I think I’m going to start referring to January 3rd as “Disappointment Day”. Here in Wisconsin, January 2nd–unless it falls upon a weekend day–is the date by which candidates in the non-partisan spring elections must file their nomination petitions to get on the ballot. And barring a few instances in the 17-years that I’ve been doing news here in Oshkosh, there are few truly contested races.
Last year, fed by the opposition to the rental inspection program, the Oshkosh Common Council saw enough candidates file papers to warrant a rare February primary to whittle down the field. But other than that, the number of people seeking local office continues to fall. In both the Council and School Board races there is just one challenger to the three incumbents. The apathy is even worse when it comes to the Winnebago County Board–where this year there are just TWO contested races out of 36 seats. And three districts won’t have a single candidate on the ballot in April–meaning the Board itself will appoint a Supervisor (if they can find anyone to apply for the position).
Whenever I see a protester in the street saying “This is what democracy looks like!”–I think of election time–which is what democracy actually is (not protest). And January 3rd is where we inevitably find out those people aren’t interested in “real democracy”. Where are the four-thousand people that signed the petition to reduce the fine for marijuana possession to just 25-bucks in Oshkosh? You don’t need a petition and a referendum to make that happen. You just need four seats on the Common Council–and this year you could have picked up two more of those (along with pot afcianado Caroline Panske who is seeking re-election despite her arrest and conviction last year). You win another seat or two in 2019–and maybe even the Mayor’s position–and you’ve got yourself the majority needed to completely decriminalize possession and not have any fine at all.
And where are all of the “thousands of stock car fans” that were supposed to be outraged by the decision to shut down the Speedzone Racetrack so Lifest could have a permanent stage? There were three seats on the Board that you could have had just by simply collecting enough nomination signatures to be the only person on the ballot. Meanwhile 31 other seats–some with incumbents that voted in favor of shutting down the track–won’t even be contested this spring.
Those incumbents that face little or no opposition will tell you that their constituents are “very happy with them”. But the sad truth of the matter is that they may literally be the one person in their entire district that is willing to put in the small amount of effort that it takes to be a part of our democracy.
