Local Politics: The Franklin County Democratic Party keeps its thumb on the scale

Democrats participating in Franklin County electoral politics have witnessed a dramatic retelling of the same story year after year. 

The Franklin County Democratic Party (FCDP) central and executive committees meet to decide whether to endorse one candidate over another. Sometimes there are endorsements before a primary, sometimes after. Sometimes endorsements have occurred before the deadline to submit petitions has even passed. And on very rare occasions, the FCDP has voted against endorsing any candidate, or endorsed more than one candidate in a race. 

The debate over endorsements has been most heated in recent years when a qualified candidate with a decent chance to win decides to run without first being invited by the Democratic Party and then continues with their campaign even after being told to wait their turn. 

The newest members of the FCDP cinematic universe were announced during an endorsement meeting last week. Tiara Ross was endorsed by the FCDP for the District 7 City Council seat. She was likely surrounded and supported in that meeting by many of the very same people she saw working in the City Attorney’s office that day – her former coworker Gretchen James chairs the FCDP screening committee, which recommended that Ross be endorsed, and her boss, Zach Klein, is also a committee member. At least seven more of her coworkers sit on the FCDP committees, as well, including Brian Shinn, Pete Shipley, Melanie Tobias, Meredith Tucker, Chadd Smith, Mark Rutkus, and Westley Phillips. 

I assume that on Tuesday evenings Klein wanders around the office grabbing every attorney unfortunate enough to be working late, shoves them into the back of his SUV, and chauffeurs them to FCDP meetings. 

A number of committee members, as well as Ross’ opponent in the race, Jesse Vogel, spoke at the meeting in support of a non-endorsement. Last year, when non-endorsement was proposed in the County Prosecutor’s race, the FCDP did not endorse. That decision was of course made after the screening committee recommended the endorsement of Anthony Pierson, an experienced criminal prosecutor, rather than Shayla Favor, a party insider who had no experience in a prosecutor’s office. Not wanting to tip the scales in favor of a man with actual experience, the party decided not to endorse.

In endorsing Ross, the party surprisingly claimed that experience was the deciding factor in its decision. Ross, an attorney who has spent most of her career working for the City Attorney, was deemed to be better suited to the job of councilmember than Vogel, an attorney who has spent most of his career representing local tenants and immigrants. The screening committee stressed the importance of a councilmember understanding the powers and limitations of City Council, which is why they recently also recommended a pastor and a realtor for endorsement in council races.

It seems likely that at some point, even Democratic Party loyalists will become disgusted with the self-interested actions of the FCDP. Mary Duffey certainly seemed disappointed by the decision, saying, “I hate that I’m being put in the position to not support the screening committee recommendation, but who can think … that if we endorse in this race, that we’re going to increase turnout or that we are going to increase trust in the Democratic Party? We cannot, we should not endorse.” 

But the FCDP has an uncanny ability to soldier on. Through sheer will, and complete control over the laws and budgets of the city and county, the members of the FCDP manage to defend all threats to the status quo. Ultimately, no matter how many Democrats leave the party in disgust, or are otherwise excluded from participation, there will always be plenty of people who need good paying jobs and are willing to keep the machine churning.

There was plenty of gnashing of teeth and rending of garments on social media following the endorsement vote. Some of it, oddly, from party insiders who got exactly the result they wanted but were forced to listen to justified criticism for a few minutes. Many Vogel supporters expressed their feelings of anger and disappointment with the FCDP, and there were also messages committing to further support for Vogel’s campaign. It does not seem that this endorsement vote was the straw that broke the local party’s back, but it also didn’t break the will of people demanding better.

Correction: An earlier version of this column referred to Gretchen James as one of Ross’ coworkers, but James is no longer with the City Attorney’s office. Matter News regret the error.