Round three of the 2007 local campaign season started on Friday, with the filing of objections by two local Democratic leaders to petitions filed last week for Auburn and town of Fleming. Often considered “inside baseball” by the public, this year this may be a way to deprive most voters from any role in picking their representatives #- all the more stunning, coming from the Democratic Party, which usually touts the idea of inclusion.

The 2003 Democratic mayoral nominee, Chuck Mason, has filed “general objections” to the petitions filed by city councilor David Dempsey for mayor, Cherry Love-Duncan for city council and Sean Stanyon for the 14th Legislative District #- all three were rejected last month by the Democratic Party to carry the party's standard this November. Democratic county Chairwoman Katie Lacey has filed similar objections to the Republican petitions filed for all town offices in Fleming.

Oddly enough, in some cases, if both are successful, voters will get no real chance to have a say in who represents them come January. With the city's Republican Party in shambles #- it is a disgrace they could not even field one candidate for city council #- there is no faceoff between the GOP and Democrats this year, only an independent run by Peter Kotzer on the Independence line.

Letting Love-Duncan on the ballot for a September primary at least would give local Democrats a chance to voice their opinion on the two Democratic standard bearers, incumbent city councilor Thomas McNabb (who if the petition challenge is successful, will, like 2003, not have a major party opponent this November) and newcomer Gilda Brower. The Republican failure, for all intents and purposes, if the challenge is successful, would have two people serving in city hall in January who were selected by fewer than 70 Democratic Party committee people.

In the case of the GOP petitions in Fleming, a successful challenge would mean that voters in the town would also have no choice between the major parties this November #- again having the town's Democratic committee being the only ones who had a say.

This is not to discount the process of petition challenges #- if there is fraud and/or abuse (neither of which is indicated at this stage) then the petitions should be rejected.

If it is anything less, then it should be voters who make the choice, not political leaders who have a bigger interest in party control than the democratic process that ends with governance.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com