Politicians

It’s that time again.

Yes, election season is upon us, and that’s the time when they come crawling up out of the woodwork.

Perhaps I’m guilty of painting them with too broad a brush, but honestly, they can be so annoying at times.

A while back one of them had his "staff" call me to set up a meeting because this politician wanted to stop by for a chat.

Having had some experience with this particular politician, I regretted agreeing to the meeting nearly as soon as I hung up the phone.

However, when I took this job, my open door policy said I would meet with anyone at anytime – even politicians.

Honestly, I would prefer to meet with anyone who lives in Karnes County over this particular politician, but since he (or his staff) took the initiative, I felt he deserved a few minutes of my time.

And so when he walked through the door, we "met" for the fifth or sixth time.

I have always had a pretty unfavorable impression of this person, and when our meeting was over, it had dropped even lower.

Although he was actively campaigning for Karnes County votes, he did not know how many people lived in Karnes County. He didn’t know what highway ran through Karnes County. He didn’t know how many school districts were in Karnes County or the names of any of the schools. I don’t think he even knew what towns were located in Karnes County. I’m not sure he even knew what town he was in.

In general, he seemed really… confused.

I was a little more than taken aback by this, considering he had represented this county at one time.

I can almost forgive him having forgot all about this county, but you would think that if you were planning a day to visit the people of Karnes County to discuss the county’s current needs and future hopes – you would think that doing a little homework in advance of these meetings would be considered "due diligence."

He was unable to answer most of my questions.

His staff was unable to answer one question in particular – a question regarding ethical restrictions on those holding this particular office. I was able to get an answer to my question from another public servant, but it’s really disappointing that his staff lacked the knowledge to answer this simple question. Furthermore, they were unwilling to find an answer to this question and as far as I’m concerned, this is especially intolerable. My tax dollars pay the salaries for this official and his staff, and to ignore answering such as simple question speaks volumes about the competence, or lack thereof, of this politician and his staff.

The meeting left a sour taste in my mouth.

Halfway through, his real intentions came to the forefront when he asked that our newspaper report the fact that he had come to listen to the concerns of local people.

"Excuse me?" I thought. "You asked to meet with me – you did not request an interview with a reporter."

He then told me about what a productive meeting he had with local officials and leaders over at the courthouse earlier that morning.

"Why didn’t you ask us to cover that?" I thought. "Now, that’s a news event. We could have written about the questions local people asked and your responses to those questions."

I probably should have shown him to the door at that point, but I carried on as politely as I could.

Some politicians’ real motives become overwhelmingly clear, no matter how hard they try to paint themselves as being noble.

I can forgive a politician a lot of things, but one thing I demand is minimal competence, and this guy didn’t have it.

He seemed even less competent than he was the last time he came on a "tour" of Karnes County several years ago.

Philosophically, we actually have a lot in common, but I think there is something even more important than a candidate’s positions on current issues.

There may dramatic philosophical differences between myself and a particular candidate, but if the candidate strikes me as being intelligent, honest, hardworking and shows a genuine interest in the concerns of local people – I can look past those differences and that candidate will get my vote.

There are many elections right around the corner.

I urge you to find out as much as you can about the candidates who are seeking office before making your choice.

Nothing is more important than voters making informed choices at the ballot box.

I have not decided how I will vote in most of the upcoming races, but there is one candidate that I can assure you will not get my vote.