It is welcome news that county officials have moved forward with charges related to election code violations in this year's May primary for Butler County commissioner. Sending a message that campaign violations and dirty politics will not be tolerated in the county might help prevent a future occurrence.

The incident that triggered the complaint, investigation and charges involved a mass mailing of postcards that attacked Jack Beiler, a Democratic candidate for county commissioner, for having once been a registered Republican and for allegedly saying he would or could someday support a Republican if that candidate was the best qualified.

The postcard, which was mailed to 2,500 registered Democrats, showed a flock of sheep with a drawing of a wolf disguised as a sheep, suggesting Beiler was a Democrat in name only — or a wolf in sheep's clothing. It also aligned Beiler with two sometimes-controversial Republicans at the state and national level. The mailed postcards included a fictitious name that was not registered, which violates state election code.

Dr. Joe Talarico, a Jackson Township resident and physician with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is president of the political activist group Butler County Democrats for Change, D-PAC. The county district attorney's office charged Talarico this week with election code violations associated with the postcard mailing. After initial denials, Talarico now has taken responsibility for the mailing.

Apart from the technical violations of election law, the postcard's tactics are troubling. It is short-sighted for Talarico, and any other D-PAC members who might have been involved, to attack anyone who does not have blind allegiance to the Democratic Party and will only vote for Democrats, regardless of circumstances and qualifications of candidates.

Extreme partisans on both ends of the political spectrum might follow such a dogmatic approach, but the majority of voters, whether registered as Republican, Democrat or Independent, look at the qualifications of the candidate, not just party affiliation.

More and more voters are turned off by extreme partisanship, whether it is happening in Washington, D.C., Harrisburg or Butler County. Most people are tired of dirty politics — they just want effective leadership. And partisan politics rarely produces effective leadership.

The partisanship promoted by the attack on Beiler represents the mindset behind much of the political gamesmanship and party-above-all attitude that gets in the way of effective action.

Having mailed 2,500 cards, Talarico could well have altered the outcome of the county commissioner election. Beiler failed to advance to the general election, coming in third in the Democratic primary, with a 154 vote margin separating him from second-place finisher, Linda Volaric. If the postcard mailing caused as few as 78 Beiler supporters to change their vote based on Talarico's postcard scare tactic, next month's general election would offer different choices.

It is probably impossible to know with certainty if the postcards altered the election outcome, but it is troubling that a smear campaign would have had any role in determining the county's top leadership.

Talarico or other D-PAC members might take pleasure in the belief that the postcards succeeded in keeping Beiler, a retired banker and long-time volunteer in the community, out of the county commissioners office. But if that did happen, it was at the expense of all county citizens, and the integrity of the election process.

Regis Young, director of the county elections bureau, was correct when he said the postcard campaign "tainted the election process."

If Talarico or D-PAC had problems with Beiler, they should have challenged him regarding qualifications, issues or his agenda for the county. Petty name-calling from anonymous sources should not be part of an election. Candidates should succeed or fail on their own qualifications, not smears from unknown sources.

Talarico and any other D-PAC members involved in the smear campaign harmed the election process —and didn't do the county's Democratic Party any good either.

By investigating the mailing mischief and bringing legal charges, county officials have taken appropriate action to try to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen again.

— J.L.W.III