Lawrence wants municipal elections partisan
By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Service | via Arizona Daily Star
A Scottsdale Republican lawmaker wants to force city council and mayoral candidates to run with party labels, saying he believes it will help prevent liberals from sneaking into office.
“I want people to say, ‘Here’s who I am and here’s what I believe,”’ said state Rep. Jay Lawrence. And he said making people declare if they’re a Republican, Democrat or something else goes a long way to providing local voters with that information.
“There are certain things that a Republican believes,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence contends the lack of a label allows some people to get elected who he believes do not represent the people who put them in office. He said having to declare party affiliation keeps candidates from “meandering from side to side and kind of being conservative, but never saying, ‘But I’m a Democrat.”’
