Next Time For Sure

For all the attention politics attracts at the national level I contend the real fun happens during local elections. You see, while the laws adopted by Congress may eventually trickle down and impact your life, the stuff the local politicians rule on can start to mess with you the next day. For example, have you ever seen a local town meeting when one guy wants to build a fence but the town won't give him a permit? From his impassioned reaction you would think we were back at the Salem Witch Trials. But the main reason local politics messes with us so bad is that while 95% of average Americans will never have the opportunity to meet the President, the people involved in local government are neighbors. Since you never see members of Congress shopping for toilet paper they almost seem to be other-worldly and they may as well be operating in another country. Meanwhile your local city council member is shopping in the same stores and bring their kids to the same schools, so you just see them around. In every other way they are the exact same as you or me, but they oddly have the power to mess with your life and that throws off the dynamic. That makes the political process at the local level extremely personal and why I contend the motivation behind many local campaigns is spite. (My mother always reminds me not to complain about the way my town does something because otherwise I will find myself in charge of that event next year.) Of course, for that to happen the town has to remember to actually hold the elections.

A Utah Mayor and four members of the town council will remain in office until 2015 after their town "forgot" to hold elections. They were supposed to have a vote back in November but this week someone finally noticed that they never got around to it. Now, it is not like this happened in Salt Lake City - the town has a population of around 275 people (with that knowledge a Mayor and Town Council actually seems like a lot of government for such a small place). Also, reports are that it was very likely the Mayor would have run unopposed anyway. Still, the fact you can forget to have an election is rather mind-blowing in a country where the right to vote is sacred. (The Mayor claims this isn't being done on purpose as a way to make sure he remains in office but how much do you want to bet Rob Ford is planning to try this same maneuver when his term is up?) The Mayor and the town have promised to remember to have them next time. The thing is, I wouldn't hold my breath as this is the second time this happened. You read that correctly - they forgot to hold elections back in 2011 as well. I guess in some ways this is smart because the town has to give small stipends to anyone running so they can create signs, so by not holding elections they are saving money and if no one raised a stink about forgetting this last time it sounds like that money is better spent elsewhere. Still, you never know what can happen in an election so someone at the city clerk's office needs to set-up a Google Alert for 2015 to make sure winning the 2009 campaign doesn't turn into a lifetime appointment.