Editor:
I read with interest your revealing profile (“Congress: The Dating Game,” March 15) of multimillionaire congressional candidate Stacey Lawson, but I wasn’t planning to comment publicly until I read about her offensive voting record on the NCJ blog. Apparently she only voted four times during a five-year period in which there were 12 elections. She didn’t even vote in the 2008 presidential election! Worse still is her excuse: She said she “felt disenfranchised.”
I find it insulting that a wealthy corporate executive chose to describe her decision not to vote in that way. Disenfranchisement is being deprived of your right to vote. Generally, low-income and minority voters are the targets, as was the case in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. I have heard nothing that indicates Lawson had a legitimate reason to feel disenfranchised — she simply chose not to vote.
We should never forget those who fought and died for the rights we now enjoy. As a local elected official, I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without the courageous efforts of the suffragettes. Lawson’s repeated refusal to vote shows a lack of respect for our history. As a businessperson and a congressional candidate, she wouldn’t be where she is today if it were not for those brave women.
Lawson’s attitude toward civic participation is typical of wealthy vanity candidates. Like failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, Lawson didn’t vote when she was an executive raking in the cash. Now that she has relocated from San Francisco to our congressional district to launch her political career, she’s tapping her corporate connections in an effort to buy the election.
I’m supporting Norman Solomon, an independent progressive Democrat for Congress. He has been in the trenches for decades, doing the hard work of organizing for social and economic justice. In the interest of full disclosure, my partner is a paid field coordinator for the Solomon campaign, but this letter was inspired by Lawson’s actions. I am personally offended by her disdain for voting rights. Solomon’s commitment and integrity make him the best person for the job and the only viable candidate we can trust.
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Eureka
This article appears in Flash Fiction 2012.
and how many elections did you vote in during that same time frame?
I voted in all of them. I have voted in every election since I turned 18.
I should add though that for some reason the county’s voter records show that I didn’t vote in two elections.
This has always been upsetting to me, but I don’t know how you correct it after the fact (I didn’t learn about the error until several years later).
I don’t know what it means that my votes are missing. Does that mean they were not counted? Maybe it is just a data entry error. Most people don’t get see the voter rolls (I just saw them when I started working on campaigns) which makes me wonder how often this happens.
I truly applaud your dedication to the voting process! It is stronger than mine. I am personally not convinced that a candidate missing only a couple years voting in a 24 year voting time is enough to brand them so harshly. By your analogy, if Stacey Lawson was poor and ethnic, it would be acceptable in your book for her to feel her vote didn’t matter? My decision is out yet, but I find her sincere and I don’t find Stacey Lawson to be another Meg Whitman.
We need to elect someone who can most effectively make a difference for us in Washington.
My vote will likely be for a woman candidate. The U.S. has one of the most gender-biased Governments in all the World. Even Iraq has a more equitable representation of woman in Government.
There’s even less outrage at Humboldt State University were 90% of students never vote in campus elections.
With so many students receiving honorary doctorates in apathy, there’s little notice by campus administrators and professors.
U.S. graduates will go-forth to join the 50% of eligible Americans who never participate.
The worst tyrannies in history were the ones that no one knew were already in force.
IMHO. There is a distinction between someone running for a job in politics being apathetic in their voting record and those not running for the job.
And those making this very legitimate distinction and concern are few!
It is a non-issue for half a nation that refuses participation…and for most voters who typically miss many elections, (ever seen the voter rolls?).
It’s a national disgrace that receives no media attention, ie, it doesn’t exist.
Keep those election ad-revenues flowing!!! Another “illegitimate election”? Who says?
I agree it is a disgrace for a career politician not to vote. But for a frustrated citizen? I kind of like that Lawson woke up and said if I feel my vote doesn’t count, then I will start to make it count.
It would be great to wake up the youth to first know they can make a difference together in the voting process. That’s how Obama made it … very high youth appeal. We need to encourage more good and capable young people, who are frustrated, to get involved in politics itself.
I can’t stand when politicians have no other career advancement choice than to run for another office, especially when they stopped caring or their efficacy and skills are limited.
And the “good old boys” network has got to stop … seriously. I hate to say it, but women are still an oppressed minority in American politics. America has one of the worst gender-equal governments in the whole world. Why is that? It is just getting plain embarrassing. About time America needs to practice what it preaches to the world.
I wish all the women candidates who authentically care and are capable, the most success this year in elections!
Let’s make US congress and Senate better than just 17% women!! It is supposed to be a REPRESENTATIVE government. Let’s finally get some respect in the World.