Democratic Good Old Boys Club

As it’s campaign season for local officeholders, there is again a rush for candidates to get the coveted Franklin County Democratic endorsement. In Worthington the past three election cycles, the Party endorsement all but guarantees a win. I have written about this in past articles here, but wanted to add comments specific to the Worthington City Council race.

Unfortunately, the local Democratic Party – and the Franklin County Democratic Party – have become nothing more than a Good Old Boys Club. The Party bases its endorsement on backroom deals, lots of whispers and phone calls, and buddy-buddy handshakes. Nothing is based on platform issues or policy making.

The lead Good Old Boy during the endorsement process has been (for the past decade) Worthington resident Mary Woods. It remains unclear how exactly, but she is close with the county Party leadership, and they oftentimes do what she says.

For Worthington races, the extreme disproportionate influence of just one person over the composition of our current City Council are unfortunate, to put it mildly.

Should there be endorsements?

The Franklin Democratic Party is hoping the voting public will blindly follow their lead without any research of their own – and it works. For the Party.

Sadly, most Dems in Franklin County don’t take enough time to research candidates, especially for local office, relying heavily on the Party endorsement. But endorsements should only be relied upon when the voter truly can’t obtain enough quality information about the candidates AND only if they trust their Party’s endorsements.

This year’s council race includes six out of seven Dems running for four seats. So why should the Party even get involved since likely four Dems will win.

Worthington can do better. Worthington residents can take a moment to research who is on the ballot, and what the issues are. Worthington residents don’t need the Good Old Boys Club telling them who to vote for.

The Worthington Chamber has some great resources (videos of the debates and the candidate podcasts) that every voter should view before voting. Click here: https://www.worthingtonchamber.org/worthingtonvotes/