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Challenge Your Candidates

April 19, 2005

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s election season again. You can tell because all those political signs are back, littering the street corners throughout the City.

A disturbing trend in politics is the tendency of candidates to misrepresent their experience or involvement in the City. We see this trend in all levels of government, but perhaps it is more pronounced in local elections.

Before I ran for City Council, I was active on the City’s economic development board. I served on the board for three years, the last of which I was the president. I was also the chairman of a Citizen’s Bond Review Committee, and the chairman of the campaign to pass bonds for a new government center, library expansion, and road improvements. I was active in the Chamber of Commerce, and volunteered as Treasurer for Keep Cedar Hill Beautiful. I even went to City Council meetings for more than a year before I ran for office. In short, I took it upon myself to become educated about Cedar Hill and its particular issues.

Unfortunately, not all candidates are informed or involved, and what’s worse, they don’t seem to care. They haven’t served on any boards. They don’t volunteer in any civic organizations. They don’t even attend City council meetings. How can a candidate honestly expect to represent citizens without any experience with or knowledge about the workings of the City?

Even more disheartening than an uninformed candidate is a disinterested candidate. If they don’t care enough to be involved prior to the campaign process, they are not going to care when the election fanfare fades away. Do you really want a candidate who doesn’t care enough to be involved?

Some candidates try to hide their inexperience by focusing on a single issue. By appearing informed on a single issue, their hope is that their lack of experience and knowledge on all the other City issues is not evident.

Cedar Hill is not a single issue City. Each council member must be informed about public safety, code enforcement, economic development, transportation, public works, planning and zoning, and finance, just to name a few.A candidate who focuses only on a single issue does the City and its citizens a disservice.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” When it comes to candidates, the opposite is also true.

During this campaign season, I encourage each voter to examine the qualifications of the candidate. If they claim to be a “community activist,” ask them what activities they have participated in, and judge for yourself if their experience qualifies them for City Council in Cedar Hill. If they spend most of their time talking about crime, ask them about their solutions to code enforcement, economic development, and transportation issues.

Challenge your candidates. If you don’t, no one will.

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