Lamont Jones
My name is Lamont Jones a candidate for Harrisburg City Council. I am writing this article about my experience as a candidate who has faced many challenges, including being sued because of my background, but I believe mainly because I don’t align with a few political interrupters on the local level. Political interference must stop; it has gone on long enough in the City of Harrisburg.
Being a political candidate can prove to be challenging enough. From tirelessly raising funds to compete, making oneself vulnerable to public ridicule, and experiencing long lasting emotional distress from being attacked by political opponents, running for office can weigh heavily on one’s psyche.
Here in Harrisburg, these challenges are further compounded by political interference. However normal political interference has become nationally, the experience of political interference in the commonwealth’s capital has proven to significantly hinder the city from moving forward. It affects voter turnout, morale, and faith in the electoral process. We have become a city disillusioned by the voting process as a result.
There has been a longstanding history of political figures who have utilized both financial resources as well as judicial influence to interfere with the process of our residents being able to support and further vote for their desired candidates. Far beyond a vetting process, these political predators have not only ensured that their own agendas have been adopted, but that they are able to utilize those same resources to recruit other individuals into their system of corruption citywide. Under the disguise of “fair and free” elections, these political combat strategies have ensured that their control is longstanding and virtually uncontested. By politically hijacking voter turnout through voter intimidation, monopolizing mail-in ballots through the exploitation of civic ignorance and mis-education and installing local influencers to gain favor in their agenda, Harrisburg has seen a legacy of political hijacking. The effects of this strategy have lasted through continued recruitment of easily manipulated and vulnerable political hopefuls, oftentimes sought out to be puppets who barter unethical practices for financial or social gain.
Many of the players from past administrations have come and gone, some of the key players involved still exist today, with emboldened control over entire political parties, offices, and social positions. They feel entitled to the reins of this city. The political process being hijacked no longer allows for voters to feel hopeful in their city. It makes voters feel voiceless, unable to advocate for their deteriorating city. While our city suffers through failing school systems, poverty, violence and civil unrest, our political system has been unable to serve as a means in which communities can have advocacy and leadership. Political hacks through petition challenges, the filing of frivolous lawsuits, and the continued king-making and handpicking of each elected official have come at a price to our city. It cost us then, and it continues to cost us today. We must not allow history to repeat itself.
I ask the real citizens and electors of Harrisburg to stand alongside me to end this type of political interference, educate ourselves on how to best combat legal, but unethical, means of political interference to end what has plagued Harrisburg city resident for decades. We must stop electing people we know are controlled by this well-maintained machine that has no real interests in giving our citizens a better quality of life. We must not be easily swayed to elect “lifelong residents” if their lifetime residency has been spent selling their souls to this corruption. We must end the old way of accepting politics as usual and understand this as a unique and growing concern for Harrisburg city. Most importantly, we must usher in a new group of dedicated leaders ready to serve this great city.
The saying goes, “If you don’t know your history, you’re bound to repeat it.” Harrisburg, a city already experiencing the generational devastation from past leadership, must not allow this saying to play out any longer.
Let’s stand together and pull our city back from the reins of political puppeteering.
Lamont Jones is a Democratic nominee for Harrisburg City Council.
