For the week of November 6 - 12, 2002

Voters need help

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If incumbent political candidates could live up to their improbable boasts as valiant defenders of morality and guardians of the public purse, who make noble sacrifices for the public good, they’d be saints instead.

Unfortunately, the hyperbole of clever advertising is a stranger to the unvarnished truth about their performance. In the end, voters are left to rely on advertising images and slogans on Election Day rather than a thorough knowledge of candidates.

Something of a model remedy to the void in information is at work in Pennsylvania, where a nonpartisan web site (www.issuepa.net) focuses primarily on the race for governor by exploring issues as well as providing voters with a forum for helping shape policy while boning up on the candidates’ positions.

It’s not cheap. But keeping democracy robust is a worthwhile investment. Major funds have come from the Heinz Endowment ($500,000), Pew Charitable Trusts ($640,000), the Pittsburgh Foundation ($100,000) and William Penn Foundation ($35,000) along with support from the widely regarded 66-year-old Pennsylvania Economy League and its 250 business leader members.

This full-time, ongoing analysis of elected officials’ public activities is especially needed in Idaho, where Republicans have had a hammerlock on state government, and thus are less subject to vigorous oversight and opposition.

Newspapers and academics make gallant efforts at election time to analyze political performance. But the intricacy of governance and legislation is so complex (and often devious) that without daily monitoring by sophisticated specialists, an analysis of paper trails—campaign contributions and quid pro quo favors to donors, unfulfilled public promises and the like—is virtually impossible.

Add this to the list of needed Idaho public activities—a nonpartisan public interest group dedicated to compiling the real performance of politicians, not what they claim.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.