Dear Editor,
One of the most common statements I hear around election time is “Why dont good people run for office anymore?” Unfortunately, the answer is simple--because we as voters dont elect good people anymore. We buy into negative ad campaigns and make it impossible for service-minded, honest, hardworking, and considerate people to stand a chance in an election. And what we have ended up with is Topeka overflowing with legislators who wish to serve themselves and their wealthy constituents (Kansas Chamber, KPI, and ALEC).
Case in Point #1: The latest negative flyer about Mary Jo Taylor is that she stood idly by as Obama forced his agenda in Washington. Or, as another implies, she somehow has an attachment to Hillary Clinton. How in the world do you draw a connection between Mary Jo Taylor and these political figures? Easy.....be a so-called conservative tea party Republican and hire an out-of-state smear campaign company to attack her with false statements. Mary Jo has as much influence in Washington as I have in China....in fact, I bet she couldnt even get ol Mitch Holmes, her own state representative, to respond to questions or concerns, let alone persuade him to her line of thinking. (However, he was pretty busy working on a female dress code for the house chamber. Perhaps we should cut him some slack.) If Mary Jos representative, senator, and/or governor didnt listen to her, what makes anyone think she would have had any influence in Washington, DC?
Case in Point #2: Dennis McKinney represented my district for a number of years and was the House Minority Leader. Dennis is as fine a man and was as fine a representative as you will ever find in Topeka. What did we do? Listened to the smear campaign tactics of people who represented Mitch Holmes and Governor Sam Brownback. How has that worked out for us?
The negative mass mailing and media approach has proven to work because we the voters have reinforced the behavior. We must stop giving credibility to dirty campaigns
and start voting for responsible, service-minded people like Mary Jo Taylor. There is a problem in todays politics, and its us. Lets fix the problem we created. When you see negative campaign ads, make a mental note of who they represent and do not vote for the candidates they are endorsing. Lets stop the craziness.
Darin Headrick