A2Politico: Softball Questions and Myopic Politics

by P.D. Lesko

YOU PROBABLY DON’T know it, but sitting through a candidate forum in Ann Arbor is like watching paint dry. The same 50-60 people (many of whom are candidates in other races, office holders, political appointees or people who have horses in the various races) pack the venues where moderators ask questions which the candidates answer—frequently without nods to either the truth or their own voting records. It is a recipe for keeping those who may have a passing interest in local politics bored silly and disengaged.

Question: “Say something nice about your opponents.”

These are people running for mayor of the fifth largest city in Michigan. How about a question about why three of them have, over the past several years, voted to allow the city’s infrastructure to crumble? Let’s hear why none of them has sponsored a resolution to deal with the city’s $200 million unfunded pension liability. Let’s quiz them on the 1,4 dioxane plume poisoning our ground water.

Question: “How would you manage the factions on Council?”

Candidate 1 (who in a short time has burned multiple bridges with Council colleagues): “It’s all about building bridges….”

Candidate 2 (whose condescending attitude has so alienated Council colleagues that a majority of them endorsed against him): “In order to improve relations on Council, I think you need to extend an open hand to everyone without regard to perceived faction….”

Candidate 3: (who is disliked by many on Council because of duplicitous behavior documented by the media) “As mayor I will do what I have done…work with each and every member of Council.”

How about a question about why there are more and more raw sewage spills into the Huron River? Let’s ask the candidates’ about their plans to fund the $300 million needed to replace an aging infrastructure. Let’s ask them about President Obama’s $10.10 campaign and a $15 minimum wage for Ann Arbor.

Question: “If elected, what would your relationship be with the Downtown Development Authority (DDA)?”

(Navel-gazing alert.) Can the average Ann Arbor voter name two people who serve on the DDA Board (other than, perhaps, the lawyer accused of rape and possession of drugs who subsequently resigned?)

Let’s hear about what each candidate wants the nature of relationship between the mayor and Michigan’s governor to be. Frankly, any relationship between the mayor and the new president of U-M would be a substantial change from the non-existent one between the present mayor and Dr. Coleman over the past dozen years.

Not only do local political organizations serve up inane, softball questions unrelated to issues the average voter might find important, the local media report on the candidates’ answers as if those answers were actual news. In reality, many of the candidates’ answers are political pottage served up to an incurious media who then spoon feed it verbatim to bored, disengaged local voters.

This is how we end up with answers from candidates for mayor such as: “It’s all about building bridges” from a demolition expert. “It’s all about extending an open hand to everyone,” from the candidate whose public swipes and tirades have shown him readier to backhand colleagues. “I will work with everyone…” from the candidate caught by a newspaper demeaning her colleagues in emails.

When the local Democratic club brings out only 60 of the city’s 70,000 registered Dems for a candidate event, that’s not a service to voters; it’s a private reception, a political cotillion. Then again, maybe the people who run for office in the second smartest city in the U.S. appreciate a good dance more than probing questions.