I get that we should want to elect those who are making the rules we need to follow. But a clerk of the court, or commissioner of the revenue, or sheriff, or commonwealth attorney are offices whose job it is to execute the laws being made. Those are operational positions, not political ones. If anything, it kinda bothers me if the political leanings of those officers have any bearing whatsoever on how they do their job. I swear when I was growing up and learned local civics in school, the local government was an elected city council, then every other position was appointed or hired by the city council. Seemed a pretty simple and elegant government to me.