Michael Davis

03/29/06

Response to Gromer Jeffers

This article is not worth the paper it’s printed on.

Are we just going to start selling endorsements to the highest bidder? What good can come of this?

Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Money and ads alone won't cut it in elections
Tuesday, March 28, 2006

   It's clear most voters don't respond to political campaigns, especially in nonpresidential elections.
   For the March 7 primaries, voter turnout in Dallas and Collin counties was about 5 percent.
   Candidates and their operatives have known for years that new strategies are needed to lure the modern voter to the polls.
   The tactic of stockpiling cash and spending it on television ads and fancy mailers doesn't work anymore, particularly in smaller elections.
   Most consultants are beginning to realize that buying expensive television ads in any nonpresidential or major statewide election can be a waste of money. ...
•Educate voters.
   Why didn't most people vote March 7? Many didn't even know there was an election.
   Sounds strange to have a ballot crammed with candidates and still have people clueless that there were primaries March 7.
   Political parties should take most of the blame. Party officials usually sit out primaries in an effort to remain neutral.
   In the future, they should use their resources for outreach and basic information.
•Touch voters, literally.
   Rivals complained that Toby Shook had an advantage in his primary race for district attorney because he had scores of assistants knocking on doors and talking to voters.
... Face-to-face contact is the best way to score political points because it brings the voter directly to the candidate or his campaign. ...
•Start a club.
... Politicians and political organizers should develop political clubs for a number of reasons.
   First, they get communities active in the political process and educate voters.
   Also, the clubs can become training grounds for candidates and a source of considerable money.
   If an organization successfully turns out the vote in its area of operation, candidates will beat a path to the group's door for support such as printing campaign literature and hiring poll workers.
   In most cities with political clubs, such political expenses are paid by the candidate seeking the club's endorsement.
   It's puzzling why council members and state representatives don't develop independent political organizations.
   The clubs would help their campaigns, secure their political futures and leave a legacy for their communities.

The last two articles by Jeffers (Breakdowns beat incumbents; Money and ads alone won't cut it in elections) have talked about “delivering votes.” What exactly does “delivering votes” mean? Does it mean that you just give someone some money and they make votes magically appear? Does it? DOES IT?!

Let’s break down these flawed and questionable viewpoints in the article.

•Educate voters.

Why didn't most people vote March 7? Many didn't even know there was an election.

Sounds strange to have a ballot crammed with candidates and still have people clueless that there were primaries March 7.

With all the news stories about the Dallas DA race and others, everybody knew that there were elections going on in Dallas. The only way you weren’t aware of the elections is if you slept under a rock between January and March.

Political parties should take most of the blame. Party officials usually sit out primaries in an effort to remain neutral.

The losing incumbents should take the blame for having records that reflect their inactivity in their job as elected officials and complacency for depending on so called “get out the vote people” to do their dirty work.

In the future, they should use their resources for outreach and basic information.

In the future, they should do their job!

•Touch voters, literally.

Rivals complained that Toby Shook had an advantage in his primary race for district attorney because he had scores of assistants knocking on doors and talking to voters.

Face-to-face contact is the best way to score political points because it brings the voter directly to the candidate or his campaign.

I am a Democrat, and I don’t live in Lakewood or Lake Highlands, so I don’t know what Toby Shook did, but I do know that door knocking goes on in all communities.

Face to face contact by the actual person running helps, too. Unless you’re trying to get them to fill in a mail-in ballot.

•Start a club.

Politicians and political organizers should develop political clubs for a number of reasons.

First, they get communities active in the political process and educate voters.

Also, the clubs can become training grounds for candidates and a source of considerable money.

There’s the magic word... MONEY!

If an organization successfully turns out the vote in its area of operation, candidates will beat a path to the group's door for support such as printing campaign literature and hiring poll workers.

In most cities with political clubs, such political expenses are paid by the candidate seeking the club's endorsement.

So… the candidate sends in money to the organization and then gets an endorsement from that same organization? He can’t be serious.

It's puzzling why council members and state representatives don't develop independent political organizations.

The clubs would help their campaigns, secure their political futures and leave a legacy for their communities.

What this article is saying is that your opinion, as a citizen and a voter, doesn’t mean a thing. It says that you are too stupid to make up your own mind and you need a large political organization to tell you what to do. By the way, send them your money because ‘they know what’s best for you (wink, wink).’

Therefore, any elected official should start an organization and get a lot of people to contribute money to their organization. That way, if you get in office and do absolutely nothing you will be protected.

So they secure their future by throwing enough money around and hiring enough people to make it look like they have support, when most of these people will work for whoever pays the most money. Voters aren’t stupid, they see through all of that nonsense.

The Jeffers 3/28/06 article really seems like a half-baked response to Jim Schutze’s article (Butt Naked) in the Dallas Observer.

Compare the two and think about it.

Money and ads alone won't cut it in elections by Jeffers shows exactly what we are fighting against. In the southern sector, we are soldiers going to war against a well-financed, well-equipped army. We may only have bows and arrows, but as you saw a few weeks ago we have good aim.

Only a handful of African-American reporters write for the Dallas Morning News. They have a duty to write intelligently and instead of trying to make the opinions of a well-financed and well-connected aristocracy appear to represent all African-American people.

It shows some people have a stranglehold on the neck of the community, are somewhat responsible for its condition and will do anything to keep power.

I’m not against so-called power brokers doing ads and supporting their people, but to suggest our salvation as citizens is to create an electoral money machine is outright absurd.

If the VOTER looks at the issues, and the VOTER looks at the condition of their community, and the VOTER decides that enough is enough, then the VOTER will go to the booth and replace the incumbent.

People are tired, and the VOTER will continue to speak in elections to come. The voice of the community will not be squelched!

Michael Davis