Editorial

Where are the opposing candidates?

Posted

Mayor Francis X. Murray and his fellow United Party candidates are running unopposed for second terms on the village’s board of trustees. That is surely a sign that residents are happy with the job that Murray, Deputy Mayor Nancy Howard and Trustee Michael Sepe are doing.

Village Justice William Crotier Jr. is also running unopposed.

For the sake of honest competition, we can’t help but wish there were more candidates.

It’s not that Murray & Co. don’t work hard (they do), or that they haven’t fulfilled their campaign promises (they have). But opposition in an election holds incumbents accountable. There will be no one to challenge the incumbents in the run-up to the June 16 election — no one to ask if their decisions were the right ones or to suggest other, possibly better, alternatives.

The same thing happened in the school district elections, and happens all over Nassau County: incumbents run unopposed and are guaranteed their seats.

Elections are like performance reviews for elected officials. If their bosses (the people) think they’re doing a good job, they’re returned to office. If not, challengers can unseat them.

That review process is integral to our political system. Even if the incumbents were to soundly defeat a challenger, they would still have to run a race. They would still have to answer questions from constituents that they won’t have to now.

We can only hope that in the next election, citizens decide to rise to the challenge and run against the incumbents, whoever they may be. Not because we want to see them turned out of office, but because competitive races hold incumbents more accountable, allow divergent voices to be hear, give people an opportunity to choose a representative more in-line with their beliefs and give the people more opportunities to voice their opinions on how incumbents are performing — which is the bedrock of democracy.