A LITTLE bit of democracy died at Saturday’s state Republican convention in Worcester, right alongside the gubernatorial hopes of businessman Christy Mihos. GOP insiders snuffed out both, when they made sure that Mihos fell short of the 15 percent needed to make the primary ballot.
Mihos may or may not be missed, but the principle of allowing voters to choose major-party nominees will be. It’s time for both Democrats and Republicans to end all the useless politicking that goes into these ballot fights and eliminate the rule that candidates for constitutional offices must receive 15 percent of the votes of delegates to the state convention. A minimum number of signatures should be the sole hurdle.
For decades now, insiders in both major parties have had the final say over the ballot, in a rule designed to limit the number of grass-roots long shots. But while the rule may have been intended to separate the stronger candidates from the gadflies and thereby avoid crowded, chaotic primaries, it served in Worcester to take the nominating process completely out of the hands of voters: Charlie Baker will be the party’s nominee for governor without having won a single vote.
This won’t make Baker a stronger candidate, despite his campaign’s relentless efforts to kill the Mihos candidacy in its cradle. In fact, the 15 percent rule has, over time, weakened the gubernatorial candidates of both parties, both by squelching competition and forcing grass-roots candidates to kowtow to powerbrokers in order to make the ballot.
Back in 1990, Boston University President John Silber drew heavily on the support of then-Senate President William Bulger to survive the Democratic convention. Despite nearly being knocked off the ballot by the insiders, Silber won the primary easily. Yet the Bulger connection stuck and undermined his credibility that November. Twelve years later, former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich tried to run an outsider campaign for governor as a Democrat, but lost time, resources, and independence while struggling to win over enough delegates to make the ballot. He fizzled in the primary.
This year, Mihos tried to make the case that a primary fight would strengthen the GOP by testing issues and giving candidates more exposure. But insiders, angered over how he had fingered past Republican governors for cost overruns on the Big Dig, would have none of it. Their frustration with Mihos may be legitimate, but their power to take decisions out of the hands of voters is not. In theory, the convention delegates are elected at town caucuses that are open to all; in reality, they’re a closed circle of party regulars.
In June, Massachusetts Democrats will gather for their own convention. Grace Ross, the longtime liberal activist who is challenging Governor Patrick, will need 15 percent of delegate votes to make the primary ballot. John Walsh, the Democratic state party chairman, predicts Ross will get it. “We welcome primaries and competition,’’ he declared.
Perhaps, but Walsh and his Republican counterparts should make that sentiment the rule, and do away with the requirement that candidates need 15 percent to make the ballot.
