Democracy rule one: trust and abide
In the lead-up to the local elections of 1935, a group of Fayette County Democrats held a political rally alongside a highway near Brownsville.
The tone of the rally was set by Charles Lewellyn, a candidate for judge, who told the gathering that he had been in German Township recently when an “insidious snake [politician] … crawled up out of the ground and I [went] to chop its head off.”
Lewellyn was followed by a mine worker leader by the name of Martin Ryan, who loosened a verbal assault on a pol by the name of Frank Canistra and on a former Republican who had recently converted to the Democratic Party, Anthony Cavalcante.
Cavalcante had once been a top campaigner and local adviser to the Republican governor, Gifford Pinchot.
Never mind that both Cavalcante and Pinchot were strong allies of the United Mine Workers at a time when the union was struggling to gain a foothold in the county.
Martin, a firebrand from Grindstone, was having none of it. Canistra was a “liar … a moonshiner … and a scab,” while Cavalcante was a “county Mussolini.” (Mussolini was Italy’s fascist dictator and a compatriot of Adolf Hitler.)
Cavalcante was “a stool pigeon” and “rotten to the core,” Ryan added. “The day we [miners] we’re going to Clairton [to try to enlist steel workers in the union movement] he had the state police on the highways…. He is going to crucify the Democratic Party.”
This kind of mudslinging was nothing new. Actually, it was pretty much the norm. In 1914, for instance, the county’s state senator was implicated by his political opponents in several fatal traffic accidents, the result of an ungated railroad crossing for which he was supposedly responsible.
For good measure, the senator, William Crow, was called out for a heroin epidemic in Uniontown and for “padding” the election rolls with ineligible or even dead voters.
A research of the record going back to at least the middle of the 19th century will uncover other scurrilous political charges.
As the saying goes, politics ain’t patty-cake. That was then, but what about now?
It’s not clear what it is today. In some instances, it’s a kid glove approach to politics, as when the newly nominated Republican for Fayette County district attorney, Mike Aubele, said of his fall Democratic opponent, Jack Connor, “Mr. Connor and I have the same goal: to make a significant change in the county.”
(Aubele did go on to say that he thought he was better qualified for the job, which is kind of – kind of – more like it. Voters, as they always do, will decide the matter in November.)
In the race for Common Pleas Court judge, the winner, Mark Mehalov, told the 缅北禁地 that he and Melinda Dellarose, his opponent, ran a “clean and professional race, and the votes came in.”
Yeah, they did, though the percentage of county voters casting ballots on Tuesday was anemic: a paltry 31%.
There are undoubtedly a whole lot of people who welcome the kiss-your-sister variety of politics. The bare knuckles kind is unattractive. And certainly wild-eyed fabrications do nothing to advance understanding and the public interest.
But come on! Politics without pizazz? As one of the most famous and successful politicians of the mid-20th century was apt to say, “We can do better.”
Those running for office should not be afraid to mix it up. Trading political punches can be healthy. For voters. For democracy itself.
Now, for that kind of politics to succeed, there must be rules. The most important rule is this: Everyone involved must abide by the results, and those results must be acknowledged.
To undermine this rule, this principle, is to undermine the country itself. Democracy is built on trust. We must trust one another to count the votes fairly and accurately, and then to accept that accurate count as the final verdict in a tussle that is played out every few years.
All which raises the point: When are local Republicans – in particular, office holders, candidates, party officials – going to get around to acknowledging the results of the 2020 presidential election?
If the answer is never, they should understand they are playing with fire; by their malfeasance and want of courage, they are placing the whole fabric of this democratic society in jeopardy.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.