Another View
You’d think in a place where people worry so much about water, they wouldn’t want to waste so much of it making mud to sling.
Observers tell me this year’s election season, particularly for seats on Imperial Irrigation District’s board of directors, has been the nastiest ever. That may be true, though somehow I doubt it, given most of tactics come from a well-worn playbook that, from what I gather, gets dusted off every election.
Still, it has been ugly, and there have been no shortage of efforts to pull this newspaper into it. Hardly a day passes when I don’t receive an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen wanting me to investigate one candidate or another for some character flaw or perceived misdeed. I’m not saying all of these tips are without merit, but it’s one thing to go after someone’s reputation from behind the safety of a shroud. It’s quite another to attach your name to it. Then you’d better be right, and you’d better be able to prove it.
Otherwise, you’re just adding to the noise.
When people aren’t asking us to be pro bono detectives on behalf of a particular candidate, they’re trying to convince me to run their column or letter explaining why one candidate is the finest example of leadership on the hoof since Abraham Lincoln or why another is the human manifestation of Old Scratch.
Interestingly, I did manage to get on the wrong side of a reader who was angry because I refused to publish a letter attacking a particular candidate’s religious beliefs. Never mind I had also declined to publish equally strident letters attacking the other candidate; apparently fairness only exists as long as you’re standing on the right side of the fence.
We’ve decided not to turn our Opinion page into a bulletin board for free political advertising. We have many fine sales professionals on staff who are capable of assisting in the creation and placement of all manner of ads, and their efforts help make my job possible. The beauty of paid advertising is that it allows one to convey important information while having almost complete control over how that information is conveyed. Everybody wins.
On a related note, one of the most common questions I’ve gotten since I took this job is why don’t we do candidate endorsements? Believe me, we’re thought about it. A lot.
But here’s the thing: Those folks who are interested in us telling people how to vote aren’t interested in us telling them how they should vote.
They only want us to tell everyone else how to vote.
I’m disgusted with the pack mentality that’s come to define 21st century politics, and I’m frustrated with the prevailing disdain for independent thought. I remember a time when it was OK to sort out ideas and arguments on their individual merits. Now we’ve got to buy them pre-sorted and in bulk, or we forfeit the right to any semblance of civility and respect.
Honestly, there are columns — both right and left — that run on this page that test my patience in this regard. But I’m also of the opinion it’s the ability of contrasting ideas to share space that reveals their relative strengths and weaknesses. Show me someone who holds an opinion he or she is unwilling to test, and I’ll show you an opinion that’s likely not worthy of embrace.
So here’s something I will endorse for Tuesday: Vote your conscience. Maybe you’ll vote the same as me, and maybe you won’t. In either case, I promise not to take it personally. In fact, I’ll respect your decision regardless of whether I agree with it.
I hope you can do the same.