Where I Stand: It’s a long and rough road

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

LOCAL MEN AND WOMEN are lining up and filing to participate in local, state and federal elections. The opportunity to file will continue until June 4.

Candidates throwing their hat in the ring for the first time are taking steps just as big as those taken by Sen. Bob Dole, Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan and President Clinton at the national level. Not one of them is a cinch to win election as long as somebody files against them. Nothing is certain in American politics other than some will win and others will lose.

The vast majority of people willing to sacrifice the money, time and effort to gain public office are good citizens with ideas about how to better serve all of us. Most of them, even if elected, will find many of their dreams unfilled because their goals are unrealistic. Congressional candidates, if elected, soon find that they have little to say about matters that rest in the hands of a judge or School Board member.

Some people file for office every election year and never win. They must be hoping that lightning will strike the legitimate candidate and they will win by default. Others file only once, and during the heat of the summer decide the end results won't justify the sweat and sore feet the campaign demands. Nevertheless, most candidates keep plugging along with the dream of someday entering office with the opportunity to make this a better place to live.

We may not agree with every person who holds elected office, but this doesn't make them bad people. For example, I raise serious questions about people who run for office on a single issue. Single-issue officeholders usually last only one term. If they aren't wise enough to broaden their base they are bounced by dissatisfied constituents.

People who serve us in elected office deserve better than they have been receiving from the media and voters during recent years. Do media attacks come first and then the voters take up the negative shouts? Are the voters fed up and trigger attacks by the media which reflect their views? I'd have to say that it's about six of one and a half dozen of the other. Each case is different, but both the media and voters have a responsibility to shine lights on any action taken by public officials. Today's political climate sometimes results in unfair criticism of elected officials.

So who are these people who are filing as candidates today and hope to take office late this fall or early next year?

It has been my good fortune to work with elected and appointed public officials at all levels of government. Some I liked and trusted and others left me with a feeling of emptiness, but seldom did I find them to be dishonest or corrupt. Few were lazy and a vast majority worked longer and harder than their neighbors in the private sector. Also they were more likely to gracefully accept constructive criticism than were their counterparts in the private sector.

Several years ago I read an article by Canadian Michael Melling that should be read by every office seeker before they start their campaign. Melling gives the following reasons people shouldn't run for office.

* Life in the fishbowl: Every move you make is scrutinized. Peccadillos, personal and professional, are fair game. You and your family become public property; your relatives and friends had better get used to reading about their most private problems at breakfast.

* Fun with figures: As far as the media and your constituents are concerned, you are grossly overpaid. Never mind that you make a fraction of what your equivalents do in the private sector.

* It does not matter: If you keep your campaign promises, you are an ideologue, fanatic or fiscal fritterer; if you do not, you are a hypocrite. If you do not consult widely, you have "got blinders on." If you do, you are "governing by referendum" or "afraid to lead."

* If it's Tuesday, this must be Kenora: Give your family and friends a rain check. You will not be seeing much of them. You do not have a life; you have a schedule. On a weekday, you are in cabinet, caucus and legislative meetings all day (and sometimes all night). This is followed in the evening by a public meeting or a rubber-chicken dinner with a community group in your district (and the obligatory handshaking until midnight). Then a few hours of fitful sleep spent worrying about what the media will have decided you screwed up today.

On weekends, you meet with disgruntled constituents all day before feasting once again on rubber chicken.

* Twenty-five thousand of my closest friends: You will be forgiven if you wonder how you got so "popular." Everyone and his dog wants to see you, and as far as they are concerned, they have a right to. Loquacious lobbyists, slick solicitors and craven consultants slap you on the back as if you went to summer camp together. Bus rides, visits to the corner store and having one too many with dinner present a new challenge: You never know who is going to waltz right up and appropriate "a few moments of your time."

* Is that a rug I see under your feet? "Job security" is a phrase from a foreign lexicon. Should you lose your job, do not expect a homecoming parade from your grateful constituents or the thanks of all your erstwhile friends and colleagues. You will fade like an old letter.

One final bit of advice from a guy who has been there. Don't count on every promise of campaign funds to become a reality, and if you lose, expect to pay your own bills. Those who make financial promises will be hard to find.

Good luck to the men and women willing to walk that long and rough road that leads to public office.

MIKE O'CALLAGHAN, a former two-term governor of Nevada, is executive editor of the Las Vegas SUN.

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