"The major parties' nominating process has become a joke," he said, "disrespected by party regulars and political opportunists alike. The rules we operate under now reward unethical strategies and put politics and politicians in further disrepute."
Shilepsky criticized two problems: candidates who file in a party primary without first making any effort to gain support in the caucus/convention process, and what Shilepsky calls "cowbird voting," where members of one party vote in a rival party's primary to sabotage that party's electoral chances. Shilepsky promised that as Secretary of State he would develop recommendations to solve these problems.
"This year we see many candidates filing as a party's candidate without having made any effort to win that party's endorsement. If they had gone to an endorsing convention and gotten even one percent of the delegate votes you could say they made an honorable attempt; but to show up at the Capitol with just the filing fee and a well-known name is just unethical."
"Many of these opportunist filers are appealing to last name tribalism and hurting our representative democracy. When an anonymous Sharon Anderson takes out a Tom Neuville, or a Dick Franson or Jennifer Mattson goes after an Edwina Garcia, they are encouraging superficial voting as well as undercutting political parties which, for better or worse, are the best tools we have for screening, recruiting, and educating candidates."
Shilepsky said he had no problem with primary fights between party participants. "This year convention challenger Carol Johnson has a moral right to primary Betsy O'Berry for the DFL Treasurer berth; but a Bob Johnson? If you don't have the guts to go to the convention and ask the delegates to support you then you should collect 2000 signatures like the minor parties have to and run as an independent."
Shilepsky also criticized the "cowbird politics" of crossover voting to weaken your opponent's ticket: "It's bad faith voting and should be discouraged. It is just a dirty trick that happens to be legal. The fact that people brag about such strategies shows how low we've fallen."
Shilepsky said that if he is elected he will explore electoral reforms to promote responsible party and candidate behavior. "The two party system is broken," he said, "and third parties are a reaction to its divisiveness and cynicism. We need the perspectives of third party members and independents to find solutions. I want to help create a multiparty system that works."
Shilepsky's key campaign issue is the instant runoff ballot, to let voters rank their choices for an office, 1,2,3.
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