Votes Left Behind

Everyone who runs for office gets questionnaires to fill out. Mostly they come from liberal organizations with slanted questions. As we read the questions, it is obvious they don't want to hear our answers. Reaction is to toss in the recycle bin. Questionnaires that come from organizations like Progressive Dane, who are looking for the most liberal candidate to endorse, are a waste of our time. Others are a different type and not filling them out loses us votes.

I use the example of the League of Women Voters. Yes, the questions are slanted looking for liberal answers, but if you stay within their word limit, and are sort of on topic, they publish your answer as you gave it. When their question is: "We do not have enough teachers, is teacher pay too low?" - an answer many of us can agree on and will be published is: "We need to reward good teachers to keep them in the profession." It's not what they are looking for and ignores their slanted question, and it's close enough on topic that they have to publish your answer. People who aren't political or well informed tend to read those published answers. Only people that would never vote for you even notice the answer doesn't strictly follow the question.

I've had a lot of people thank me for giving answers and say they agreed with what I said. No one has complained about me going off the question. Keep aware of what type of questionnaire it is, and whether your answer will be published as is. Many newspapers have separate endorsement and article interviews. The articles generally just publish what you said. Use the free publicity! You lose votes not answering this type of questionnaire.

Dave Ripp served 12 years as Town Clerk and 40 years as Dane County Board Supervisor.