Kraft, Popp weigh in on Clarksville voting

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Paul Kraft, Clarksville town councilman
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September 21, 2012

Kraft, Popp weigh in on Clarksville voting

Councilmen favor townwide voting status quo

By MATT KOESTERS matt.koesters@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Sep 21, 2012, 08:30 AM EDT

CLARKSVILLE — When Clarksville Councilman Paul Fetter on Monday introduced a motion to change the town’s elections, the outcome was a 3-3 tie with an abstention.

Currently, the town’s residents vote in all seven council races. Fetter’s proposal would change that so residents would vote for the town’s two at-large seats and their own district representative only.

The three members of the town council who are stopping the change from being made are Democrats Bob Popp, Paul Kraft and Don Tetley.

When contacted for an interview Tuesday, Kraft said the current form of elections is more fair to the voters.

“You get to vote for all seven councilmen instead of three, and I think that makes more sense than the other way that they’re wanting to go back to where you only vote for three,” Kraft said.

Proponents of the change, which include Republicans Fetter, Tim Hauber and Democratic Council President John Gilkey, say the change ensures residents within a district are represented by their first choice while minimizing influence from outside of the district, and that the move would make running for election less expensive for political newcomers.

Fetter, Hauber, Gilkey and Democrat Bob Polston — all freshman members of the council — included the change in their campaign platforms. Polston has since abstained from voting on the issue, citing a lack of knowledge of his constituents’ feelings on the issue.

The town held a series of public-comment meetings last week in which residents were invited to weigh in on the issue, and the vast majority of those in attendance argued in favor of district voting, according to multiple accounts. Popp said in a Tuesday interview that a “traveling team” was among those who argued in favor of district voting, and said the fight to get the change made is a partisan one.

“Any time it involves an election, politics, political parties get involved,” Popp said. “It is political, and if one party can gain on another party in a voting question, that happens. ... I think this is probably what’s happening now. One side’s trying to gain over the other.”

Popp said Republicans were upset because two of their candidates in the general election did not win the overall vote despite winning the majority of votes within the districts for which they ran.

“And naturally this party feels like, ‘Well, there were two [Republicans] elected. What if we had voted district instead of at-large? We would have had four,’” Popp said. “Now is that the important thing that you’re looking at? Is the person in your particular party? Or are you looking at who is the most qualified to represent you in the town of Clarksville?

“And when you look at qualifications in the last election, in those two races there’s no question as far as the two individuals who were more qualified won.”

Kraft and Tetley would have both lost the 2011 general election under a district-only voting scenario. Kraft was edged by Josh Simpson within precincts 38, 39 and 41 by a tally of 351-344, while Tetley lost in precincts 36 and 37 to Ryan Lynch, 310-301. Both Democrats won the townwide vote.

Tetley did not respond to a message left on his cell phone requesting comment.

Gilkey’s path to election began with a primary win, but a loss at precincts in his own district. Despite losing within his own district in the primary, Gilkey said he supports district voting.

“My position is it’s more important to do it right, instead of doing in my own favor,” Gilkey said.

Popp questioned his partymate’s support for district voting.

“Any time you get newly elected individuals to a council, in their election they make a lot of commitments,” Popp said. “Not just district voting, at-large voting, but other commitments they make to help in their process of getting elected. Whether that be good or bad, it’s much like signing a pledge not to raise taxes.

“In Mr. Gilkey’s case, from all indications that I know of, many of what I call the traveling team supported him and helped him get elected.”

Gilkey said in an email, had the incumbent council members gone door-to-door, like he did during campaigning, they would have heard that people want the system changed to district voting.

“I think they missed out on hearing directly from the people, and that is a shame,” Gilkey said in the email Friday.