Jackson County legislature candidates accused of only masquerading as Democrats

The ballot for Jackson County legislature is set and the county’s Democratic Committee deserves a round of applause for protecting voters from getting duped by candidates who they said wanted to run as Democrats but serve as Republicans.

The filing deadline to get on the ballot for the Aug. 2 primary was Tuesday evening. The Democratic Committee, in line with its bylaws, refused to accept the $100 fee from two candidates who filed to run for seats on the Jackson County legislature. “They had supported Republican candidates and causes” said Forrest Richardson, executive director of the county’s Democratic Committee, and hold conservative views.

They “filed as Democratic candidates in an attempt to manipulate voters and the electoral process,” Richardson said. It’s the first time, to Richardson’s knowledge, that his committee has rejected filings for this reason. The county clerk’s office accepted the committee’s decision.

Roberta Gough, who had filed as a Democrat to run for the 3rd District at-large seat, has twice before run as a Republican. In 2018, running as a Democrat, she lost to current county legislator Tony Miller.

Gough, along with Brenda Allen, who filed as a Democrat for the 1st District at-large seat on the legislature, were censured and disqualified as Democratic candidates in the upcoming primary. The committee’s bylaws allow it to disqualify potential candidates who attempt to misrepresent their political affiliation.

Gough told us that her political views in no way align with “today’s Democrats,” but said she didn’t want to run in the primary as a Republican because Republican candidates historically have not won the 3rd District at-large seat.

“I suppose there is some truth that I was running as a Democrat with a Republican viewpoint,” she said.

Allen said she has contributed “a little here and a little there” to several different campaigns including to Republicans running in races where there was also a Democratic candidate. Committee bylaws list that as a cause for rejecting a filing, Richardson said.

“If that’s their rule, then I guess that’s their rule,” Allen said, but added that she did not understand why the committee “did not call to talk about it. I’m a moderate kind of person.”

When Gough learned she wouldn’t be allowed to run as a Democrat, she considered refiling as a Libertarian or independent, “but I think that would not be successful.”

Then, in the last hours and within seconds of one another, Gough and Allen filed as Republicans, Gough for the 6th District seat and Allen for the 1st District at-large seat.

This problem goes beyond these two candidates, and here’s a little understood fact: No one is really in charge of checking the backgrounds of candidates, from where they live to how old they are to what party they support.

There should be more concrete mechanisms for vetting candidates. The Better Elections proposal, which includes nonpartisan primaries, could help eliminate the problem described here. A petition is gathering signatures to put the measure on the ballot this year.

But part of the responsibility also falls to the voters, who should put in the effort to know who they’re voting for beyond the R or D after a name on a ballot.

A 2021 Gallup poll concluded that less than half of adults in this country have even “a fair amount of confidence” in the people who hold or are running for public office. And trust in elected decision-makers continues to wane.

Candidates misidentifying their true affiliation can only add to this level of distrust in the democratic process.