Look Closely at Campaign Mailers - they are often a Reflection of a Candidate's Ethics and Maturity

So, what do area home loss rates, bankruptcy filings, poor retail sales and a world-wide economic recession have to do with Carl Weimer's bid for re-election?

Absolutely nothing!



But that didn't stop Michelle Luke from attempting to harness voter anger regarding the world wide financial crisis to cast her opponent in a negative light.

Is this ethical? No. It's a childish bid for voter support in an effort to gain power for one's self.

In a democracy, (even a representative democracy such as ours) each person is supposed to count equally. In a perfect world, this would mean that wealthy people and special interests would not have more access to politicians that regular citizens. How does one get more access? Through big campaign contributions.

Laws governing campaign finance are designed to prevent inequities and should not only be respected in letter, but also in spirit.

So, why are ethical campaigns important?

Judy Nadler and Mirian Schulman, who wrote a Campaign Ethics article for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics,  tell us, " in practice, political campaigns represent one of the most likely forums to bring out the worst in people. Many candidates seem to subscribe to the theory that almost anything is allowable in order to get elected, because once in office, they will be outstanding public servants."

"Because once in office, they will be outstanding public servants." Nothing could be further from the truth. Any candidate who attempts to manipulate the public with hit pieces and personal attacks against opponents, family members or supporters lacks the maturity and character critical to providing fair and balanced representation in government.

Obviously, a candidate's record is fair game. Indeed, ads or mailers that contrast the positions or voting records or endorsements of candidates can help voters make informed decisions. But such advertising must be distinguished from unfair attacks or hit pieces. An ad campaign becomes unethical, if it employs name calling, blame, innuendo, or stereotyping.

Campaign laws have an ethical subtext: they seek to make campaigns and the government produced by those campaigns fair.

How?

By ensuring access to government: Laws governing campaign finance are meant to prevent the wealthy from purchasing more access to politicians than ordinary citizens through big campaign contributions.

Donations that are too big, or seek quid pro quo, should be returned to the contributor immediately. Elected officials and candidates have an obligation to demonstrate publicly that they can represent all of the members of a community, fairly. Without bias.

Integrity: The financing of a campaign should be transparent. Honest candidates report all campaign expenses, which include any and all efforts that are made on the candidate's behalf in support of the campaign. Stealth candidates who attempt to hide support from special interests, or wealthy patrons should be exposed publicly and rejected.

Freedom of choice: Everyone has the right to support the candidate of his/her choice. However, candidates should not hide campaign support or pretend that they are not acquainted with each other, when in fact they are.

In closing, a political campaign is designed to highlight the positions and character of the candidates so that voters can make an informed decision about who they want to represent them.

Any tactic that inteferes with this clarity, including deception, disinformation, personal attacks, unbalanced financial influence, etc. is considered by many Americans to be unethical.

This would hold true even if the candidate believes that he/she has the best interests of the electorate at heart.

Latte Republic publishes under the *fair use doctrine and does not hesitate to use publicly distributed campaign materials to demonstrate the difference between ethical and unethical political advertising.

* This right (Fair Use Doctrine) is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright law (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” The doctrine of fair use has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years and has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.