Dennis Lennox, in his column this week for the Mount
Pleasant Morning Sun, reports that pending legislation in Lansing would do away
with partisan elections for county sheriffs and prosecutors. Instead, the top
lawmen would run in a non-partisan fashion, much like the way we handle our
judicial elections.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Less partisanship is
almost always a good thing. The clerk, treasurer and especially the public
works commissioner should also be elected a non-partisan basis. Those offices
are mostly administrative by nature and essentially have nothing to do with
Republican vs. Democrat.

The “Big Five” countywide offices in Macomb have been
dominated by Democrats for decades. Yet, no one could accuse those officials of
playing politics for the benefit of the Democratic Party. In many cases, these
countywide officials have been the type of rare political animal that is
increasingly unique to Macomb County: the conservative Democrat.

Can you imagine someone referring to Democratic Treasurer
Ted Wahby as a liberal?

It should be noted that law enforcement is an area where
partisan and political lines blur. If a sheriff and prosecutor call for more
manpower (more spending) in order to cut the crime rate and beef up the
criminal justice system, is that liberal or conservative?

Lennox, however, makes the case that we simply “can’t
take the politics out of politics.” A Republican activist, Lennox asserts that
ballots with the “R” or “D” attached to candidates’ names leads to more
informed voting by the public.

Here’s a portion of his argument:

“It is difficult to see how doing away with the partisan
nomination of some or even all of the countywide officeholders would actually
improve government in any manner.

“It might actually make things worse, as candidates
in the system that (the) legislation creates could use the premise of their
non-partisan candidacy to avoid important questions about political philosophy
and the role of government.

“They may not be old-fashioned machine bosses, but
sheriffs, prosecutors and other county politicians are very much political
creatures.”