Taking a toxic path

There seems little hesitation these days in the political arena to sling mud or attack to get ahead – even if the opposition is standing on the same side of the aisle.

And that’s a damn shame. Character counts.

There are a few people left who think how you play the game matters as much as whether you win or lose.

Sports teach us this, and so should elections.

How one competes is more important than how big of a scene someone can make, or how many twitter followers someone has garnered.

And rooting for the person willing to win by any means necessary will only yield you a candidate who’s willing to do whatever it takes to win, which can include lying, cheating and stealing -- not traits you want in the person you elect to govern.

We urge you to look at candidates who are working on the issues, not merely content to talk about them, or surround themselves with celebrity endorsements. Perhaps Kristen Bell and Patton Oswalt have a wealth of information about the issues that Santa Clarita Valley residents hold near and dear. But we’ve only just heard about their interest in our district in the last few weeks, so forgive us if we’re less than convinced by any arguments they might have to make in one candidate’s favor or another. Next time we see them in line at the grocery store, we’ll be sure to follow up with more questions.

The Signal Editorial Board decided to hold off on endorsements for the June 5 Primary races for a number of reasons, but there are several things we think that should be considered by voters, whom we encourage to make their voices heard at the polls.

Negative politicking is toxic. It reflects especially poorly upon the person slinging the mud more so than whatever negative pabulum is being spewed.

The Democratic Party was so fractured by negative campaigning in the 2016 Primary election, the losing candidate endorsed the candidate from the other party. While rising above partisan politics is always a plus, the real takeaway is negativity that not only discourages discussion, more importantly, it discourages participation.

And two years earlier, two candidates from the Republican Party took part in a knock-down drag-out donnybrook of a race.

In the short conversations we’ve had so far, we’ve heard verbal shots fired in the 38th Assembly District, and we’ve seen the mailers from Bryan Caforio that again show his negative streak. While he is putting his name to it, the ad hominem attacks in that campaign have drowned out any substantive talk on the issues.

We commend the other three vying for the spot, Congressman Steve Knight, Jess Phoenix and Katie Hill, who’ve run clean campaigns.

The Signal will continue to report on what’s happening, and call out bad behavior when we’ve seen it.

We strongly encourage everyone to participate in the June Primary, and keep an eye on how the candidates, whomever wins, choose to carry themselves to November.