I've got a question for you...
Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:
Later today ICPR will post the responses to our candidate questionnaire; go here to read them. But here are some of the responses we got from some incumbent legislators. See if you can guess who sent them in:
A) “Recently I received your questionnaire for the March 2006 election. Currently, I have no primary opponent. I have enjoyed our working relationship since I was appointed to the General Assembly in December 2003. I hope to continue this relationship and I will be happy to fill out any future questionnaires for the 2006 general election.”
B) “Recently I received your questionnaire for the March 2006 election. Currently, I have no primary opponent. I have enjoyed our working relationship since I was appointed to the General Assembly in December 2003. I hope to continue this relationship and I will be happy to fill out any future questionnaires for the 2006 general election.”
C) “Recently I received your questionnaire for the March 2006 election. Currently, I have no primary opponent. I have enjoyed our working relationship since I was appointed to the General Assembly in [redacted] 2004. I hope to continue this relationship and I will be happy to fill out any future questionnaires for the 2006 general election.”
D) “I recently received your questionnaire for the March 2006 election. I have enjoyed our working relationship during my time as state representative and I hope to continue this relationship.
“Currently, I have no primary opponent. Please send me any future questionnaires for the 2006 general election and I will be happy to complete them.”
E) “I recently received your questionnaire for the March 2006 election. I have enjoyed our working relationship during my time as state representative and I hope to continue this relationship.
“Currently, I have no primary opponent. Please be sure to include me when you send questionnaires for the general election. I will be happy to complete it for the November election.”
Two things jump out from these – one that some candidates were apparently working from the same script when replying to questionnaires. But more importantly, it seems that some people think that incumbent legislators don’t have to answer questions; only candidates, and challenged candidates at that, do. It’s a shame that public officials aren’t more forthcoming with the public about where they stand on issues of the day.
2 comments:
Frankly, a candidate receives dozens of issue surveys for the primary election. If a candidate does not have a challenger, his operation is probably quite lean at that stage of the game. Filling out all those surveys is time consuming and I would rather have the candidate knocking on doors asking voters where THEY stand on the issues. Having a candidate at home filling out dozens of surveys that will appear verbatim in the campaign office's mail box in a matter of weeks for the general election isn't a good use of the candidates time in an uncontested primary.
Scott Cisek-
Thank you for responding so articulately for candidates who otherwise don't speak. And thank you for linking to a candidate who, though not challenged in the primary, did respond to ICPR's survey. The candidate who knocks on every door in their district is rare indeed; I hope there's a happy balance between wearing out the shoe leather and wearing out the keys on the computer.
Post a Comment