THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130630
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Community conversation
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 199 lines
When Pam Umberger sizes up a political candidate, she includes this standard: ``Is this the kind of person who has gone to PTA meetings?''
Richard de Paulo wants candidates to own up to their mistakes and give clear explanations when they change their minds on issues.
Kit Thoma says politicians need to talk about the bigger picture, including connections between problems and the trade-offs on potential solutions.
And all three say they are turned off by negative campaigning.
Umberger, de Paulo and Thoma were among 54 Virginians who recently told The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times their ideals about candidates and political campaigns. The discussions were part of the newspapers' ongoing report of the citizens' agenda in the 1995 General Assembly elections.
Comments came during roundtable conversations and interviews in South Hampton Roads and the Roanoke area. The newspapers also commissioned an opinion poll on voter attitudes.
To many, the qualities of candidates were as important as issues.
While acknowledging that citizens often share the blame for the disappointing behavior of candidates, many 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, 52, who is retired from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. ``It makes me feel important that they care enough about me or my group.''
And when candidates meet with voters, they should ``make concrete statements that people can understand and grasp and feel as though they're being spoken to with respect,'' said Jeanne Reporter, 35, of Chesapeake.
Rebekah Woodie, 44, of Fincastle, said: ``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.
Richard de Paulo, 40, of Chesapeake, 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, the space agency. 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 Ruffner 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.''
Still, it's a tough call, as the newspapers' public opinion poll, conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University, found. Of 1,024 responses, 49 percent mostly or completely agreed that ``legislators should vote their conscience even if people they represent oppose their position,'' while 44.5 percent did not agree. The remainder, 6.5 percent, did not know or did not answer.
Citizens in the conversations said they expected political leaders to be role models, but they do not want them to pretend to be larger than life.
``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, 56, a Baptist minister and police chaplain in Portsmouth. ``A role model will admit he's not a perfect person but one who makes mistakes - admits it and is willing to correct it.''
For Pam Umberger, 43, of Norfolk, 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 PTAs, neighborhood civic leagues, anti-crime block watches and other ongoing civic activities.
From her many years of community involvement - PTAs and the Bromley Civic League in Norfolk - Umberger believes she knows when a candidate has been active in similar organizations or merely listed a civic membership ``for show.''
Christopher D. Craig Sr., 27, a professional singer living in Virginia Beach, is a volunteer in the Special Olympics. He, too, looks at whether candidates devote time to community service projects.
``I want to see him get down in the dirt and help out. I don't want it to be a publicity thing. I want it to be a heart thing. I want it to come from the inside,'' Craig said.
Being real means honesty about the complexities of important issues, said Kit Thoma, 62, 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 during a roundtable discussion at a meeting of the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads. ``We want to know that they can see the interconnections.''
She later explained: ``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.' ''
Said Bertha Taylor Escoffery, 52, of Chesapeake: ``Most of us want to see or hear . . . is that the politicians themselves know what the issues are.''
Citizens want to know what candidates stand for, yet they do not expect rigidity.
``Our Constitution was built on compromise. I mean, if they had gone up there inflexible, we'd still be writing it,'' said Rebekah Woodie.
It's OK to compromise, but be ``honest about it and up front about it,'' said Frances Little, 38, a graphic designer in Daleville.
But citizens warned they don't want politicians to confuse compromise with political deal making, such as promising to support unrelated legislation in return for help from another legislator.
Said Betty Cox, 65, a retired secretary in Norfolk: ``Do it for the right reasons. That's what's wrong with our government now is too much back-scratching.''
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,'' said Michael Van Haelewyn, 23, a Roanoke YMCA youth programmer and swim instructor.
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 WAVY television.
``No one got a good grade,'' said Ethelyn Register, 67, 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.''
Citizens expected a different approach to political fund raising.
Candidates should raise most of their money from local individuals or businesses - not from special-interest lobbies, large out-of-state contributors or political action committees.
``As the saying goes, `there's always an IOU outstanding somewhere that has to be paid back.' . . . That bothers me greatly,'' said David Simmons, 47, a retired police officer of Roanoke County.
Campaign money, the citizens said, should be spent largely on meaningful communication with citizens, such as forums, traveling to community meetings and publishing brochures that clearly explain positions on issues and basic political philosophies - but not on expensive media consultants and polling that measures the hot-button issue of the day.
Citizens were less certain on some other aspects of politics.
For instance, they had mixed views on how legislators should prioritize the personal problems of individual constituents, the immediate needs of the district and the long-term strategies for the state.
``I saw a prime example earlier this year when my congressman had a town hall meeting here in Norfolk,'' said Linda Armstrong, a school teacher. ``I was extremely disappointed that there were no issues addressed during this meeting. It was all individual constituents there doing, `I have a problem with this office. I have a problem with this agency. Can you help me? Can you help me?' That was the whole evening.''
Yet citizens said they knew the importance of taking a wider view.
General Assembly members ``are not paid to represent part of them over here and part of them over there, but . . . the whole state of Virginia,'' said Wilbur E. Skees, 69, of Norfolk.
Skees' opinions were borne out in the poll done for these newspapers. Results showed 74 percent mostly or completely agreed that ``legislators should care less about what is good for their part of the state and more about what is good for Virginia.''
As questions mount about the 1995 General Assembly elections, citizens seek new ways of making choices, of making a difference.
Sometimes, those answers come from the inside.
``I don't think you can look for qualities in someone that you don't look for in yourself,'' said Van Gresham, 24, of Salem. ``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.''
The bottom line, Richard de Paulo said, is that ``people are crying out for candidates who are real.'' MEMO: Staff writers Karen Weintraub, Tony Wharton and Shawn Terry, and the
staff of The Roanoke Times contributed to this report.
Editor's note: To comment on the topic of leadership qualities, write
to: Karen Weintraub, 921 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, VA 23320. Or
send e-mail to publife(AT)infi.net.
Next week, The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times will examine the
ever-increasing partisan fighting between Democrats and Republicans in
the General Assembly.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Inez Combre
Pam Umberger
Ethelyn Register
Richard de Paulo
by CNB