Opinion:

Voters Know Not For Whom The Ballot Tolls

Politicians Like It That Way

by Johnny Gunn

I accidentally stumbled onto a piece of information that actually surprised me, and as I look back, I wonder why I was surprised.  It seems that during Super Bowl 39, that was in 2005, there were 11 million more television viewers than had voted in the last general election.  I don't know why it should have surprised me, after all there are far more sports bars than there are pol bars.  In fact we are often told, "don't talk politics or religion" at a bar.  Why are we told such a thing?

Most people that discuss sports at a sports bar know more about some second string defensive guard than they know about their current president.  More than likely they don't know who represents them at city council or county commission, have no idea what precinct they live in, and do not participate in any political discussion or debate with their spouses or friends.

Most readers of these pages probably don't fit into that picture, and for that we are eternally grateful, but think for a moment why this is.  Why are we more apt to know the batting average of some dude that makes too much money, spits in public, and can't comprehend a compound sentence than we know about those responsible for our taxes?  Part of the blame has to be put on those that call themselves reporters.  We don't ask the hard questions of those that want to call themselves our leaders and when we do, we are given Pabulum, platitudes, throw-away one-liners.

I was at the announcement of a man who wants to be the next Washoe County Sheriff, and one of the things he said, while TV cameras were rolling, "I'm against drugs and drug dealers."  Well, yeah, I mean, isn't that what sheriffs do?  "No questions, please."  End of "press" conference.  On TV that night not one cute little newsreader suggested that there just might be more that the general public should know about this man.  There is an abrogation of responsibility among those of us who wish to be called reporters.

The political pages of your local newspaper have fewer articles, interviews, statistics, information than the sports pages of the same newspaper.  We don't print the statistics of how our representatives vote on specific issues the same as we keep for some slob who can't maintain himself in public but can hit a baseball.  I for one would like to see something like this:

First congressional district

• Representative X voted with the majority only 23 percent of the time.  A voting average of .230 won't look good in November.

• Representative X introduced three pieces of legislation, of which none were passed.  A legislative average of .000 is not worthy of a contract extension come November.

• Representative X had three assistants attend parties held by legislative lobbyists while Representative Y had only one assistant making the party circle.  A lobbyist party average exceeding 1.000 is not worthy of a contract extension come November.

More ink was wasted, more television minutes used up, more Internet bytes chewed on detailing and debating the Terrell Owens fiasco than were used during the 2004 presidential election.  Want to bet on that?  I win. ESPN alone spent more hours debating the issue than all the other networks used for presidential discussions.  Sports announcers seem to have much larger cajones than political reporters.

The winner of all this is the politician that doesn't want you to know very much him or her, doesn't know the subject that might be a question from a strong minded reporter, and certainly couldn't stand up to the scrutiny that might come from a sports reporter.

So, even though we aren't sitting at a bar, not for another hour anyway, I am opening the discussion here and now.  I plan to ask as many hard questions as I can of those that want to be elected, but I need some help.  I need your questions.  Let me know what you feel is important, what is on your mind when you hear or see advertising from someone that wants to be elected.  That way when the dust is cleared following the November election we just might know "Who's on first?"

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