Now through November the public will see and hear more and more from people with control issues.
Hopefully the public pays attention.
Efforts to be elected to office start, in some cases, long before a candidate makes public appearances and speeches.
Some of the more experienced individuals, or those with the resources to hire experienced consultants, will test the waters a year in advance of making any official acknowledgement they want to run for office. They will ask around, trying to catch a sense of who their opposition might be. They’ll gauge if they have the financial and influential backing of the right people.
Some of them do actually discuss the issue with their families but I have often been suspicious that the consensus of the homestead brood plays a significant role in a decision to run for office. Can a thirst for power and desire to make change really be derailed by the need to regularly attend a child’s futbol practice and school recital?
Once the green lights are found and the campaigns proceed, candidates then go about the task of raising money and name recognition.
It can be a long humbling process.
At the same time reporters are doing their part: researching the names of potential candidates, following up with the declared ones and tracking who gave how much to whom for campaign contributions.
But, as anyone who pays attention to news about the news media can tell you, the number of journalists in newsrooms —from print to TV to online — is not where it should be.
There are occasional bright spots here and there (it’s my understanding the daily newspaper has up to two people occasionally covering Chula Vista and National City) but typically the reporters and editors are asked to do more with less: less money, less resources, less time. In turn that means less thorough coverage of campaigns and elections. In addition to less thorough coverage of all the other stories that matter — crime, politics, taxes, even the soft fluffy feature stories.
Though it may sound like one, this isn’t a whine. Or an excuse for perceived under performance. It’s a statement of facts intended to spur readers into taking matters into their own hands. Again.
Newsrooms and reporters are doing what they can. They are chasing stories about the people who want to take office and make rules that govern your lives. But, literally, there is only so much they can do with the little they have.
And so it is incumbent on those who care about the direction they want their lives to travel to do their research. Don’t exclusively rely on what you read on your social media feeds, hear from your coworkers or are told by your friends. Study the people and issues that you’ll be voting on soon. As much as they might want to, no one else can do it for you.
I have a lot of respect for anyone who runs for office, if you have a nine to five job… forget it. If you are self employed and running a business, fasten your seat belt because you are going to be for the most part, hands off for a year. Home life? you will be running around walking precincts until dark and on weekends, evenings and any free time will be consumed by showing up to every event on any given day and at any time. If you have a hard time speaking in public and begging for money from strangers this isn’t for you. If you’re not a quick change artist, i.e. put a suit and tie on at 6:00a.m to meet a potential donor at 7:30a.m downtown at the Omni Hotel on a Friday morning only to be told, “hey we really like you but we are gonna wait until the run-off” and have to come home change clothes and go to work this ain’t for you. And oh… did I mention you do it again every night until about 11:00 -11:30 p.m. You will never ever want to eat chicken again for as long as you live. I should know, I did it.