October 31, 2008

On Point

Historic election approaches

By Bill Highlander
Editor

In just a few days, an historic election will bring new leadership to the country. We will have the first Afro-American president or the first female vice-president. The campaign has been long – really long- and the voter turn-out is expected be large. That’s a good thing. More Ameri-cans are involved on our democratic process.

The process is not smooth and can even get ugly, with negative ads, smear tactics, less than factual information, and promises that will not be kept. A wag once commented. “How can you tell if politicians are lying — their lips move.”

We get our share of politicians who continue to tarnish the reputation of public service. Just check the news. But the majority of our political leaders do work hard and I believe try to do what they think is best for national and local government.

The negative part of campaigning will soon be forgotten, at least until the next election cycle. I wish the process were more open and honest, even when the actions are within recognized limits.

Let me rant on a few examples. In my last column, I expressed my preference for Pat Waite for District 8 City Council. When the web master mistakenly linked my column in the electronic version, some people jumped to a conspiracy theory and thought it had been done on purpose. Not true. The publisher and I have differences on political expression, but the erroneous link was unintended and quickly corrected.

My mailbox has been cram-med with campaign literature. It doesn’t get much of my attention because I recognize the exaggeration and hyperbole of campaign talk. I do not like it, however, when the material uses the magician’s trick of misdirection to get the reader to not see the whole picture.

Silver Creek Valley Country Club residents received letters from Pat Dando, an adroit politician and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of Rose Herrera. The reader would think that the words were Dando’s with the imprimatur of the Chamber. Not quite. Dando said she didn’t write the letter but had read it. When asked, she agreed that some words could have been better chosen for they implied something that wasn’t true. She also explained that neither she nor the Chamber paid for the mailings. When asked how was the reader to know, she pointed out that in light type on the back of the envelope, it said that Herrera’s campaign had paid for the mailings. Legal, yes; misdirection, I think so.

To clarify another point in mailings, Herrera does not have the editorial endorsement of the Evergreen Times. I have in-formed her of this fact several times, but she continues to imply she does. She cites a letter from the publisher, Bill Bellou, with his personal endorsement. She claims the letter is an editorial. It is not.

It may appear that I am picking on Herrera. But it’s just that she offers so many examples of what I dislike in political campaigning. She has many supporters who think highly of her and she is not the first to run a hard campaign with some political trickery. To my mind, she has not been forthcoming, declining to answer questions about her political statements, telling only what she wants voters to know.

The voters will have the final say on Nov. 4 and we can only hope that the leaders we elect will serve the community well. Please exercise your right to vote.