Civic Info

Where Do Local Candidates Stand?

Reconstructing Dayton Issues survey imageWhen it comes to local politics, people tend to vote no differently than in state and national races. They look for that (D) or (R) next to a name and check accordingly. We never really stop to think that, when it comes to local issues, that doesn’t really make sense. When you look at the national platform of the Democratic and Republican parties, do you see many issues that pertain to how your county, city, village, or township is run? We certainly don’t. That’s why Reconstructing Dayton is a nonpartisan organization. We believe that local party hegemony just creates a cabal that’s not really accountable to the people. In the upcoming weeks we will share more research to underscore the undemocratic nature of the local party system.

To help the citizens of Montgomery County prepare for the upcoming November election, we have sent a questionnaire to the candidates on the ballot. We weren’t able to get in contact with everyone—uncontested incumbent judges are difficult to reach, as are some uncontested county positions we have argued for eliminating. Our survey consists of twelve yes/no questions with a space for commentary. We will share their answers  here on the website and make endorsements accordingly. These are our endorsement questions:

    1. Do you support a regional focus for the Dayton area similar to Indianapolis’s “unigov” system?
    2. Would you support restructuring residential property taxes to be based on the original purchase price
      of a home rather than appraisals?
    3. Would you support a standard rubric for commercial tax abatement that would ensure that the process is transparent?
    4. Would you support a single municipal court system for all of Montgomery County similar to how
      Franklin County operates?
    5. Would you support the creation of a searchable database of campaign donors either through the Montgomery County Board of Elections or the Ohio Secretary of State?
    6. Do you support a ranked voting system?
    7. Do you support a year-round school year?
    8. Do you support using tax dollars to subsidize education programs that have no oversight?
    9. Do you support eliminating redundant administrative positions?
    10. Would you support a state-wide restructuring of counties so that metropolitan do not overlap multiple counties?
    11. Would you support reducing the number of counties so that they oversee a single economic region?
    12. Would you support electronic databases of public records that can be searched by the public?

We have already received some responses. We will compile the results so everyone can see where their local candidates stand on issues that truly affect our community. When we endorse a candidate we will provide more information about that candidate and why we chose to make an endorsement. We will only endorse candidates that believe we can do more with less.

To see a complete list of candidates in Montgomery County, see here.