RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail Story
Today's politicians: Wimpy or courageous?
| Saturday, May 31 2008 12:00 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 2 2008 7:19 AM
Elected officials and candidates are wimping out when it comes to taking a test that pins down their positions on key issues, according to a nonpartisan, national group that seeks to educate voters.
BAKERSFIELD.COM HOT TOPICS:
Loading Stories
Advertisement
Republicans: 16
Democrats: 17
Third party: 9
Incumbents: 2
Challengers: 40
California congressional candidates who participated:
Republicans: 12
Democrats: 9
Third party: 15
Incumbents: 4
Challengers: 32
Fun tidbit: Neither Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama has answered the questionnaire.
Republican John McCain has not either, although in the past he has asked President George W. Bush to answer the questionnaire.
Source: Votesmart.org
Links:
Only 14 percent of California’s state primary candidates and 20 percent of its primary candidates for Congress completed Project Vote Smart’s “Political Courage Test” this year. Participation by Kern County politicians was dismal, too.
The organization has been submitting its questionnaires to politicians for years. Its board members have included former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford and current GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
The questionnaire asks politicians for their stances on issues from abortion to campaign finance and the environment to gun control. They were contacted by group staffers and prominent leaders in both political parties over four weeks.
Answers are posted at votesmart.org, along with officials’ biographies, voting records and campaign finances.
Test participation has dropped precipitously over the last three years and since 2000, campaign consultants and party leaders have advised politicians not to take it, Project officials say. Why? They say because answering the questions makes it harder for candidates to control their message and exposes them to opposition research.
The local candidates who failed to participate — which is almost all of them — cited several reasons to The Californian: there’s no room for explaining their “yes” or “no” answers and their responses could be taken out of context and used by third parties to attack them.
Some said they simply hadn’t gotten around to completing the questionnaire because of the influx of other surveys and time demands of campaigning but will before the general election Nov. 4. Here’s a breakdown of how locals did or did not participate:
30TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT CANDIDATES
• Fran Florez, D-Shafter: Did not. Florez said she doesn't recall seeing the questionnaire but has filled out more than a dozen similar ones. She knew of only one, though, that was posted online for the general electorate to peruse.
Florez, who faces Republican Danny Gilmore in what's expected to be one of this fall's hottest local races, said she'll try to take Project Vote Smart's test in the future.
• Gilmore, R-Hanford: Did not. Gilmore said he was much more concerned with surveys he received locally. “Anything from out of state I am not concerned with,” he said. “It goes to the bottom of the stack.”
He said he would probably get to it.
32ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT CANDIDATES
• Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield: Did not. A staffer said Fuller will submit the survey.
• Challenger Virginia Martinez, D-Bakersfield: Did not. “I haven't responded because it seemed more appropriate for the incumbent.”
She said she “probably will” answer the questionnaire by November.
22ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
• Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, who is running unopposed in both the primary and general election, did not participate.
McCarthy said he doesn't recall getting the test this year but did fill it out when he ran for the state Assembly several years ago.
He said his voting record is more important than what he says he believes and he posts that record on his Web site, kevinmccarthy.house.gov.
“That's more truthful to the voters,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said he'll try to fill out the test.
20TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CANDIDATES
• Congressman Jim Costa, D-Fresno: Did not. He said he has filled out Project Vote Smart questionnaires previously. He noted he's running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary and will likely complete the survey over the summer, in plenty of time for the general election.
• Challenger Jim Lopez, R-Bakersfield: Did not. Lopez said he did not refuse to fill out the questionnaire but has been busy with other surveys.
“I have taken the ones that are in the district that will benefit me more,” he said, citing ones by ABC 30 of Fresno and the Fresno Bee.
He said he has Project Vote Smart’s partially done and will finish in the next couple days.
Lopez said his concern was not to answer the questionnaire too quickly for fear of his answers being taken out of context later in the campaign.
“Some of the questions I consider to be trick questions,” he said. “I don't want to just pull it off the top of my head. I figured you got to be pretty careful about how you respond.”
OTHERS
• 16th District State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter: Did not. Florez, who is not up for re-election this year, has not answered the questionnaire since running for the state Senate in 2002.
“I've always saw the Vote Smart questionnaire as a way for voters to get to know a candidate for office that they are not familiar with,” Florez wrote in an e-mail. “I would probably simply reprise the same positions as stated in my last questionnaire — I haven't had a contested race since 2002, so that was the last questionnaire I completed.”
• 30th District Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford. Parra took the test in 2006. She is termed out of office this year and is not seeking any other elected post.