The County Elections-- Why would anyone admit to being a member of these parties?

Like most of you, I have been inundated with publicity by people seeking my vote to become County Executive or to represent me (district 10) on the new County board. Also, the Plain Dealer and the Collinwood Observer have done good jobs of presenting the cases of these many office seekers. This is excellent and it seems to me we have a very good pool to chose from.

But what surprises me is that many of these candidates list high among their attractions that they are long-term members of the Democratic or Republican party or, a few, that they are actually endorsed by one of these major parties.

At the federal level I have no difficulty distinguishing between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats, for instance, tend to favor maintaining a strong net to support the unfortunate and rigorous inspections to curb the greed of Wall Street. Republicans favor cutting taxes and reducing the presence of Government and its regulators. I am sure you can list a dozen other important principles on which the two parties differ. So it is no wonder if you support one of these parties and find the other unattractive. At least they are heading in different and predictable directions.

But at the local level (both county and state) the only difference I can see between the parties is the distinctly different set of cronies they intend to put on the payroll for full-time pay and half-time work. Also the different set of law firms, coin dealers and contractors they intend the employ. Why on earth would anyone seeking local office admit to membership, let alone endorsement by such parties?