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Should ‘incumbent protection’ help Dems defeat other Dems?
Literature denouncing candidate Graham Balch greeted voters as they opened their mailboxes in recent weeks in Georgia’s 39th Senate District. Voters were told Balch is a Republican, that he called Atlanta’s Grady High a “ghetto” school and deserved an “F” for his positions on education. In the fine print: Re-elect Sen. Vincent Fort. Tactics like these are common, if not predictable, before a contested election. The difference: Balch ran as a Democrat, and a state Democratic organization paid for the attack ads. Continue reading my Ethics Watch column in the AJC…
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3 Responses to “Should ‘incumbent protection’ help Dems defeat other Dems?”
If dem machine was as efficient as some local GOP machines, they sure as heck wouldn’t let a challenger sign up against the anointed candidate. They’d settle that mess internally.
“I don’t belong to an organized party — I’m a Democrat!”
Tom, I disagree. And I don’t want a “machine”. If a Democrat in a district thinks she/he can do it better than the current person, they SHOULD run, and the “good old boy” network shouldn’t keep that from happening. Balch had alot of support, that tells you that not everyone was/is happy with Fort. While Fort got 2/3s of the vote, Balch got 1/3, which for a new comer with no name recognition at the start is pretty darn good and shows that alot of folks weren’t happy with their current representation. Plus competition keeps the incumbents honest. The party should have stayed neutral. They didn’t. Which is why I will never give them a dime.
You should talk to Mary Norwood. The Dems did the exact tactic to her during the Mayoral Race. They just took the Norwood ad and changed her picture with Balch picture. The two should get together and stop this machine. Unless we vote them out it will never happen. And it is people like you that must educate the public so they can change what is going on.