Right-wing candidates file as Democrats in Ravalli County races
Jan Wisniewski believes the Democrats these days tend to lean toward socialism. In his mind, some of their ideas might even be considered Marxist. And so the chairman of the Ravalli County planning board – who most would have sworn in the past to be a staunch Republican – is on this year’s ballot as Democrat in both a county and a state race.
“I am. I am a Democrat,” Wisniewski said in an interview last week. “It says so right there on the ballot. We want to get some balance in things and do some compromising with these hard-line leftists.”
Wisniewski’s candidacy, and that of seven others running for the seldom-contested position of Democratic precinct captain, has members of the Ravalli County Democratic Central Committee crying foul. “Wisniewski is not a Democrat,” said Democratic Central Committee chair John Meakin. “He’s part of the extreme right. Six others from the same extreme right-wing Tea Party crowd have also filed as Democratic precinct captains.”
Ravalli County’s Democratic Central Committee will seek people to run as write-in candidates to challenge their candidacy.
That almost didn’t happen.
In an effort to cut down on labor, a new law allows a county clerk and recorder to forgo putting precinct candidate names on the ballot if they are running uncontested.
Read more: http://www.ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_27341398-7b81-11e1-a8a9-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1qnQuK6Nc
