The best way to elect city councils in Idaho: No to partisan elections, yes to districts

It’s that time of year when the people’s representatives convene in our capital city and bring solutions to our politics and government. Some merit the Legislature’s consideration, and some are so half-baked that there should be a “Dead on Arrival Committee” for their final resting place. A great example of the latter is a proposal by the chairman of the Ada County Republican Party to have city council members elected on a partisan basis, notwithstanding a long tradition of nonpartisan elections in our nation’s cities and right here in Idaho.

This idea should be sent to its grave with dispatch.

While national and state government elections are partisan, with representatives and senators identified by their party affiliation on the ballot, most cities have chosen not to employ partisan labeling in local elections. As an old saw from the early days of municipal reform years put it, “there is no Republican or Democratic way to pave a street.” In fact, if you review the agenda of a Boise City Council meeting, you will quickly observe that there are few, if any, issues coming before the council that would necessarily divide members along party lines. Sticking to nonpartisan elections for city council elections takes party politics out of city business, and that’s been a mainstay of reform politics for many years.

Just recently, Americans experienced the most divisive, partisan stalemate in our nation’s capital, and now seems hardly the time to impose on the governance of Idaho’s cities the same partisan elections that will force locally elected officials to choose sides by political party, when local issues have little or nothing to do with party identification.

There is another proposal before the Legislature, however, that deserves serious consideration, for it addresses the issue of accountability of locally elected officials to their constituents. Rep. Thomas Dayley, R-Meridian, introduced a bill to elect council members by district in cities of 50,000 or more people. In the Treasure Valley, that would apply to Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell for now.

Americans know something about electing officials from districts, given the fact that members of state legislatures and Congress are elected from districts.

Here in Boise, all but one of the City Council members hail from the North End. Great news for North Enders, but thanks to at-large elections with all candidates running citywide, Boise elections fail to give all sections of a city equal representation, thereby making it more difficult for citizens to find an advocate for their neighborhoods.

According to the National League of Cities, it is not uncommon for cities to carve their maps into districts and have council members elected by district, as state legislatures and Congress do. Of course, any change to district elections will be met with suspicion and doubt, especially by those currently elected at-large. There is a certain anonymity in an at-large race that does not require a council member to spend as much time in any one neighborhood, listening to constituents and advocating on behalf of them for the simple reason, or excuse, that they represent all citizens of the city.

Imagine the difference when a citizen could find his or her elected representative right in the neighborhood, and register support or objection regarding the business of the council — the way it works at the state and national level, where citizens find their representatives within their districts to register their concerns.

Some will argue that a council member elected by district will bring a narrow perspective, whereas one elected at-large will take the entire city’s perspective into account when voting. That’s not much of an argument considering the fact that our nation’s government and 50 states are governed by a system of representation based on district elections. Time and time again, the people’s representatives elected from districts have risen above local interests and narrow thinking, sometimes placing their careers on the line in support of legislation aimed at the general welfare of the people rather than the special interest of a few.

Some cities use a hybrid election system where council members are elected by district, but there are a few members elected at-large. That guarantees neighborhood representation but also allows for a citywide perspective.

This may appear to some as an academic exercise with no great advantage to district representation. However, here in Southwest Idaho, we are experiencing record growth and development that is dramatically changing the landscape of our region. On a weekly basis, mayors and city councils are presented with expansive schemes of development that affect our neighborhoods, burden our traffic patterns, bring congestion to our downtowns and shopping centers, and increase our time to get to work.

The Treasure Valley needs, now more than ever, voices on its city councils speaking for those directly affected, and council members who can be held accountable by voters in a particular district. Let’s hope our Legislature sees it that way and gives Idaho citizens a more direct say in how their cities are governed.

This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 3:37 PM.