Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508140124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE KNEPLER AND DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Michael Van Haelewyn of Roanoke wants to know what the candidates' core values are, the things they'd never compromise on.
When the candidates do compromise or make mistakes, Richard de Paulo of Chesapeake wants them to own up and be clear about why they change their minds on issues.
And Rebekah Woodie of Fincastle and Floyd Childress III of Christiansburg say candidates need to show they're thinking beyond this year's election. Woodie wants candidates who have shown they can peer "into the long-term future, 19 years down the road."
All five say they're turned off by "negative" campaigning.
When The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, The Virginian-Pilot, held a series of roundtable discussions with more than 100 voters across the state this summer to discuss the upcoming General Assembly campaigns, a curious theme emerged:
On the eve of what promises to be the most partisan and ideologically-polarized contest for the General Assembly in the state's history, many voters aren't looking at the campaigns the same way the two parties are.
For many voters, a candidates' qualities are more important than their stand on the issues.
This was, to be sure, not a majority sentiment. A poll the newspapers commissioned through Virginia Commonwealth University found 45 percent of those surveyed statewide agreed "a legislator's character and reputation in my community is more important to me than their stand on the issues;'' 49 percent disagreed.
Nevertheless, even voters who said a candidate's stands on the issues were the most important criteria also said a candidate's qualities still mattered to some degree.
While acknowledging citizens often share the blame for the disappointing behavior of candidates, many Virginians had ideas on how to improve political conduct, if not the politicians themselves.
It starts, they said, with ``being real.''
``Being real'' is a large part of what voters mean by qualities such as honesty and truthfulness.
``Being real'' translates to having a working knowledge of community problems, being straightforward about issues and mistakes, and acknowledging that complex problems cannot be solved with quick fixes, wishful thinking or calculated sound bites.
``Being real'' also means staying connected and accountable to voters by listening well, giving clear explanations and keeping in touch with their districts year-round.
``I like ... when they come back to the community, make themselves available,'' said Inez Combre, who is retired from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. ``It makes me feel important that they care enough about me or my group.''
Citizens made it clear they want candidates to be "straight" - clear and to the point - when they meet with voters. Jeanne Reporter of Chesapeake wants politicians to ``make concrete statements that people can understand and grasp and feel as though they're being spoken to with respect.''
Woodie, a textbook author from Botetourt County, went further: ``They need to make those statements in un-weasel words, and not general so that anyone at anytime in space could have made that statement about any issue.''
\ In real life, people make decisions based on experiences. They make mistakes. They change their minds.
De Paulo worked in the construction industry for nearly 20 years before switching careers. Even then, it took some time to decide.
First, he sought a degree in applied mathematics with hopes of going into computer science or working for NASA. Then, he found his true calling: teaching math.
Does that mean de Paulo flip-flopped on his career, that he was wishy-washy or spineless?
``No,'' said de Paulo, who teaches at a middle school in Norfolk. ``What it means is that in my 20s I made mistakes, some mistakes like everyone else. If I knew what I know now, I would have gone into teaching and education much earlier. Life, with everything it taught me, gave me the insights about what I really wanted to do.''
That perspective on life helps de Paulo judge political honesty.
``I can vote for an honest candidate even if I don't agree with him,'' de Paulo said. ``If he's honest, then I know things will be halfway OK because he's not corruptible.''
Citizens were clear, however, in their expectation that politicians demonstrate some immutable core beliefs. "A politician will come out with one stance, and then they will change that stance just to go along to get a certain bill passed," complained Wanda Spraggins, a counselor at Roanoke's William Fleming High School.
"They say one thing to get in office and then once they get in there, they go with the flow," agreed Frances Brown, an insurance company worker from Roanoke.
Voters said they understood compromise is necessary, but they tolerate only certain kinds of compromise.
"If they buckle immediately and say 'OK, I give up, let's do it this way,' without putting up some sort of fight, then I lose faith in them," said Michael Van Haelewyn, a YMCA swimming instructor from Roanoke. "But if I see that they've gone in and done the best they could, and they've worked hard and given us options, then at least we're know they're working for it."
If politicians are forced to compromise, "be honest about it and up front about it," added Frances Little, a graphic designer from Daleville.
And if politicians make a mistake, citizens said they wanted them to admit that, too. ``Our kids respect us more if we don't pretend we're perfect but say, `I've made my mistakes. I'm sorry. I've tried to correct it the best I can,''' said the Rev. Tom Potter, a Baptist minister and police chaplain in Portsmouth.
\ For Umberger, candidates who are ``real'' are those whose ideas are grounded in the communities they represent.
She looks at a candidate's record of community service, such as active membership in school PTA, neighborhood civic leagues, anti-crime block watches and other ongoing civic activities.
Information about community involvement especially helps in judging novice candidates who don't have a legislative track record, Umberger said.
``If this person has been involved in community, then they have been exposed to problems of day-to-day living within community, as opposed to someone who's not been involved or involved at a higher level, not grassroots,'' said Umberger, who has three children, two step-children and a grandchild.
From her many years of community involvement - PTAs and a Norfolk civic league - Umberger believes she knows when a candidate has been active in similar organizations or merely listed a civic membership ``for show.''
Van Haelewyn, the Roanoke swimming instructor, sees it as a matter of credibility - "credibility before they get into office." He thinks a candidate's record of civic service is vital "particularly if they're new to politics."
Being real also means honesty about the complexities of important issues, said Kit Thoma, a Norfolk nursing home administrator.
``Is the big problem really crime or is it the lack of education? You know, what takes preference? What do you go after first?'' she said. ``We want to know that they can see the inter-connections.''
She later explained: ``Everything is inter-related. We all know this from our own lives. Once we make a decision, a thousand other things come up ... But very seldom do you hear a political speaker talk about how all these things are connected.''
Instead, Thoma believes most politicians isolate issues.
``We need to hear `how do you really look at the world.' I don't want to hear, `Mom, apple pie and flag.' We all know that,'' Thoma said. ``We need to hear, `This is my philosophy of the world.'''
\ Citizens were irked with the tenor of political campaigns, saying they have become too inflammatory and the angry rhetoric is widening the distance between voters and their government.
``Politicians aren't heroes anymore,'' Van Haelewyn said.
Many fear that negative campaigning is too entrenched, despite efforts to restore civility.
Last year, the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads sponsored a campaign-watch project with a local television station.
``No one got a good grade,'' said Ethelyn Register of Virginia Beach. ``It looked like they were not giving us information about their platforms. "They were only being dramatic and complaining about their opposition. We were very disappointed.''
In Roanoke, citizens also are at a loss for answers. ``How do we get our politicians back to being gentlemanly?'' Frances Brown asked.
Many citizens said they had at one time or another "punished" candidates who they believed were campaigning improperly by refusing to vote for them - or by voting for an opponent.
"They start out talking about 'this is what I think about health care, this is what I'm going to do about taxes, this is what I'm doing to do for the environment.' And then three weeks later, you've got this mud-slinging," said Brenda Poff, a homemaker and school bus driver from Copper Hill in Floyd County. "The issues are never discussed. And quite frankly, I turn if off a lot of times. Because it's utterly ridiculous and I think I'm beyond that."
Citizens said they hungered for more detailed information about where candidates stand on the issues - and to hear the candidates address those issues directly. "They ought to be disallowed to advertise during their campaigns," said Woodie, the textbook author from Fincastle. "They should have to speak, and should be forced to go to public forums and talk. Answer questions, and they can't put advertisements on TV or anything."
Yet too many campaigns, the citizens said, focused on the hot-button issue of the day or perennial topics such as abortion and guns. "Get off your media campaigns for abortion," pleaded David Simmons, a retired police officer who lives in Roanoke County. "Go out to your coffee shops and go to your restaurants where your people that work stay and where they eat and where they talk. Get your adviser there and listen to the way that these people talk and find out what the real issues are and address those."
Yet others acknowledged that not all voters are so interested in a dispassionate discussion of the issues. "The majority of the American people, what do they watch on TV?" asked Joe White, a Pulaski postal worker and insurance salesman. "They like that kind of stuff. They like that kind of controversy. You know, all this stuff on these talk shows."
Citizens also couldn't agree, either, on what constituted mud-slinging.
"In Europe, they separate a politician's personal life from their political one," said Little, the graphics designer from Daleville. "They see no dichotomy there at all. You know, if he has a mistress, or whatever, that's his personal life. But business is business."
Other voters tended to agree. "I have often struggled with this idea of someone's morality having to do with their leadership," said Woodie, the Fincastle textbook writer. "Or their ability to do anything. For example, Robert Frost is a fine poet, but he was a terrible mean old man. So that does take away from the quality of his poetry? Does the morality of a person interfere with their ability to lead? I guess past examples show us maybe that's not true."
Others disputed that outlook.
"I'd like to know whatever happened to the moral values of politicians?" asked Frank Wilkerson, a Roanoke restaurant owner. "It seems like they've gone down the tubes. They can smoke pot, have sex, do what they want to, get drunk at nighttime, get DUIs, and people still vote for them. It doesn't make any sense to me."
Van Gresham, a 24-year-old from Salem who recently graduated from Virginia Tech and is now looking for work, suggested this standard:
``I don't think you can look for qualities in someone that you don't look for in yourself,'' he said. `It's not right to put someone up on a pedestal if you don't expect those same qualities out of yourself and strive for that.''
Whatever the standard, though, de Paulo said, ``people are crying out for candidates who are real.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB