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"Elections, elections, oh when will I be spared from
elections?", a friend of mine did not say the other day. "I
vote for the President and vice-president, U.S. representa
tives and senators, state senators, governor and the other
state-wide officers, mayor, county commissioners and
other county offices, and on and on, only to hear you tell
paved paradise
me that, "There- is another election this Tuesday for three
seat on the Lincoln city council. Am I going to vote?
Well why should I vote?"
To get on several mailing lists?, I weakly responded.
"Oh sure, that's really great. To get on several mailing
lists, ha, ha, he jokes. Well I'm not laughing. This election
business isn't funny anymore. Here I am, voting for peo
ple who end up spending my money, making decisions for
rclpSi
me, allowing me to do this and keeping me from doing
that, all for my own good.
But 1 don't need some slick talking, money mad, ego
centric politician telling me what I can and can't do,
emptying my pocketbook with taxes while lobbyists
gladly empty their pocketbooks on him because he looks
the other way as the lobbyists companies rape the earth,
rob their customers, and ruin this country as they run it
into the ground."
You've got a point, I replied.
"You're damn right I do," shouted my friend, "and
that's why I'm not going to vote in your damn election
Tuesday,"
Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit, I asked? I
mean about elections not being funny anymore? I can see
some fun in this one, the City Council race that is.
One Council candidate, Paul Beezley, said he wasn't
going to campaign for a seat on the council and wouldn't
serve if elected. Now if you really meant what you said
about not wanting politicians telling you what to do, this
Beezley fellow may be just who you're looking for.
Another council candidate, T.R. Allan, who is 22,
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campaigns in a three-piece suit with a gold watch chain
which seems to be sending out a message. The suit is
trying to say for its wearer, "Like me, I'm a business
man." But it's not easy to like a candidate when an article
in the Lincoln Journal relates, "When asked during a
recent interview what his number two priority was, Allan
shuffled through typewritten notes before he was able to
remember that he wanted more efficiency in the decision
making process.
"I forget these things if I'm not looking," he says. 'I
hope voters won't forget that a top priority in any candi
date is that they at least know why they're running.
Another young Council candidate agrees that one's
appearance can overcome a candidate's youth. Tom
Schrader, who is 23, became a realtor at the ripe young
age of 20. His secret? " When I got into real estate, my re
ceding hairline and bald spot gave me credibility, and I
tried to dress accordingly. "Dressed in a dark brown, con
servative suit, Schrader said the Gty Council should be a
mixture of young and old." That account is taken from
another Lincoln Journal article. Although I agree with
Schrader that the Gty Council should be young as well as
old, I dont like the idea of a Councilman who cant pull
his hair out when agonizing over an important decision.
Anything less would be a mockery of a sham of deliberate
decision-making.
Looking at most other Council candidates, the
situation only gets worse. One candidate, Ann S. Murphy,
reportedly hasn't organized a campaign committee or
solicited contributions. Another candidate, Frances Tapia,
has had to resort to placing an ad in a newspaper to try to
find a campaign manager and volunteers. Tapia in yet
another Lincoln Journal article, exemplifies the lesser
quality of some candidates when she was questioned
about her opposition to city-county consolidation, she
said, "Our current elected officials are pushing it." Who,
specifically asked the Journal? She'd rather not say. Why?
"I really wish I knew." -
My friend yawned and didn't say, "Look, you know
and I know that only 20,000 people are expected to vote
in the primary Tuesday, that students could be an in
fluential voting block in Lincoln, and the best three
Council candidates are Dorothy Walker and incumbents
John Robinson and Sue Bailey. You also know that many
people feel just like I do about politics. The only problem
is that my prophecy becomes self-fulfilling when people
don't vote for those few candidates who really care about
people. That's when these other candidates win and we
stop laughing, only it's too late." I said, no it isn't. Not
yet anyway.
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