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November 01, 2005
Why endorse?
During the last couple of weeks, the editorial board of the Monitor has interviewed 23 candidates for Concord’s city council and school board. Beginning Thursday, we’ll run editorials endorsing five candidates for the council and three for school board.
People often ask: Why endorse? Shouldn't elections be purely the voters’ prerogative, without the Monitor seeking to influence the outcome? Aren't endorsements obsolete – a throwback to the days when newspapers were party organs and any city of Concord’s size had at least one newspaper for each major party?
I think endorsements are a logical extension of what we do each day in the editorial columns: render opinions on matters of public interest. We are indeed trying to influence the election, but our editorials always seek to guide public opinion. Readers, of course, are free to skip or ignore the Monitor’s advice. They often have.
Our most important preparation for the endorsements is the interviews with the candidates. These are getting-to-know-you conversations that focus on the major issues facing the city and the schools. We are trying to determine whether the candidates, many of whom have never held public office, have the potential to grow into the job and why they hold the views they do.
One of our most important functions as an editorial board is to follow the council and the school board closely on an ongoing basis and to comment on their actions. Regular readers of editorials know our biases. For those who might not, we try to spell them out in the endorsements.
This year, for example, we’re wary of city council candidates who oppose the Langley Parkway. We think the appropriation for the parkway is likely to come before the council again in the future. In our view, the project is vital for the city and for two of its important institutions, Concord Hospital and St. Paul’s School. The years of delay caused by a few last-standers should not be rewarded with a council that will undo the super-majority necessary to make the parkway happen. We have editorialized in favor of the parkway for years, so this position should come as no surprise.
For both the council and the school board, Concord is blessed once again this year with a good field of candidates. There is little glory in these jobs – they are truly voluntary public service. Voters citywide will choose from among seven candidates for two at-large council seats and seven for three seats on the school board (the eighth, Pasquale Alosa, has dropped out). Wards 1, 2 and 7 have contested races for the council.
Whether or not city voters agree with the Monitor’s endorsements, they owe these candidates a good turnout next Tuesday.
Posted by Mike Pride at November 1, 2005 11:59 AM
Comments
Recommendation for the future, for free, as long as you give me some credit.
The internet allows for near-unlimited amounts of source documentation, even as your newspaper must be limited in size.
Why not put the interview questions and answers online in future years?
It'd be more of a public service than a profit center, but that's OK by the public ;)
-Josh Narins
Lebanon, NH
Posted by: JS Narins at November 1, 2005 07:21 PM
why not some mention of the races in the newspaper BEFORE you endorse? where is your coverage on who is running for the ward and at-large seats? where is your introductions of the people running BEFORE you endorse?
where is your coverage on the school board candidates? one of your reporters covered a forum at the kimball school but there hasn't been anything else in the newspaper. where are the profiles and pictures of the candidates? where are the articles of them attending events, forums, door-knocking, etc.?
why not allow us, the reader, to take a look at your interviews with the candidates, profiles and pictures of them campaigning, and answers to your questions BEFORE you endorse?
your lack of information about the races limits the public's ability to know what is going on and who these people are. your coverage has been pathetic, at best, and you wonder why no one gives a damn about city elections and why the public is so ill-informed.
Posted by: MIA at November 2, 2005 01:02 PM