I’ve done something 25 times over the last quarter-century that I expected I would do for the 26th time this summer.
Unfortunately or not – insert your own view – it’s not gonna happen.
The subject is political endorsements for candidates running in Jefferson County primary and general elections, which happen in a two-year cycle, in even-numbered years.
Typically, readers could have expected endorsements to be included in this issue, the last one before the Aug. 4 primary.
It was a tough decision to sit the primary out, but one that made sense to us. Mostly because of COVID-19, we’re taking a break in what has been a long tradition, dating back to the Nov. 8 general election in 1994.
That was less than three months after the Leader opened its doors, but we set our standard then for all the major elections since.
We always publish a voters guide, inviting contested candidates in county and state races to participate. We review candidates’ answers to our surveys, look over their political advertising, and sometimes call off-the-record sources to get insight into a candidate’s skill set and behavior when the public wasn’t looking.
Then, meeting in our small conference room, we conduct in-person interviews with the candidates, in what we have always considered the most important plank in our decision-making toward endorsements.
Even with masks and hand sanitizer, in-person interviews seemed unsafe to us this year, and probably would to the candidates as well. Zooming would not have provided the face-to-face, give-and-take we’re accustomed to, so we bowed to reality.
Note to readers: Our Voters Guide was prepared, as usual, and is available on our website, myleaderpaper.com, or can be mailed to you, upon request, by sending a self-addressed envelope with two stamps on it, or picked up at the Leader office, 503 N. Second St., Festus. Hurry, though. Aug. 4 is near.
Over the years, we took our endorsements seriously, although we suspected many of our readers were less than impressed.
Sometimes, readers thanked us, but sometimes we got equal opportunity reaming for being a Democratic rag or a Republican screed, take your pick. One time, we endorsed a Constitution Party candidate. Miraculously, I don’t recall anyone complaining about it.
It took a lot of time to complete the Editorial Board interviews, with my real job always just outside the closed door, breathing down my neck. But I found the experience rewarding every single time.
We reaped story ideas so often, I kept a separate notebook to jot them down, and there was no substitute for meeting and greeting the hopefuls (complete with handshakes – remember those?).
Sometimes the decision-making was excruciating. I recall, in particular, the first time my friend from childhood, Ron Casey, ran for the state House of Representatives in 2000. A former county commissioner, he was running in a field of five for the Democratic Party nomination for the then-103rd District seat.
Of course, we liked him. Everyone liked, make that loved, “Brother Ron,” who died too young at age 61 in 2014.
But he was facing stiff competition from Linda Ellis Schepers, who had served capably on the Jefferson College Board of Trustees and was focusing her campaign on education and job creation.
Ron, on the other hand, had a proven track record in constituent service and showed his integrity by refusing to take campaign donations to avoid conflicts of interest.
In the end, we went with a co-endorsement, listing each candidate’s strengths and asking readers to make their own choice.
My heart squeezed at the thought of hurting Ron’s feelings over it, but he wrote one of the warmest, most gracious thank-you notes I ever received in my career. I found the note when I cleaned out my desk a few weeks ago, and it went into my purse. I’m looking at it right now, emotion in play.
Ron won that race and served until term-limited. He never lost his calling for helping people, and showed leadership, too – like when he decried, strenuously, Jefferson County’s status as the only county in the state to be carved into three congressional districts after the 2010 Census.
There’s lots of talk out there in the world of journalism that endorsements should become a relic of the past. A Pew Research Center study in 2008 reported that 70 percent of the public pay them no attention, and more recent thinking is that endorsements serve only to alienate people, not convince them.
We’re considering those points here at the Leader, but have made no decision about future elections. You’re welcome to tell us your opinion; we’re always interested to know what readers think.
And now, I have to share one opinion with you. This is an opinion piece, after all.
Speaking for myself, and not the Leader, I believe voters in the state’s Senate District 3, which takes in the southern half of Jefferson County, should support Republican Elaine Gannon of De Soto on Aug. 4.
There are five smaller counties in the district – population 173,483 – and for the last two terms, the seat was held by term-limited Gary Romine of Farmington.
I couldn’t get a number, but my guess is the district contains about a third of Jefferson County’s 225,000 population. We’re the largest voting bloc in the 3rd, and we deserve to have local representation.
Gannon, a retired De Soto School District teacher and coach, has provided stellar service to her constituents as a state representative for eight years. She stands up strong for education and labor, and has all the conservative credentials many Jefferson County residents admire. The winner of the Republican primary will run unopposed in the November general election.
There. Turns out I just couldn’t get that endorsement thing out of my blood.
