In Defense of the Non-Partisan System

As many of you already know, Scarsdale will have its first "democratic" election for Village Trustee on March 15th. This year, voters will have the opportunity to write in the name of their candidate of choice, rather than simply vote for candidates that were selected by Scarsdale Non-Partisan Party. Traditionally, Scarsdale's one-party system allows voters only the power to say "yes" to the candidates selected by the Citizen's Nominating Committee, a group of elected nominators from Scarsdale's five school districts.

But this year, due to an administrative glitch, there are three open positions for Village Trustee, and only two names pre-printed on the ballots. This means that voters can write-in their own choice for Village Trustee for the open slot –and if they wish, they can write in names for the other two slots as well. Scarsdale will be using paper ballots so completing the ballots should easy.

Is this a reason to question Scarsdale's non-partisan system? Two community leaders believe the system has served us well. We received the following letter from Howard Nadel, who chaired the Citizen's Nominating Committee, and below that, we are publishing comments on the non-partisan system and the upcoming election made by Mayor Jon Mark at the Village Board meeting on Tuesday night February 23rd.

(From Howard Nadel)

I am writing on behalf of the CNC and the Non-Partisan System to address some concerns raised by some members of the community regarding the actions of the CNC. This year, I had the great honor of serving as the Chairman of the CNC. Previously, I served the CNC both as a voting member and as a non-voting member. Looking back on those times, I can say, without hesitation that the deliberations in the current session were conducted at as high if not higher level than any previous year in my experience.

Each candidate for village office was given an opportunity to appear before the CNC and to express their views to the CNC in presentations framed by a set of pre-determined open-ended questions. The CNC reviewed each candidate's statements and interviewed his or her references. In addition, outside sources of attribution were sought from members of the Organizations and Councils with which the candidates provided community service.

The members of the CNC began their deliberations in early December and concluded in late January. They sought attribution and checked and rechecked all of the statements they had received. And in the best tradition of the CNC, spirited but fair debate followed.

The members of the CNC are a group of volunteers, chosen in an open, village-wide election; they are not a "cabal." By participating in the CNC one has the privilege of meeting talented, accomplished candidates for government positions and decide, with fellow committee members, which persons would be the best nominees. The members do not choose based on gender, religion, or geographic location in Scarsdale. They do not have an agenda or favorite candidates.

The Scarsdale non-partisan system has worked for many decades and is not broken. It is widely regarded as a model of non-partisan municipal election system and has been supported throughout the years by the League of Women Voters as well as the Board of Trustees itself. New candidates Seth Ross and Jane Veron should NOT stand aside. They were selected by the same "broken system" which chose Mayor Mark, Trustees Stern, Lee, Callaghan, Finger, Pekarek, and Samwick.
If, as a few have suggested, the system is "broken" as to any one, then it is broken for all!

It should be noted that, by tradition, Trustees may be selected for two 2-year terms and not for one 4-year term. The instructions given to the committee for this session and the previous one last year were not to assume ownership of any particular trustee position by an incumbent, but to consider all candidates equally. This is believed to encourage greater interest and participation by new potential candidates than if incumbents were deemed to be favored. Service and track record for two years as a Trustee should certainly be given significant weight, but there is no trump card. In this frame of mind, the CNC did not consider itself replacing one individual with another, but choosing the best candidate given all the information available to it. Although it is not usually done, an incumbent not selected to run for a second term could seek to run for another term again, in two or in four years, and be selected.

The Rules of Procedure which govern the CNC were created in December of 1930 and have been amended many times over the years, most recently in December of 2013 . The rules are available to all members of the community, and reviewing them will dispel any notions of secrecy as a goal in the proceedings:

"1. Each Committee member will observe strict confidentiality at all times as to all discussions and decisions of the Committee. Confidentiality is intended to promote an atmosphere conducive to free and open debate within the Committee. It is also intended to prohibit discussions by Committee members with their families, including spouses. The Chairman shall have sole responsibility for publicizing the results of the Committee's proceedings."

Those Scarsdalians who feel dissatisfied with either the process or results of the CNC, this or any year, can best find satisfaction by participating in the Procedure Committee and by running for and serving on the CNC. Anyone doing so will find that the selection process is a careful, considerate one; it does not follow pre-ordained ideas and results. The inside of the CNC room is not what the occasional naysayer may imagine it to be; the committee consists of thirty dedicated, thoughtful, nonpartisan citizens committed to their beautiful village and its future.

Howard L. Nadel,
Chairman of the CNC

(From Mayor Jon Mark)

The Pending Board Election

My comments this evening are not on a municipal matter per se, but on a subject that has an impact on oversight of Village matters, namely the upcoming election to fill Trustee positions on this Board.
For almost 100 years the Village has been well served by a Village manager form of government. What that means is that day-to-day the Village is managed by a full time professional staff led by the Village Manager pursuant to authority delegated by this Board. This Board of resident volunteers provides supervisory oversight of the Village staff much in the manner that a Board of Directors oversees the management of a corporation. Notwithstanding our volunteer status, we take our positions very seriously and among other things commit a great deal of our time to fulfill our roles in a thoughtful and responsible manner. A sense of giving back to the community in which we live is our reward.

The two year terms to which the members of this Board are elected are staggered and so each year there is a Village-wide election to fill positions of the Board members whose terms are up. The process by which that is accomplished is governed by the New York State Election Law. In order to meet those requirements the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party was formed to nominate candidates for election to this Board. The body that makes those nominations is the Citizens' Nominating Committee, or CNC, and its duties are laid out under the Non-Partisan Resolution. The resolution is available on the web site of the Scarsdale Procedure Committee at: www.scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org.

Currently, the system works as follows: the Village is divided into five "election units" coinciding with the five elementary school districts. Each fall, each of the election units elects two representatives to the CNC, for a term of three years, so that the CNC has a total of 30 voting members, six from each election unit. Candidates for election to the CNC are named by petition signed by at least ten Scarsdale voters. The petition must be accompanied by a biographical sketch of the candidate. Any person may submit such a petition, and there may be several candidates for the positions to be filled on the CNC in any year. It is at this level that contested elections are a part of, and encouraged by, the system.

At successive meetings, the first of which must be held before January 10 each year, the CNC chooses a single candidate for each Village office for which the incumbent's term ends in that year. The CNC is, in effect, a caucus of the Citizens' Party, under which title the nominees of the CNC run for election. It is also important to note that notwithstanding this process, under New York State election law, almost any resident adult can get on a ballot by simply collecting 150 signatures and filing a request for inclusion on the ballot with the Village Clerk. Further, a person not on the ballot can be elected by write-in vote. In short, there is more than one avenue to being elected to a seat on this Board.

In explaining the rationale for the non-partisan system, former Mayor Warren Cunningham put it this way in 1940 on the occasion of celebrating the 25th anniversary of Scarsdale's incorporation as a Village:

"By means of its system of selecting nominees, Scarsdale has called into public service a succession of able men and women, expert in many fields. Under any other system they would not have been available. Few of them would have had the time or inclination to contest as partisan candidates for petty public offices, whereas all have responded willingly to the request of their neighbors that they perform for a time, a public service."

That brings me to this year's process and the circumstances we are presently facing. For reasons known only to the members of the CNC, Trustee Deb Pekarek was not re-nominated for a second term as Trustee. Quite frankly, that result took me by surprise. As I have said previously, Trustee Pekarek has served – is serving – with distinction as a Trustee. She is thoughtful, dedicated and committed to the Village. It is pleasure to serve with her on this Board. I believe that view is held by the other Board members as well. I see no reason why she was not re-nominated for a second term. However, that did not happen. Much to her credit Trustee Pekarek has taken that result with uncommon grace and has stated that regardless of that outcome she still supports our non-partisan system. I can only commend her for taking the high road in what must be a tough situation personally.

I would not have been prompted to comment on this matter but for the second unusual event that has occurred. That is that the name of Seth Ross, one of the CNC nominees, will not appear on the ballot for the election to be held on March 15, 2016. It appears that this was a matter of an inadvertent oversight in the processing of required paperwork for which the Chair of the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Campaign Committee has taken responsibility.

As a result, in order to fill one of the Trustee seats this year a write-in vote will be required. While anyone can be written in, the two most logical names to choose from are either Trustee Pekarek or Mr. Ross since they have publicly stated their willingness to serve. In last week's Inquirer, Trustee Pekarek was quoted as saying that if she were voted in by write-in she would be "honored to continue to serve" and we would be honored to have her re-join us. However, according to the article Trustee Pekarek said she was not intending to mount a write-in campaign and will leave it to others to decide what to do.

As for Mr. Ross, the same issue of the Inquirer included an article profiling him, his credentials, his record as a volunteer in the Village and his interest in serving on this Board. I have worked with Mr. Ross in the past on Village matters and believe that he too would make a fine Trustee if elected.

And so here we are. The non-partisan system that has served us so well for so long faces a challenge of sorts this year as a result of the confluence of unanticipated events. As a Mayor with slightly more than one year left in my term, I have no vested interested in this matter and look forward to working with whoever is elected in March. However, it is my desire that the community not take the unusual circumstances presented this year to be a reason to doubt seriously a system that has allowed us to focus on the nuts and bolts municipal issues that matter without the distraction of partisan politics. It is my hope that those who care about how the Village operates can take the long-term view of the benefits of our system. Trustee Pekarek who has served the Village in an exemplary fashion but who was not selected by the CNC for a second term has stated that she remains committed to the importance of the non-partisan system and to the success of Scarsdale's political structure. This is as telling an endorsement of our chosen form of government as there can be.