Essay: Conventional Wisdom - 8/25/06

Eight years ago, a young man named John Austin campaigned long and hard for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State.

He was a public policy expert who had interesting ideas about how to make state government work better. There was little chance that he could have beaten Candice Miller, the popular incumbent. But he would have run an intellectually credible campaign.

Thanks to our flawed system, he never got the chance. Geoffrey Fieger, that year’s nominee for governor, and the rest of the party elders decided they needed a “balanced ticket.”

Fieger and his running mate were white men. The candidate for attorney general was a white woman. They needed an African-American, they felt, and the only one they could find was Mary Lou Parks, a state representative from Detroit.

However, once she was nominated, Parks showed no interest either in the job or campaigning for it. She virtually disappeared. On Election Day she got only 30 percent of the vote, and lost every county in the state. The real question was why anyone had voted for her at all. Her nomination was an insult to the Democratic process, and the party should have been embarrassed and ashamed.

However, what happened at the GOP convention the same year had far greater consequences. John Engler wanted the convention to nominated Scott Romney, son of the legendary governor, for attorney general. Had there been a primary, Romney would have won easily.

Had he been nominated by the convention, he would have won the general election by a solid margin.  But the delegates decided Romney wasn’t sufficiently right-wing. They nominated instead a man who had run and lost – badly – four years before. 

He wasn’t charismatic or a good speaker. Worse, he turned out to have child support problems, and lost a close election to an attractive and hitherto unknown lawyer who worked in Wayne County government. . . Jennifer Granholm.

Had Scott Romney been nominated, she would today be no more than a footnote, like Gary Peters, the losing candidate in 2002.

But the GOP convention inadvertently helped make her governor. You can make a credible argument for having your ticket chosen by the party leaders as opposed to having the winner determined in a primary.

Primary turnouts tend to be so terrible that a small, determined group of ideologically motivated voters can distort the process. But that’s a risk we take in a democracy, where we have the freedom to ignore our basic rights and civic responsibilities.

There is a place for the party leadership in the process. It would make no sense to nominate candidates for state education boards or for the Michigan Supreme Court in a partisan primary. And it makes sense for the party faithful to come together every few years to affirm what they stand for, and see what makes each other tick. But when it comes to choosing candidates for major offices, as flawed as our elections may be, we need to let the voters decide.       

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Comments

[Dan Smith]

I was 23 years old in 1998. Was a senior in college had just run my first campaign (which we won by one vote), and headed to the convention full of idealism and energy. Me and my friends thought the world of John, he had these @ symbol stickers, they were everywhere. We knew he was a long shot against Candice Miller but we believed, that is until a few hours after the convention, he went to the smoke filled rooms in the back and we got Mary Lou Parks instead. In the end though it was a good thing, in future campaigns when I wanted to know who the straight ticket voters were in a precinct, I just look up Mary Lou Parks 1998 election voters, on straight ticket voters (the true democratic base) was easy to get. Sadly though our conventions are nothing other than Labor's last political stand in Michigan, and it's sad, pathetic, and exactly what is wrong with the democratic party in Michigan today.

[Thrasher]

So what makes John Austin more qualified than Mary Lou??...oh shit I forgot he is a white male when we set about to fix the insanity of the party system I hope we do not forget the craved out the racism as well....

[Dan Smith]

Hey Thrasher, what was wrong with Mary Lou Parks is that she was a terrible candidate, didn't raise any money, had no ideas for the election, and didn't work even one day for the election. Which is exactly why she lost so badly.

[Thrasher]

Hey,

Dan I can no doubt probably could make the same arguments against John-Boy but of course he would have rec'd more help from white leadership of the DEMS party.

What you seem to be avoiding is that the party politics felt is was ok to balance the ticket with white candidates (Fieger of course at the top of the ticket).
It is amazing how we view reality once my kid told me her teacher inquired of her why all the black kids sit together in the lunch my kid shot back why do all the white kids sit together! It is apparent from your platform that adding Mary Lou was the balance and I simply suggest adding a white candidate like Fieger was the balance of course I know it is hard for whites to think like that i.e being an after thought..

Truth is the DEMS nor the GOP party has never been inclusive at the top of the ticket no black candidate has ever been a vp on the either ticket and of course never the #1 choice as the president or in state politics the governor..

[Jack Lessenberry]

Mr. Thrasher has forgotten that Bill Lucas, a black man, was the Republican nominee for governor in 1986.

[Thrasher]

Jack,

Thanks for reminding me and others about the ass kicking Lucas sustained once he left the Detroit region. Your deflection still does not address the issue no major party has placed a black person at the top of the ticket for president or VP. Again how about a black presidential ticket and balancing it with a marginal white candidate..