Central Committees Still Have Chance To Nominate Candidates

BERLIN – The field of
candidates for the 2010 Worcester County commissioner races is not necessarily
complete, despite the filing deadline passing.

A rule allows a party’s
central committee to nominate a candidate after the deadline if there is no
candidate from that party in a race.

“If there’s no one from
their party represented, they can nominate a person,” said Elections Board
Supervisor Patti Jackson.

The rule was used in
2006, Jackson said, when Kathy Phillips was nominated by the Democratic Central
Committee (DCC) in District 3 to run against sitting Commissioner Bud Church, a
Republican.

Three commissioner races
currently lacked a candidate from each party.

The DCC is planning to
discuss nominations in Districts 3 and 6, Chair Chuck Herbert said.

“The problem is a lot of
people feel the [county] commission is stacked against any kind of change,”
Herbert said. “Essentially there’s not an opportunity for people outside the
existing interest groups.”

Marty Pusey, chair of
the Republican Central Committee (RCC), the RCC would discuss nominating a
candidate for District 2.

“It certainly is
something to consider … I think it’s always good to have balance in the
election and give people choices,” said Pusey.