Opinion: Wading into the recruitment pool
By ROY CHRISTMAN
Credible candidates for a political office are generally drawn from a “recruitment pool.” This pool is fairly well-defined group of women and men recognized by voters as suitable for a particular office. While almost anyone can run for the presidency, the pool for candidates with a realistic chance of winning is usually limited to governors, vice presidents, U.S. senators, generals and business leaders. We might add an occasional big city mayor, TV celebrity or member of the House.
Formal rules on “credible candidates” do not exist, but we would probably agree that while a mayor of Summit Hill might reasonably run for the State Assembly, he or she is not ready to challenge John Fetterman or Mehmet Oz in the U.S. Senate race.
Exceptional or ambitious (or deluded) candidates sometimes skip levels, but most elected officials progress from lower to higher offices. As we move down from national office to state office to local office, the recruitment pool expands.
Although the pool for candidates for borough council or township supervisor is wide, it does have limits. Voters expect their local candidates to be familiar with the area, the needs of the citizens, and the workings of municipal government.
Boards and commissions
Appointed boards and commissions are found in most Pennsylvania municipalities. Members, usually unpaid, are selected by the council or the supervisors. These boards may run recreation programs, keep historical records, review zoning issues or plant trees. My own township has a planning commission, a recreation commission, a historical commission and a zoning hearing board.
Planning commissioners are often mentioned as potential candidates because they deal with zoning issues, hold hearings and work with a large number of citizens. Since much of the work of local government involves land use issues, planning commissioners start with an advantage.
It is fairly easy to be appointed to a commission. You simply submit a letter of interest. If you are thinking about doing this, it’s a good idea to attend meetings of the commission you might like to join. Meetings are open to the public, and commission members are generally pleased to have an audience.
School boards
The last few years saw changes in the recruitment pool for school board members. Until recently school board candidates were often parents whose kids attended school in the district. Like so much else in the country, many boards have become politicized, battling over COVID procedures, history lessons and reading lists. Audience members can be hostile as well. This could be why at least one school district in Carbon County had only four candidate for four seats in the last election.
On the other hand, school board races are the only races in which a candidate can “cross-file.” That means you can run as both a Republican and a Democrat, which tends to reduce partisanship. Again, if you have any interest in running, attend your local school board meetings, talk to teachers, ask for a copy of the budget, and it wouldn’t hurt if you attended a few sports events.
Volunteer groups
Most community volunteers serve for altruistic reasons. They join the local library board or the fire company to meet the needs of their neighbors. Nonetheless, volunteer activity looks great on a campaign brochure, and volunteer work often results in valuable contacts.
In any case, get involved. In our polarized world of Facebook nastiness and growing vulgarity, we need the help of decent and caring citizens who still believe in public participation and public service. Roll up your pants legs and wade in.
Roy Christman taught Political Science and American Studies at San Jose State University before his retirement. He lives in Towamensing Township.