THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604270002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Kerry Dougherty
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Anyone who's been through total quality management training in recent years - and who hasn't - knows the importance of keeping a score card.
I doodled one into my notebook recently during a break in a meeting. Here's how it reads:
7 candidates
5 interviewers
2 television crew members
7 citizens
me
Sadly, this was at a candidate's forum staged in the City Council chambers two weeks ago. It was hosted by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce-Virginia Beach Division, the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations, the League of Women Voters and the Virginia Beach Council of PTAs.
It was a well-planned, well-publicized event. The questions were probing and illuminating. The format was scrupulously fair - each candidate was accorded the same amount of time to speak. Courteous behavior was mandatory and the candidates were permitted neither props nor gimmicks.
Too bad the voters weren't watching.
Never have candidate forums been more useful than in the current crowded field for School Board. Several years ago the citizens of Virginia Beach demanded an elected board and now they've got one. Have they ever - there are 45 candidates on the ballot.
But are the voters interested enough to actually come watch the candidates? Apparently not.
In a city of 432,095, with 160,817 registered voters - seven, count 'em, seven - voters, came out to hear what the candidates had to say. (Count me and the total is eight).
It's actually worse than that. At the conclusion of the forum several of the citizens ran up to kiss the candidates. It dawned on me: these people were married to candidates, for heavens sake. And at least two other observers were candidates scheduled for another night, who came in to get a good look at their competitors.
That left one, maybe two, audience members who were there trying to figure out whom to vote for on May 7.
This is disheartening.
The upcoming local election is in many ways a reaffirmation of democracy and a tribute to the decency of the common person. The Virginia Beach school system has been through a troubling year, and 45 members of the public have offered to set things aright.
They are teachers, lawyers, accountants, police officers, nurses, retirees and housewives. Most seem to share one quality: They are well-intentioned people doing their civic duty. They say they want what's best for the city's public school children.
They've promised away virtually all of their free time - 20 to 30 hours a week - for a few hundred dollars a month. They have volunteered to attend endless meetings, study reams of boring reports and face intense public scrutiny in order to help the city schools.
Yet almost no one in the city seems to care enough to come out and look them over.
Our newspaper also hosted a series of Virginia Beach candidate forums. Guess what? No one, or almost no one, came to those either. And ours were held in the heart of Kempsville, the city's most populous area. They were scheduled for two weeknights and one Saturday morning. Voters stayed away in droves. The same low turnout plagued forums in Suffolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth.
This apparent lack of interest in the democratic process is the most persuasive argument I know in favor of appointed school boards. In a field this cumbersome, with so many candidates, how can voters choose wisely without making an effort to learn about their qualifications and views?
Fortunately, it's not entirely too late. The forums hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and friends will be rebroadcast on VBTV on May 1, 2, 4 and 5. Check listings for the times.
On May 7 a score card will be tallied that is far more important than mine. MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. by CNB