Hi Lloyd [Snook]!

I know the presidential primary has placed our city council nominating process in a difficult position and I think you've taken the best course available by selecting the February 7th date. The legislature did not do us any favors with this decision.

My concern, which I know you share, is that this development is particularly harmful to candidate development and recruitment. In addition, after several years of special efforts to make our process simpler to increase participation, the rushed nature this year can only hamper efforts to expand our base.

The biggest problem caused by this situation is that incumbents now have an even greater advantage than normal with the reduced window of exposure and preparation this year. Incredibly, we have at least one and possibly two incumbents who appear to be seeking third terms (should we just change the name from City Council to City Dynasty?). New candidates who have been expecting our traditional late February nominating process have truly had the rug yanked from beneath them. All of our talk of "leveling the playing field" has become just talk.

While I can see no way to remedy the issues of candidate imbalance this year, I think you should consider implementing some sort of modified "firehouse" primary for the mass meeting that would allow participants to simply drop by and vote without having to attend the entire proceeding. In addition, I think we should also implement an "absentee" system that would allow folks to submit votes during the week before the mass meeting. I think a very simple system could be devised and might mitigate some of the perception that the "machine" is simply trying to keep its incumbents safe.

Thanks for the soap box!

Tom Vandever (electronic mail, January 13, 2004)

Editor's Note: The new date has arguably made it more difficult for non-incumbents to win the Democratic nomination for city council. It has also made it more difficult for participants in the nominating process who must make a judgment about non-incumbent candidates, knowing very little about their background or about how they stand on issues coming before council.

Incumbents coming up for reelection are Maurice Cox (first elected in 1996), Kevin Lynch (first elected in 2000) and Meredith Richards (first elected in 1996). It is not crystal clear which of these will be incumbents will be running for office this time around.