There is no NL machine

Can we finally put to rest the myth of the New London Democratic political machine? When the party turns out only 744 voters for its endorsed mayoral candidate among more than 6,000 registered city Democrats, a tricycle, not a machine, comes to mind. The primary winner, Daryl Justin Finizio, was more machine-like in his door-to-door campaigning than the party structure that opposed him.

Having grown up in Providence, the son of a city firefighter, I heard plenty of stories about how a real political machine worked. The machine rewarded political loyalty with jobs and city contracts and punished disloyalty by making life difficult for a city employee or a contractor. A person could not even think of running without the machine's blessing. It was corrupt, but it was the way things operated in many cities for many years. The talk of so-called machines in these parts always struck me as quaint by comparison.

Surely New London had its system of political rewards and punishments in the past, but a true political machine has not existed for a very long time. Thankfully, they are a thing of the past most everywhere, done in by reforms requiring open government, providing employee protections, competitive bid contracts, open primaries and ethical standards prohibiting conflicts of interest.

This doesn't mean there are no strong political organizations in some cities. There are. But "political machine" suggests something far more sinister. It is overused and arguably outdated.

Having lost the last council election and having now seen its candidate thrashed in the first primary for a strong mayor, the New London Democratic Party needs to do some soul searching. It would make a foolish choice by not welcoming into the fold its new mayoral standard bearer, Mr. Finizio, who has shown the ability to bring new and younger people into the city's political process. The party sure seems like it could benefit from a transfusion of new blood or, perhaps, new oil.