Primary campaign
With the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the May 17 municipal primary passing this past week, the ballot is now set for Fayette County.
We are expecting a spirited campaign with races for several county posts shaping up to be very interesting.
Headlining the primary ballot will be the battle for county commissioner, as all three sitting commissioners will face competition. Six candidates are vying for four party nominations.
Incumbent Democratic Commissioners Vincent A. Vicities and Vincent Zapotosky, who are running as a team, will compete with Al Ambrosini for the two spots for their party. Incumbent Republican Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink will face off against Marilyn E. Cellurale and Dave Lohr for the two GOP nominations.
Vicities is running for his fifth four-year term; Zimmerlink her third and Zapotosky his second. Ambrosini is making his first run for office, while Cellurale ran four years ago as an independent and Lohr has run three times in the past.
Of course, commissioner isn’t the only high profile county post to be decided this May.
Two row offices, district attorney and sheriff, will see incumbents facing off with challengers. Fayette County District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr., who was appointed to the post last year when former District Attorney Nancy Vernon was elected as a Fayette County judge, will compete with John Cupp in the Democratic primary.
Fayette County Sheriff Gary D. Brownfield Sr. will face off with Robert Ted Pritchard Sr. for the Democratic nomination. The winners in both races should have an easy time of it in in November as no Republicans filed for either post.
The races are sure to be interesting this spring and we are always glad to see multiple candidates vying for nominations. That is in no way an indictment of the incumbent candidates, but rather acknowledging that democracy is participatory. Everyone benefits when politicians need to win their posts, rather than acquiring them by default.
Challengers not only ensure we have fresh ideas in the county, but also keep incumbents on their toes and accountable. An incumbent who never faces a challenger has a greater likelihood of becoming complacent or ineffective.
Simply put, competition makes for better democracy.
As such, we are disappointed in the county Republican party, which failed to file for a single row office. Outside of fielding two candidates for county commissioner, ommissioner, the party has basically fallen down on the job. For years and years now, the Democratic Party has dominated politics in the county and many have claimed that has hurt our progess over the years. The thinking was that the state and national Democratic Party leaders took the county for granted while their Republican counterparts wrote us off, thinking they had no chance of winning elections here.
But that all changed last year with Republican Governor Tom Corbett and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey both carrying Fayette County on their way to victory. It appeared as if Fayette County might finally have a strong two-party system. So, it’s very discouraging that the Fayette County Republican Party did such a terrible job in finding row office candidates. How are things going to really change if Fayette County residents only have Democrats to vote for in countywide elections? The people of Fayette County deserve a better effort from the leaders of the county’s Republican Party.
Still, there are a number of local races on the ballot, especially for school board. Thanks mainly to the law which allows school board candidates to cross-file, there are contests in both parties in all of the county’s six school districts. Considering all the challenges facing local school boards as they grapple with Corbett’s proposed budget cuts, it’s encouraging that so many people are seeking these crucial positions. Let’s hope they’re truly interested in providing the best education possible for our youths while doing so as economically as possible. We urge voters across the county to take a serious look at the candidates running for these posts and elect the best candidates not just the most personable ones or the ones who make the grandest promises.
All in all, it should be an interesting campaign, and we intend to do our part to make sure you’re informed about the various races and candidates. We’ll be conducting editorial board sessions with candidates for countywide races as well as school board contests. We’ll be writing stories on the debates as well as airing them on our website, heraldstandard. com. In addition, we’ll be doing a number of stories on local contested races.
This election doesn’t maybe have the glamor of a presidential or gubernatorial campaign, but it is important. These are the folks who decide how much property taxes you pay on the county, school and municipal levels. They also decide the quality of your child’s education and such important things as whether your road gets fixed our your garbage gets picked up. They have a big say in how you live your life so you should have just a big say in who gets to make those decisions. The choices is up to you. And it all starts now.