Oct 31, 2017 3 min read

All politics are local, but do they have to be so darn sleazy?

The toxic political atmosphere at the national and state levels is now trickling down deep into local elections – which will be held a week from today – as the integrity of a nonpartisan group that seeks to inform the public about its ballot choices is now being called into question by one of the major political parties.

All of this centers around the magisterial district that oversees Peters, Nottingham and Union townships and Finleyville. The campaign to succeed District Judge James Ellis has been unusual from the start, when the five-term incumbent announced his retirement on the March 7 filing deadline despite soliciting signatures to run for another six-year term in office.

With the field seemingly cleared, only two candidates, Jacob Machel and Ryan Welsch, had circulated nominating petitions to appear as cross-filed contenders to run in the May primary. Welsch withdrew his name from contention, leaving Machel as the only candidate whose name would appear on the primary ballots. The 29-year-old easily won the Republican and Democratic nominations despite several write-in campaigns.

But since the primary, figuring out who Machel is and how he would make decisions as a district judge has been tricky.

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters each year puts together an informational tab about the candidates in all local races, along with personal responses about who they are and how they would make or interpret laws.

Machel has been noticeably absent in responding to the organization’s questions. The League even organized a candidates’ forum last Sunday afternoon for the public to meet Machel and his independent challenger, Jesse Pettit.

“Machel has not answered phone messages, emails and paper invitations left at his door,” the League said in a statement last week.

That prompted more than just pushback from local Republicans. David Ball, a spokesman for the Washington County Republican Committee, complained the League was a “Democrat-dominated, left-leaning group intent on smearing a major-party candidate” in the race.

What a whopper of a statement. It couldn’t be further from the truth. But, indeed, further he went.

“The (League) is doing the bidding of the Democratic Party in attempting to hold a set-up town hall event as they have with local elected officials for which they are so famous,” he said last week. “This is a desperate move on the part of the (League) to bail out a losing Democratic candidate. The Republican candidate has no reason to participate in an ambush.”

Since when is it an “ambush” to give candidates a platform to tell the public why they should be chosen over another candidate?

Needless to say, Machel didn’t appear for the town hall.

The people of Peters, Union, Nottingham, and Finleyville should have the opportunity to get to know the people whose names will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot, especially for a position as critically important as district justice. They’re the ones being cheated, not the League of Women Voters, which has dedicated itself to informing the public about these candidates and many others over the years. To call them partisan is misguided and foolish.

We’ve become accustomed to the fact that presidential politics are dirty, as last year’s campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton so clearly illustrated.

But a local magisterial district justice race? How low can this one go?

Our political fever that creates enemies out of those with even the best of intentions must break eventually. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear it will anytime soon.