Building Better Memphis Voters

The Commercial Appeal January 9, 2006
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.

IT STANDS TO REASON that local voters could make better choices at the polls if they know more about the people who are running for political offices.

On that premise alone, a group of community leaders deserve kudos for trying to devise a candidate rating system.

The group is hoping to convince dozens of organizations to join the Coalition for a Better Memphis.

The coalition wouldn't recruit or endorse candidates, but would interview and score them based on an established set of criteria. Dean Deyo, one of the coalition's organizers, said the goal is to create a "non-partisan and non-political" method for evaluating political hopefuls.

And that's really the most difficult part.

In order for the coalition to have credibility, it must represent a broad cross-section of the community.

If it's perceived largely as Republican or Democratic, black or white, pro-business or anti-business, its ratings aren't going to carry much more weight than the many politically active groups around the region.

While the 14 members of the coalition's organizational task force are to be commended for helping to get the effort started, it's also worth noting that some of them have been politically active in the past. If the coalition comes across as an extension of their earlier political efforts, it's going to operate under a cloud of skepticism.

Likewise, the groups that join the coalition must provide some balance. The local coalition's inspiration was the Committee for a Better Atlanta, which is dominated by business-oriented groups.

To succeed here, the Memphis coalition should try to recruit enough civic organizations and neighborhood groups to counter-balance the business interests.

If its membership is broad-based and its rating system is fair, then the coalition could provide a tremendous service to this community.

Sadly but invariably, the local crop of candidates includes a number who have no business being on the ballot. They offer little in the way of experience or fresh ideas, but only want to further their own ambitions.

If the coalition's ratings do no more than identify the most obviously unqualified candidates, that could help citizens narrow their focus to the candidates worthy of serious consideration.

Of course, there's no way of guaranteeing that voters will actually use whatever information the coalition provides. Some will cast ballots based on political affiliations, preconceived biases or the number of political yard signs in their neighborhoods.

But at least it wouldn't have to be that way.