Ohio political candidates ignore test

PROJECT VOTE SMART
Politicians mum, fear poll will backfire
By Jim Siegel and Cathy Candisky
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Candidates for the Ohio legislature have set a dubious record this year: They are the worst in the nation at telling voters their opinions about issues such as taxes, abortion, education and guns.
Both Democratic and Republican leaders are happy about it; they encourage candidates to withhold the information.
A record-low 9 percent of candidates filled out the biennial surveys by Project Vote Smart, a widely respected nonpartisan national group that tries to provide vital information to people before they cast their votes.
Among Ohio's congressional candidates, 34 percent participated, a 22-point drop from two years ago. Neither GOP gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell nor Democratic hopeful Ted Strickland answered the survey.
Project Vote Smart began
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surveying congressional candidates in 1992 and state legislative candidates in 1996. The Dispatch is a partner with the group.
For many years, Ohio's response rate in both categories was higher than the national average. But since 2000, it's plunged, here and elsewhere.
Adelaide Kimball, a senior adviser and founding board member for the group, said it's a disturbing trend.
"We were told that candidates were being cautioned by party officials, campaign advisers and caucus leaders to not participate," Kimball said.
"We hear things like ?'It's not our job to educate. It's our job to win.' Candidates are marketing themselves more like boxes of cereal.
"It's no way to run a democracy. You can't keep your opinions from your opponent and inform voters. … The candidates are going to hit each other over the head with anything they can. What are we supposed to do, stop asking them for any information? "
But in what looks like an innocuous survey from a respected group, Dean Hernandez sees a loaded weapon.

The Democratic candidate in northern Franklin County's 21 st House District remembers all too well what happened the last time a Democrat running for that seat filled out the Project Vote Smart survey.
The 2002 GOP commercials blared: "Tax Hike Tyack." Mailings declared that Lori Tyack "has a plan to raise taxes."
Tyack had never held public office, much less voted on a tax increase. But she answered on the survey that if taxes had to be raised, she favored slightly increasing corporate and sales taxes.
The GOP attack ads failed to mention that Tyack also said she favored lowering income and property taxes.
She lost.
"There's nervousness of being the next Lori Tyack," Hernandez said. "Democratic legislative candidates have all heard that story. It's like they hand a loaded gun to your opponent."
Project Vote Smart ?- www.votesmart.org ?- strives to give voters one place to look up a candidate's biographical information, voting records and campaign-finance data.
A key part of the information is the National Political Awareness Test, an 11-question survey that asks lawmakers to give their opinions on issues such as taxes, abortion, education and guns.
Scott Borgemenke, chief of staff for House Speaker Jon A. Husted and a veteran campaign consultant, said surveys too often simplify complex issues and are "used for evil, not good."
"People want to say they're at home on the Internet looking at Project Vote Smart to decide who they're going to vote for state rep," Borgemenke said.
"Quite frankly, that is a fairy-tale world. They're using it so they can pull down whether you checked yes or no in a box and pay for a mail piece that says you're out of touch."
Kevin J. Coughlin, of Cuyahoga Falls, was the only Senate Republican seeking re-election to fill out the survey. He is running in one of the few swing Senate districts in the state, so he hardly expects re-election to come easy.
But in his 10 years as a legislator, Coughlin said, he has always been happy to answer surveys and is not afraid of the political fallout.
"It's important for voters to get an idea of where we stand on issues legislators face at the Statehouse," he said. "My philosophy has been not to hide and to not withhold information."
Coughlin's opponent, Democrat Judy Hanna, did not complete the survey. Neither did Kevin Bacon, the Republican running against Hernandez, who also said he worries about his opponent using the answers against him.
Likewise, Sam Shamansky, a congressional candidate from Bexley, passed on the questionnaire. His adviser, Dale Butland, said the questions were poorly worded.
"One question under the heading of international aid (asked the candidate) to check or not check: ?'Aid should be eliminated for any nation of documented human-rights abuses.' The obvious question is, documented by whom? " Butland said. "If you checked that, would the United States fall into that category because of incidents like Abu Ghraib?"
Shamansky, he said, would prefer to discuss such issues in a series of public debates with Republican Pat Tiberi in which the candidates could explain their positions.
Tiberi, of Genoa Township, did not respond to the questionnaire, either.