The initiative, if approved by voters, would allow candidates to continue to declare their party affiliation. That means voters would know which contenders identify themselves as Republicans and which want voters to know they are Democrats.

And Johnson acknowledged that could still result in highly partisan runoffs, like the current race for mayor in Phoenix between Democrat Greg Stanton and Republican Wes Gullett.

* * *

Andrei Cherny, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, agreed that party affiliation would continue to mean something, even in a nonpartisan race. He said that, at least for some, those labels are important because they provide a shortcut for voters to determine a candidate’s general philosophical bent.

“A lot of people support Greg Stanton because they know he’s a Democrat and that’s a signal to them about what he fights for,” Cherny said. “And lots of people support Wes Gullett because of his credentials as a Republican.”

Which just goes to show that partisan affiliation matters. Just say no to this nonsense.