Next month's Community Candidate School probably will not be able to answer one question on the minds of political observers: Is there still room for the little guy in city politics?
The last round of Lawrence City Commission elections caused some to wonder whether the average Joe who has a set of ideas and wants to run a simple campaign has a chance at victory anymore.
That's because political action committees, or PACs, became a bigger force during city elections two years ago. PACs are nonprofit organizations designed to raise money and support candidates who support the same issues as the PAC.
The biggest player in the field during the last elections was the Progressive Lawrence Campaign. It raised money to support three "smart growth" candidates -- Mike Rundle, Boog Highberger and David Schauner -- and the trio swept the elections.
Late in the elections, another PAC -- Truth for a Better Lawrence -- emerged to try to counteract the influence of the Progressive Lawrence Campaign.
Now, political observers are wondering whether there will be two PACs from the beginning of the campaign, and whether that would bode well for the community.
"If that happens, I would say our campaigns are devolving," said Bob Schulte, a former city commissioner and presenter at next month's Community Candidate School. "What could happen to a lot of potential candidates is that if you don't buy into the philosophy of one of the PACs, you're going to be left out."
John Nalbandian, another former city commissioner and presenter at the school, said if elections became dominated by PACs it would change the dynamics of local politics.
"Unless the person is very well known, it would make it much more difficult for the individual candidate," Nalbandian said.
He said the result was that candidates would have to be vetted by one of the PACs to have a serious chance to win. That's because an independent candidate would have a hard time competing with a PAC in raising funds and generating publicity.
But Nalbandian isn't convinced such a system would lead to bad government.
"If these PACs really represent the major cleavages of the community, then what's the big deal?" Nalbandian said. "If they don't represent the major differences in the community, then they probably won't be relevant anyway."
Some observers aren't sure the PAC system is much different than the way political campaigns previously were conducted. Melinda Henderson, coordinator for the Progressive Lawrence Campaign, said she had long heard about how groups like the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce or certain neighborhood associations would line up candidates to run together.
"I think there was an informal process going on already," Henderson said. "I think what we said was 'let's just admit it, and formalize the process and gain some of the efficiencies.'"
She said Progressive Lawrence Campaign members had remained organized and probably would be active in the upcoming campaign. Several of the organizers of Truth for a Better Lawrence are no longer active in the organization and it is unclear whether it will be active.
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