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Orange County Voters Say Partisanship Is Not A Good Idea

Orlando Weekly logo, orlandoweekly.com
Orlando Weekly logo, orlandoweekly.com

A funny thing happened on the way to November. You might recall that Orange County voters were asked to register their feelings on making local elections partisan, thereby moving the elections of wonderful lovers of transparency like Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs to presidential years. More of a fair competition, you say? Voters said no! By about 55 percent, your friends and neighbors said that this wasn’t a good idea, because partisanship is awful.

“But we think party labels would inject an unwelcome, Washington-style partisanship into the commission,” the Orlando Sentinel editorial board said just before the election.  Never ones to let themselves look like sore losers, Democrats came out last week with their angry faces and declared that the midterm situation in Florida isn’t really fair; people aren’t that likely to show up.

“More Floridians deserve to have their voice heard,” Kevin Cate, adviser to Charlie Crist said in a blog. In other words, the midterm elections are broken.

Given the still-pending discussions of gerrymandering in the state’s redistricting trial and the apparent malaise of the state’s voters there may be room for a mirror in this conversation. Also, is the reset switch really going to help progressive causes? Not likely, say most.

“The Republican Party will run an effective campaign to make sure it doesn’t,” State Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, told the Times. “It also drains resources from other Democratic causes.” You know, like medical marijuana. See you in 2016.