Try though you may, you cannot ignore the fact that it is "political season." Television commercials are informing us of health care politics under a guise of infomercials, candidates are bashing each other through friendly comments of plain ordinary people and the occasional political newspaper article is no longer occasional -- it will be a regular item at least through the filing period for state and local offices.
The problem being, of course, they slip these television political ads in between multiple pharmaceutical commercials which the companies hope will sell "their medication" to alleviate the headache that accompanies the season. And, if you don't watch television, you can still be the target if you have a land line telephone available. We now are targeted in mid-morning as well as dinner time. And, I prefer the surveys -- they are easier to ignore.
Last Tuesday's Rogers Morning News reported on the first day of filing for county positions ranging from constable all the way to county judge. Northeast Benton County had its moment in the limelight as the report stated that within the first hour, two northeast Benton County men filed as Republicans to oppose current County Judge Bob Clinard, also a Republican. Dale King, a Rogers businessman whose home is in Garfield, and Ronnie Smith, also a small business owner of Avoca, took the first step in their campaigns by paying the $1,550 filing fee as Republicans.
Apparently, there were no first-day filers for the county judge position on the Democratic ticket. The Democratic fee is still only $300. As I have stated over the years in this news medium, the obvious discrepancy in the two parties' filing fees speaks volumes about their attitudes toward support of the political system. I personally would like to see a Democrat or an Independent win just to shake up the system.
Northeast Benton County also provided further excitement when incumbent District One Justice of the Peace Mike McKenzie filed for re-election and had an opponent. Ron Easley filed for the same position. This could be an interesting situation, because until last election cycle, the District One position drew very little interest unless an incumbent chose to vacate the seat on the Quorum Court. At this writing (Sunday, March 2) the Benton County Quorum Court position for Justice of the Peace District One has added a third candidate -- Mary L. Gardner of the Prairie Creek area has joined the contest also as a Republican. There is still no Democratic Party candidate in this contest either.
The other justice of the peace position -- that of District 6 -- which will probably be of interest to readers of this newspaper shows only one candidate, the incumbent Pat Adams. Everyone in the rural area of Benton County who was involved in the rural ambulance service vote will want to watch the elections in all 15 Quorum Court positions since the justices of the peace will be working on finding a solution to the problem of future funding for the ambulance service. There are at least two seats which will be filled by new members after this primary election.
On the county website showing filings for county positions, there were no Democrats filing for any positions. For a nation known for its two-party system, this is unfortunate. All filers were Republicans.
It is awfully easy for us to ignore politics since our single vote seems unimportant in the overall scheme of things. But, the problems we see in Washington, D.C., didn't just happen overnight. They are a result of long-term political bargaining and compromise of values to promote self-serving goals and once entrenched they are difficult to remove -- both the situations and the elected officials.
•••
Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 03/05/2014