The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-09-18
Politicians Control
So-CaHed P. r. System
Weaknesses of Proposed City Manager Plan
For Waterbury Elections "Rigged"

The Proportional Representation
(P. RI system Of voting, called for
In the proposed city manager char
ter, places control Of the city in
the hands Of "the politicians" as
serted Robert D. Byrnes, political re-
porter for the Hartford Courant in
his weekly column yesterday.
Under the P. r. method, he says,
political organizations can control
the election Of councilmen, can de-
feat able, sincere candidates, and
yet can have their acknowledgements
activity 60 undecided because OF
the methods complications.
Mr.. Byrnes' column stated:
BY ROBERT d. BYRNES
One Of the keynotes sounded by
proponents Of the proposed pro-
portional representation council
manager charter for Waterbury,
which Is TO be submitted to o
referendum there October 8, Is that
the new charter includes the best
known modern procedure for pick
ing competent people to operate the
city government. Any such sweep
ing claim Is open to one Of those
interminable, no-decision political
arguments, but, as far as Water
bury's proposed new charter Is con-
cerned, such claim overlooks the
fact that II the proposed new char
ter Is adopted, the council, under
proportional representation, Is al
most certain to be In the hands Of
"the politicians"
Admittedly the new charter Is de-
signed TO prevent just such an even-
tuality, and proportional represen-
tation generally referred to as
up. r." Is supposed to prevent "po-
litical machines" getting control Of
the city government. In theory, Up.
R." gives all important elements In
the electorate representation. As 1t
seems to work In practice, the Or
ganized political groups get control
New York city Is an example, with
the various LaGuardia supporters
electing him mayor two years ago
but losing the council, which was
elected by "p. r." to the Democrats,
Basically proportional representa-
ton Is O device for giving voice 10
minorities. A applied TO the election
Of city councils, q general arrange
ment Is that candidates must run
without party designation, this being
the old fallacy Of reform politics
that only the elimination OF parti-
san labels Is needed to project "the
best men" into office. The machine
cry Of Up. r." Is necessarily compli-
Gated tending to discourage the par
ticipation OF those who are unable
to make either O business or O hob
by Of politics. Only those who have
the inclination and time for poll
tics viii master all the details and
tricks Of the system. To those who
study II, one fact early becomes
clear, that under Up. r." o political
organization can win all the fruits
Of victory by concentrating Its sup
port for O small number Of candi-
dates.
Two Essentials OF Plan
without going into oil the COM
plications Of Up. r." which would
require columns, the plan has two
essentials. One Is nominated by
petition, usually with q relatively
small number of signatures required
TIE second Is that the elector record
his preference on the ballot by
placing numerals In the spaces Of
his preferred candidates. II" for his
first choice, ~" for his second
choice, and so on TO the limit Of his
preferences or to the limit Of the
number Of the candidates.
Both these devices, especially af-
ter there has been the opportunity
for O little experience In one or two
elections, ar ideal instruments fol
the operation Of political organiza.
tons.
Waterbury now has about $4,000
voters and under the present char
ter the aldermen are all elected oil
large, with the majority party hav.
Ing o margin Of only one. Under the
proposed new charter, there would
be seven members Of the council
also all elected at large, being nom.
inted, instead OF by parties In
caucuses or conventions, by O petit.
ton Of not less than 400 nor more
than $50 signatures. Election undei
the new charter would be by the
attainment Of vote called o quota
whcih will be one-eighth Of the
valid ballots plus one,
Need Only -Four for Control
It Is evident ut once that four
members will be q majority Of the
council with power to appoint anc
remcVo the city manager.
Study Of the waterbury situation
reveals that control Of about $4,000
voters, and probably less, will In.
sure the election Of four council.
men. With $4,000 voters In the city
and 70 per cent vote, which Il
+, fair for o Connecticut city election
the total cast would be almost 81.
900. In Manhattan, 10 per cent Of
the ballots cast In the flrst "P. r.
election were either blank or In.
valid which Is probably Q low per-
centage for waterbury where there
would also be O pr" election
with separate ballots, for q board
Of education. This gives about $4,000
valid votes as the probable Water
bury total, and one-eighth OF THU
plus one would mean that 1851 votes
would be sufficient for election.
The first step toward getting con-
| troll Of the council under Pr" L
the nomination OF candidates. Under
the "p.R." scheme Of voting, there
Is naturally no party ticket, and NJ
pulling o party lever TO elect thu
entire ticket. The system goes ever
farther IN It's attempt to discourage