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We
welcome your letter to the editor.
Letters
should be no longer than 300 words and must be signed and include
a phone number. Longer letters may be edited for clarity and space.
Submissions should be typewritten if possible.
Deadline
for submission is noon on Monday.
On the sidelines
by Tim Mandell
Take
the time to talk to candidates before going to the polls
I’ve never found
politics to be all that interesting and have tried to steer clear
of political news and speeches or idle talk amongst friends and
family.
But with the election upon us, I was forced to venture somewhat
into the world of politics in an attempt to interview all the
candidates I was assigned to write stories about.
What I’ve learned is that everyone needs to have a one-on-one
conversation with each of the candidates, or try to get to know
as much about them as possible.
I’m a registered voter in Franklin County, so I can’t
participate in the Owen County elections, but if I could, I would
now know exactly which candidates to vote for and which to avoid
like the plague.
On and off the record, these candidates just opened their mouths,
and talked.
And talked.
And even when they didn’t say anything, they still did.
I won’t name any names, since our newspaper isn’t
choosing sides in the election, but I learned more than I needed
to know.
One local candidate refused to talk to me for fear that their
opponents would read the story and begin to take shots at them.
They asked me to call back the next week.
When I tried to explain that it didn’t matter if we talked
now or next week, because all the stories were scheduled to appear
in the same section, the candidate still refused to talk until
the next week.
When we finally did talk, the candidate was intelligent, articulate
and made sure to clearly express where they stood on the issues.
Why they wouldn’t talk to me the first time is still a mystery.
Another candidate, mostly off the record, bashed his opponents
and even made a sexist remark about a female rival.
One candidate didn’t have much to say, then called back
to say they wanted to talk to me again, since they were “out
of it” when we talked, then I never heard from them again,
until a family member repeatedly called the office to angrily
complain that I messed up everything in the story, and that I
did it on purpose.
Several others didn’t return phone calls, or agreed to call
back or come by the office, but never did.
But some stood out.
One made the long trip to Owenton for a 10-minute interview, because
they said they felt candidates should meet reporters and voters
in person.
Another impressed me with their intelligence and willingness to
be up front and honest.
And one candidate gave me such a good vibe because of their honesty
and downright excitement, interest and good nature that I would
vote for them even if they were running against a family member.
That’s the only person that I’m pulling for, even
though their candidacy has no bearing on my life.
It was an interesting — and somewhat bizarre and maddening
— few weeks of writing stories and talking politics with
mostly strangers.
Throughout it all I learned a little about the good and the bad
sides of politics and elections.
But mostly, I learned that some people running for public office
may not have any idea what they’re doing or getting into.
And that’s why all voters need to research the candidates
and become as informed as possible to make sure they don’t
make the mistake of electing the wrong people.
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