Colbert I. King: Do they deserve to be on the D.C. Council?

Another thought-provoking article from the always insightful Colbert I. King of the Washington Post. Go HERE to read the full article. 

Excerpt:

The six council members will probably face challengers in next year’s primary and general elections.

Which gets us to a seldom discussed, but serious, problem with D.C. politics: election after election, the city gets flooded with dopey, unprofessional political campaigns waged by woefully unprepared candidates with no political strategy, no organization and no money. They crowd the ballot and absorb time and attention, thus giving better-known, well-funded incumbents an easy pass.

Some of the candidates join races with nothing more than a desire to draw invitations to campaign debates where they can say something outrageous enough to get their names in the paper.

These challengers tend to start late, have little detailed knowledge of the area they want to represent or the issues that voters really care about. They show up at forums ignorant of the incumbent’s legislative record, ties to campaign contributors or other areas of potential weakness.