By Ann S. Womble
February 25, 2014
As Chairman of the Republican Committee of Lancaster County, I am often asked, “Why does the county Republican Party endorse candidates? Shouldn’t all interested candidates be encouraged to take their campaigns directly to the voters?”
To answer this question, it’s important to know who Committee members are, and how and why we endorse. In Lancaster County, our Republican committee members are elected by residents of their neighborhoods to represent their views, concerns, and ideas. This happens every two years during the primary election, and one man and one woman are elected from each of the 240 precincts in the county. This May, when you go to the polls, you will see these positions on the ballot.
To become a candidate for committee person, each of us must qualify for the ballot like any other candidate – by collecting petition signatures, properly filing the required paperwork on time, and earning the trust and support of the voters.
Insinuations that committee members are just random party volunteers, unaccountable insiders, or nameless, faceless people making decisions in smoke-filled rooms are simply false. Indeed the opposite! We are elected by local Republican voters to perform the critical tasks of recruiting, vetting, endorsing, and supporting the strongest and most qualified candidates for office.
Lancaster County’s Republican Committee has a long tradition of endorsing quality candidates for local, countywide, statewide, and federal offices. The rigorous process we conduct is one of the most exhaustive in the state and happens over many weeks ahead of our February convention. It involves area meetings, background and issue questionnaires, and many phone and live candidate interviews.
Our process does winnow the field, but it is done in a respectful and professional way that has served our community well in producing sound, scandal-free government.
Some county committees do not endorse candidates. For example, York County’s GOP does not, but as a result each primary candidate must raise a great deal of money to purchase billboards, yard signs, TV ads, and direct mail material. Candidates with the most money tend to fare best in that system, regardless
of their qualification. These primaries can also cause serious party division and disunity.
We endorse in order to ensure the proper time is spent examining candidates that so many people cannot give in today’s world, and to review the candidates’ positions on issues that too many campaigns do not provide. We also endorse to help build unity within our Party, which is a worthy goal for a political party organization.
It is important to remember that anyone is able to run for public office, with or without a party endorsement. However, most Republican candidates in Lancaster County make the choice to seek our endorsement and traditionally accept the outcome because they know we conduct a rigorous, fair process out of respect for the voters and the community we all cherish.
