Election 2002: A Reality Check
From William Lucy, Secretary-Treasurer
Elections in this country should not turn on unsavory tactics and "wedge" issues. What we need — and what we deserve — are honest, well-run elections with serious discussion by candidates about substantive issues.
You would have thought this country had learned its lesson in 2000 — in particular from Florida, where chaos and confusion were rampant. You'd have thought this year everyone would be super-vigilant in making sure that all registered voters could freely and securely vote and that the real issues — the economy, unemployment, health care, Social Security, homeland security — were in the forefront of debate. But that wasn't the case.
SUPPRESSING VOTES. Again in 2002, there were reports of voter intimidation. Consider the following. Two poll monitors representing U.S. Senate candidate John Cornyn were removed from a Texas polling place for harassing senior Hispanic voters; another was ejected for making a racist remark. In Arkansas, law enforcement officials removed paid staffers employed by Sen. Tim Hutchinson for harassing African-American voters; in addition, poll watchers in Arkansas charged that voter IDs were not being checked. These poll watchers only seemed to be pointing out that African-Americans' IDs weren't being checked — not the IDs of white voters. In Missouri, Republicans were crying "fraud" over perfectly legal provisional ballots issued to African Americans.
Meanwhile, in predominantly African-American communities of Maryland, someone circulated false flyers telling people they couldn't vote unless they paid their parking tickets; unless they paid their rent on time; unless they took care of outstanding warrants. And the flyers gave unsuspecting voters the wrong date to vote! Through anonymous telemarketing, some Florida voters also got the wrong voting date.
SMOKE & MIRRORS. Then there were the false issues. In Georgia's 11th District, a flyer for Phil Gingrey, Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, played the race card. It read; "Roger Kahn says our military should award contracts based on race — not ability." As if to suggest that stealth bombers would now be built by someone who builds model airplanes on weekends. The issue here was that Kahn supports affirmative action. Despite Gingrey's racist appeals, he received $850,000 from Republican donors, and President and Mrs. Bush campaigned for him. And Kahn lost. No one knows how much influence the racial slurs had, but especially in a Southern state, they can't be discounted.
Georgia also produced the Confederate flag issue. Gov. Roy Barnes led the successful effort in 2001 that resulted in minimizing that symbol of racial inequities, which had occupied two-thirds of the state's flag. He lost his re-election campaign, and the flag flap was out front. And he didn't even get rid of the controversial symbol — he just made it smaller!
Further in Georgia, there was an unpardonable attack by Republican Saxby Chambliss on the patriotism of incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Cleland because Cleland did not support the Bush version of homeland security. Cleland served his country in Vietnam and lost three limbs doing so. Yet even after winning, Chambliss said he did not regret attacking the patriotism of the highly decorated veteran.
This behavior was clearly not about issues. It was clearly about character assassination.
REALITY CHECK. Is this any way to run an election? The answer is a resounding "No!" American elections should unfold without intimidation. Without smear campaigns. Without racism. Those tactics have no place in our politics.
Perhaps it's time for political parties to assume legal responsibility and liability for their campaign tactics and conduct. Perhaps it's time for the media to play a watchdog role in reporting on these violations of moral conduct — rather than helping to perpetrate them.
As union brothers and sisters, we must demand that, in 2004, every candidate run a fair, honest campaign addressing the issues. We must go forward, not backward, and declare that any win tainted by intimidation, racism and lies is an unacceptable victory.
