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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > August > 19 > Entry
Editorial: Candidates should learn, not simply talk
As fall elections approach, voters will hear candidates talking a lot.
That’s why it was refreshing last week to see a room full of candidates and officeholders from the Dayton area listening instead.
People often run for office because they believe deeply in certain public policies, but usually their passion is devoted to a relatively small number of issues. Candidates can’t be expected to know everything, and, on some matters, even the most informed office-seeker may know little or nothing.
Serious candidates bury themselves in books and policy papers to get up to speed on issues that they’ll have to make decisions about and that are outside of their experience.
It’s a lot of work, and it requires being able to separate credible, thoughtful sources and interest groups from those that distort information or put their own specific (maybe selfish) interests above the greater good.
Organizations and people who have a reputation for getting their facts right and being honest brokers can get a leg up in advancing their agendas by getting to candidates while they’re still on the campaign trail, before they take office.
A prime example was a meeting co-sponsored by ReadySetSoar, a group that advocates for better early-childhood education, and Voices for Ohio’s Children, which promotes children’s health and safety.
Amy Swanson, executive director of Voices for Ohio’s Children, said her group got a private grant to organize the candidate briefing and modeled the event after one held by the United Way in Cincinnati.
About 15 candidates who came to the Montgomery County Educational Service Center heard presentations on improving child care and pre-school; streamlining the juvenile justice system; and improving access to health care. The presentations were followed by discussions among the candidates and local leaders working on those issues.
Ms. Swanson, who travels the state meeting with candidates and officeholders one-on-one to advocate for legislative changes, said the briefing is a better approach.
“This was local constituents sharing information with potential decision-makers,” she said. “They were making connections with their constituents and with each other and, hopefully, coming away armed with good information for making better decisions.”
Consider just one issue Ms. Swanson’s group is pushing: “express-lane eligibility” for uninsured children.
Ohio has about 110,000 poor children who qualify for health care coverage through Medicaid, but who don’t receive care because their parents haven’t signed them up. Paperwork, it turns out, keeps children from seeing doctors. Families must show proof of their income to document that it is low enough to qualify for benefits. That can be a hassle.
But, commonly, a family that qualifies for, but has not enrolled in, Medicaid is receiving benefits from other programs that also require proof of income, such as a school lunch program or food stamps. Those programs are also state-run, which means a different arm of government has the information needed to make enrollment in Medicaid simple.
Advocates for children want to standardize collection of poverty information and make it instantly available by computer to any poverty-related service. This would make signing poor kids up far easier and likely reduce the number of uninsured.
Gov. Ted Strickland has endorsed “express-lane eligibility,” and when Ms. Swanson explains it to legislators and candidates, they usually agree that it makes sense. But implementation is complex and potentially costly, requiring computer upgrades in state offices across Ohio.
Helping candidates understand the complicated problems they might one day be able to help fix is an investment in them and their educations. More often than not, they’ll learn — in advance — that nothing is ever simple and that there is plenty of work for them to do if they’re serious about doing their jobs.
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