One thing is clear: No shortcut to being a good citizen
On a recent weekday evening, about 60 grown- ups shifted noisily in the wooden auditorium seats atWestbury High School. Onstage, Houston ISD school board presidentMike Lunceford gave a detached analysis of the proposed school bonds, sounding every bit like the engineer that he is. Aided by slides of leaking roofs, cracked floors and flooded walkways, Lunceford reminded his audience of Houston’s mercurial weather, as the images showed the havoc wreaked by hurricanes and drought.
The presentation was skillful and authoritative, despite an annoying buzz on the sound system that competed with Lunceford’s voice.
Someone asked: Would the bonds be used to build a new auditorium atWestbury? Lunceford consulted with a staff member and they both agreed probably not, because the acoustics were still pretty good.
“What? What!” People cried in unison, half in astonishment, and half because they honestly couldn’t hear what was just said.
Welcome to the old- fashioned Town Hall, where neighbors show up and learn about their government in a spin- free zone. Face to face with real elected officials, the folks who participated atWestbury got unfiltered information, undistorted
by campaign rhetoric. I came because I was skeptical about HISD’s historic bond request, but I left in awe of the people who rolled up their sleeves to do the hard work required by a democracy.
We live in the Information Age, and yet the bombardment of “facts” leaves us confused. The audience atWestbury High understands this truth: There is no shortcut to being a good citizen. You have to showup.
We’re steeped in political noise: emails, tweets, radio and television ads, the mailbox. But are we better informed?
This election cycle, we’ve learned a lot about what doesn’t constitute solid information. Political ads can lie
Campaign ads are notoriously unreliable: Witness Rep. Sarah Davis’ campaign flier that asserts an old lie about education cuts made by the Texas Legislature. As a reader wrote to me, Davis could be excused for voting for the current budget if she was at least honest that it deeply cut public education to avoid dipping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund. Instead, she attempted to dupe voters with the disproved notion that public schools got more money, not less.
Party labels tell you only somuch. This year, voters who pull a lever in Harris County for either party run the risk of electing incompetent candidates. As I have written before, the Democratic Party nominee for Harris County district attorney, Lloyd Oliver, has been charged ( but not convicted) of serious legal shenanigans. A perennial candidate, he is not qualified to be district attorney.
Ditto the Republican Party’s nominee for sheriff, Louis Guthrie. A former deputy, Guthrie was fired by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for using his badge to bully employees at a car wash he suspected of stealing from his wife. A law enforcement badge represents a solemn trust with the public, not the right to settle personal scores.
But according to a poll by Rice University political science professor Robert Stein, a healthy number of Harris County voters have figured this out. According to Stein, Republican crossover voters have boosted Democratic Sheriff Adrian Garcia’s re- election chances to 51 percent. ( The poll showed only 32 percent of voters favored Guthrie.) Polls a mixed message
On the other hand, GOP district attorney candidateMike Anderson is polling at 41 percent, with Oliver at 35 percent, and 19 percent undecided. According to the poll, Garcia gets a 10 percent crossover gain, while Anderson gets 6.5 percent.
“It’s ‘ A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,’ ” Stein joked. “A small flower of bipartisanship is blooming.”
Why would Garcia get more crossover voters than Anderson? Stein speculated that “Republicans are more savvy voters” because they are older and don’tmove as much.
His cumulative polling sends amixed message for Democrats: Their influence is gaining in Harris County ( Stein says President Barack Obama will win by 4 points), but they don’t reliably participate in every election cycle.
At theWestburymeeting, Lunceford informed the crowd that the school board would be seeking neighborhood input for construction projects, and he urged them to participate. “They have a right to ask questions,” he told me. “It’s their tax dollars. And we listen to people.”
Woody Allen once said that “eighty percent of success is just showing up.” His observation certainly applies to elections, and to good government.
patti. hart@ chron. com