Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: 20060831 KDDC Why go negative?

Friday, September 01, 2006

20060831 KDDC Why go negative?

The Carroll County primary election is less than two weeks away and it could not come too soon for many of us.

Reading the letters to the editor has especially become painful for us who follow government and politics closely – and know better. To read letters in which misinformation, misleading information, personal attacks, puffed-up naiveté and a total lack of understanding for how government works for the particular office in which this or that challenger seeks, has been disillusioning.

And the specter of good people with good ideas and thoughtful approaches – going negative is just bewildering. It is as if they have lost their minds for the duration of the campaign?

My column in The Tentacle for this week is called, “Why go negative?” It just scratches at the surface of how this primary election has been so painful.

I, for one, have heard very little in the way of a substantive discussion of the issues or new ideas. I have heard much about how much certain folks are clueless and don’t like this or that candidate.

And perhaps competing for the worse affront is how folks demonize opponents personally simply because they disagree with them on certain issues.

Most of the time, the folks who are demonizing are the very ones who plead for respect for their ideas and approaches.

What amazes me are the folks slinging the mud, who after the elections will still have to work with their opponent in some way, shape or form. No matter how professional – or religious someone is, folks have memories.

I know my motto has always been: “To forgive is divine; to forget is not my policy.”

Memo to the many folks running for office this fall: There is only one species on the planet that has a better memory than an elephant and that is a politician.

Meanwhile some of the choices we need to make in the voting booth September 12th, 2006 are difficult. I, for one, may make it easier by simply choosing only the folks who have not gone negative.

The last thing I need is an angry outraged community leader with the warmth and humanity of a water moccasin - to take challenges to in the future.

Anyway the cleaned-up version of my Tentacle column that went to press yesterday, Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 is “Why go negative?”

August 30, 2006

Why go negative?

Kevin E. Dayhoff

The election season is upon us and - like a horde of ravaging locusts - the negative campaigners are out in full force this cycle. Why?

As the public clamors to hear a discussion on the issues - growth management, infrastructure and school improvement, public safety, taxes and the scope and structure of government - some candidates and their rabid supporters instead sport t-shirts that scream "I've got issues."

Selective quotations and trivialities trumping substance in an obvious attempt to distort the facts seem to be the rule of the day.

And it is always a source of amazement to observe folks who, in the same utterance, plead for understanding and tolerance for their views and then demonize anyone who doesn't agree with them.

A rule among classier community leaders prohibits promoting oneself by personally sniping at someone who holds a different point of view. It is not only bad form but smacks of bullying and could wind up hurting your own cause, as you only look like someone with the warmth and humanity of a water moccasin.