daily nebraskan
page 9
money and luck essential in election
Wednesday, november 11 1981
Landis said that although it was easy to find people
that supported him, it was difficult to find volunteers who
were politically experienced. He said campaigning is also
fun.
"Even when you're licking envelopes there's a sort of
camaraderie," Landis said.
Sometime, usually during or shortly after the format
ion of a political base, the prospective senator makes his
candidacy public. He or she makes an announcement to
the media and files for office.
The technical aspects of becoming a candidate are
simple. The candidate filing form consists of one side of
a piece of paper. The candidate enters his or her name,
address, how he or she wants the name to appear on the
ballot and, in the case of a legislator, a check in the box
for non-partisan.
The candidate must pay a filing fee equal to one
percent of the salary the candidate will receive if elected.
For a legislator this is $48. The fee is paid in the candi
date's home county and the form is forwarded to the
Secretary of State's office.
He or she is now an official candidate for the Legis
lature. Biggest problems
Time and money were consistently the biggest prob
lems the senators mentioned.
Landis said asking people for money was the hardest
part of his campaign. How does one deal with it?
"Ask somebody else to do it," Landis said.
He said friends and family find it much easier to ask
for contributions.
Just over half of Landis' campaign was financed by
contributions of less than $100. The balance came from
political action committees and individual contributions
of more than $100. Landis said the contributors were
people he had met or who knew of his ideas. Most camp
aign expenditures were for general mailing, Landis said.
Undis said the Accountability and Disclosure Com
mission' - commonly known as the Sunshine Com
mission - was a good concept but questioned its value.
He said that on a costbenefit ratio the time, money
and state bureaucracy used gave little benefit to the
voters.
He said he doubted that there was "a single constituent
from his district who went through the records."
The director of the Sunshine Commission, Thomas
Burke, said most candidates for elective office must file
with the commission. Burke said that if a candidate
collects more than $400 for his campaign he must form a
candidate committee with a designated treasurer and
establish a separate bank account for campaign funds. The
candidate committee may be the candidate's political
group, such as "Citizens for . . ." and the candidate may
be treasurer.
If a candidate raises over $ 1 ,000 he or she must file six
reports with the commission. These include how the
campaign is being financed, a list of contributers by name
if they give over $100 and an itemized list of ex
penditures. Burke said most senators pass the $1,000 plateau. He
added that the public does ask to see these records.
Others file
Candidates for county and state offices also must file a
statement of financial interests. Burke said this form does
not include dollar amounts but asks the candidate to list
where he or she works, business associations, any real
property, the names of institutions where he or she has
accounts and any debts. He said the media are virtually
the only people who ask for these documents.
Fowler, whose campaign against Jerry Sellentin set new
records for campaign spending last year, said he hoped
some limit could be found.
Fowler said raising funds was the "most painful"
aspect of his campaign.
However he said that because of the growth of political
action committees and direct-mail solicitation, funds are
raised fairly quickly now.
"When the money's available there's a situation where
the candidate can't say he won't spend it," Fowler said.
By contrast Hefner's campaign had one of the smallest
budgets in the 1980 election.
Hefner said most of his campaign money came from
personal contributions and fund-raising dinners. He added
that he would not accept contributions of more than
$100.
"I am a conservative," Hefner said. "Rather than do a
lot of advertising, I did a lot of personal contact."
He kept his expenses low by advertising in small town
weekly newspapers that are usually well read, he said.
Hefner said the Sunshine Commission should be done
away with.
"A lot of local people won't run because of financial
disclosure," he said. "The voters will take care of an elect
ed official if he pulls too many shenanigans."
Hefner said he had no problems with the commission
forms but would like to see it under the Secretary of State
instead of a separate commission.
Marsh said campaign costs have tripled since she first
ran in 1971. She said she doesn't like to spend a lot of
money campaigning so she uses volunteers to talk to
people in her district.
"And I'm still ringing doorbells," she said.
She added that she was supportive of the Sunshine
Commission and it had caused no problems in her last two
campaigns. The commission did" not exist during her first
campaign.
Ask people
Wesely said he didn't like to ask people for anything
during his campaign.
"You felt guilty having to ask for help," he said. "But
you have to realize that everyone's got a stake in
democracy and wants to get a good person elected."
He said inflation had increased campaign costs and he
is planning to spend $30,000 in his next campaign.
"You don't think it's a lot of money until you start
asking for it by $20 donations," Wesely said.
Wesely said he liked the idea of disclosure but there
was no way to have complete knowledge of campaign
spending. He said disclosure gives people a sense of what's
going on and where the money is coming from.
He said many politicians don't like the financial dis
closure because they have a lot of money or assets. Wesely
said it was an embarrassment to him also, not because he
had so much but because he had so little.
All the senators agreed that time was an important
factor in getting elected. Finding time to meet people
face-to-face was the problem mentioned most often.
Hefner said his large district made traveling a big part
of his campaign. He said he spent a great deal of time
going from community to community talking to his con
stituents, and started his campaign in early March.
Wesely said the amount of time and effort spent in
getting elected doesn't stop when the candidate is in
office. He said a senator must stay in close contact with
the people who elected him in order to do a good job. He
said the campaign is not separate from the office and it is
easy to keep in touch with members of the group who
were in the campaign organization.
Landis said that although a candidate has many
demands on his time, stress is a more important concern.
'There's a constant fear of some incredible blasting
statement about you across the front page of the paper,"
he said. "But it's part of the business. You learn to suffer
through the agony of living a public life."
Voting motives
But for all their time and money spent, why do we, in
the final analysis, elect them? There has been a great deal
of speculation and several studies on what people actually
vote for.
Fowler said the reasons people vote for a candidate
really haven't changed. He said it is a blend of three
things: the name, the vague thing called image portrayed
by media and a candidate's position on issues.
He said campaigns and voters are more issue-oriented
than they were 15 to 20 years ago.
Marsh said that although the media play an important
part in any campaign, nothing can take the place of face-to-face
meetings with constituents.
Hefner said that because of the nature of his district,
name recognition was very important. He said image is
more important to people who are not in special interest
groups which are concerned with specific issues.
Wesely said that he found during his campaign that
people wanted an idea of who he was and what he
believed first and then his stand on specific issues.
"I'd like to think people vote on issues," he said. "But
issues alone won't get you elected."
Democrats growing despite money restrictions
By Eric Peterson
Democrats in the state are reorganizing at the grass
roots level for the next election, said DiAnna Schimek,
state Democratic chairperson.
"I think the 1980 election was something of a shock,
but in the long run we may be stronger because of it,"
Schimek said. 'The results forced us to reorganize at a
more basic level, and re-evaluate some of our positions and
strategies-to just sit back and look at the situation for
once."
Schimek said the Democratic Partty has had better
than average success in the Lincoln area by building
up a following for Lincoln Democrats in the Nebraska
legislature.
"Part of the reason is that the activists, the people
who are most deeply involved, tend to be conservatives
in the Republican Party, while Democratic activists
tend to be liberal," she said. "And Lincoln is perhaps
the most liberal spot in the state." t
Schimek said another reason for the Democrats
strong base in Lincoln is that the state government is
located in the city. .
Francis Moul, state Democratic vice chairperson
and director of Maverick Media, a group of newspapers
in the state, agreed that Lincoln is of increasing import
ance to the Democratic Party. .
"It's interesting that for the first time weVe raised
more money from Lincoln and the first congressional
district than from Omaha," Moul said.
Area meetings set
Schimek said 18 area meetings are scheduled through
out Nebraska to update local Democrats on state-level
activities, suggest party activities for counties, distribute
information on precinct organization and formulate
new strategies.
The first series of such meetings was last spring. Linc
oln and Omaha areas meetings were in October, Schimek
said. The final series of informational meetings will be
in February and March.
Schimek said college student Involvement is very im
portant to the Democratic Party .
Several Nebraska students will go to the Hubert H.
Humphrey Student Leadership Conference in Washington,
D.C., Nov. 20 through 22, Schimek said.
The conference will feature training about political
campaigning with a series of workshops on issues, organ
ization and campaign strategies. Schimek said people
interested in the conference should call the state Demo
cratic office at 4754584.
The Democrats are the only party to nave a candidate
search committee, Moul said. The committee is respons
ible for finding candidates for legislative district chairper-
sons.
Schimek said the committee started earlier than usual,
right after the election, to gain more ground.
Conference upcoming
Moul said a list of potential and interested candidates
is compiled, after which the candidates are contacted, and
shown what services the party can provide. Moul said
there will be a conference Dec. 5 in Lincoln for all potent
ial candidates.
Money is the greatest difficulty facing a Democratic
candidate in the state, Moul said. "We just don't have
the access to the sources of funds the Republicans do."
Moul estimated that Gov. Charles Thone, a Republi
can, will spend $1 million on his re-election campaign.
Moul said the Democratic candidate who emerges from
the primary will have only about half that much to spend
at best.
The state Democratic organization doesnt have a
great deal of money, so candidates basically are respons
ible for raising their own funds, Moul said.
The Democrats have launched a direct mail appeal
in Lancaster County, but for the most part have to rely
on more traditional activities such as the JeffersonJack
son Day dinners, Moul said.
Moul agreed with Schimek that the Democrats are
rebuilding. "The Republicans don't have to rebuild.
They've got all the money and all the offices right
now."
James L. Roberts, UNL English instructor, is the only
faculty member on the Democratic state central commit
tee. Roberts said the committee is made up of one man
and one woman from each legislative district.
Farm programs and policies according to the Reagan
administration will be the major Democratic issues in the
next election, Roberts said.
"I think that it is natural for us to attach a high pri
ority to the major state university," he said.
Roberts said his state senator, Steve Fowler of the 27th
District, has consistently worked for UNL in the past.
"In the last election, Steve Fowler's opponent got
large donations from special interest groups, but Steve
Fowler's were mostly in the ten, fifteen, twenty dollar
category." Roberts said the rise of special interest poli
tics in the state is especially disturbing to Democrats.