Luckily, the toughened up farm boys playing football made up in resiliency what they lacked in football skills, and I seldom rushed out to the field, so I got to spend much time learning the ins and outs of football coaching, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
The offensive coordinator always liked to refer to the rule of “thirds” when he called a play. One-third of the squad heard the play called in the huddle and executed it properly. One-third heard the play called in the huddle but did not properly execute their assignment. The final third did not hear the play at all! How do they execute? The offensive coordinator informed me they just “tend to go along with the flow of the play.” (Better hope the OC did not call a reverse!)
This analogy applies to elections, particularly local ones. Assuming correctly that on a very clear day one-third of the eligible voters will show up in a local election, one can divide those folks so moved into three similar categories. One-third followed all the candidates, took the time to personally know them and weigh the issues and qualifications and then thoughtfully cast their vote. One-third knew the candidates and the issues, but unfortunately they based their vote on some heuristic and abbreviated process; choosing one candidate because they registered and ran on the Republican side, and opposing another because they believed them too “religious” for their taste.
But what about the final third; the ones who know little or nothing about the candidates OR the issues, or perhaps even the purpose of the office at stake, who out of some high school civics class sense of duty drag themselves to the polls or return their mail-in ballots? How do they decide and cast their votes?
Quite frankly, election professionals who work to get candidates elected tell me they fear this final group most of all. Like the football players that did not hear the call, they can move completely at random and disrupt the play. Ironically, when elections don’t turn out the way everyone expected, one can blame a heavier-than-planned turnout in most cases.
But the political professional seeks to earn their keep by reducing the chance of a random outcome. How to do this? The professional must figure out how to manipulate this one-third of the voting population efficiently and quickly since they already know they will NOT spend the time to make a complete and informed decision.
Enter the new horizon of political entrepreneurship: The “slate mailer.” The perfect duck and dodge for political manipulation. Let us say I possess a laser printer, a MacBook, a high-speed internet connection, and a creative mind. I tell political candidates for a certain race or two that I will produce a mailer for their area under the title “California Law Enforcement for Good Government.” They can include material in the mailer, for a fee, and I will sell space on a first come, first serve basis. At the appointed time, I distribute the mailer in the appropriate ZIP codes and the one-third think: “I like law enforcement,” and cast their vote accordingly. Sound crazy? It’s not when you consider the growth of slate mailers in California, and NO ONE spends much money on something that does not work.
Slate mailers pushed into Santa Clarita’s local races over the weekend with two identical targeted mailers; one titled “Citizens for Good Government” and the other “The Team for Democratic Voters.” Naturally, all the candidates featured register as Republicans. This upset some Democratic recipients of the mailer who believe it misleads.
Well, of course it misleads! That is the whole point. But a closer examination of the mailer reveals no falsehood, other than a strange picture of Rachel Neville. A CLOSE reading shows it did not come from the Democratic Party or any arm of the Democratic party. Focus on the word CLOSE. No one intended this mailer for the careful reader, only for the voter not paying attention.
How to fight this type of manipulation? A slippery slope indeed. Regulations for “truth in political advertising” require an enforcement bureaucracy, and how quickly can people politicize this bureaucracy suppressing genuine political speech for all manner of reasons? (Check the Wikipedia entry under “Alberto Gonzales.”) Also, these mailers come late in the cycle, definitely forestalling any questioning by candidates left out.
What to do? I fear that to maintain a robust discussion, we must tolerate the slate mailers, and hope the entrepreneurs that profit slightly from them eventually move on.
Tim Myers Commentary
Tim Myers is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Landscape Development, Inc. He has been writing on a wide variety of local topics for more than 11 years. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.