It’s that time of year again: We’re all opening our mailboxes to find glossy campaign flyers telling us why we should or should not vote for this or that candidate or ballot issue on Tuesday.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I barely glance at them before tossing them into the recycling bin — usually. I prefer to make my voting decisions based on newspaper interviews, town halls and debates, and publicly available records.
But there was one that caught my eye early last month — and it caught many of yours, too. A mailer sent out the first week of July made some very alarming claims regarding incumbent 154th District Rep. Lisa Durnell’s voting record. As you likely know, Durnell is up for reelection, challenged in Tuesday’s primary by former 155th District Rep. Travis Smith.
In any case, my very first reaction was to look at the fine print at the bottom of the flyer. Who paid for this ad? And if it’s not someone local, why do they care?
Indeed, it wasn’t someone local. It was We the People Priorities PAC, whose treasurer, Jefferson City attorney Marc Ellinger, bore a name I recognized from my days living near Kansas City, but I couldn’t quite place why. I’m not one to abide an unanswered question well, so I started digging. I found out why I remembered his name — he’d had a hand in influencing Kansas City political issues about 20 years ago — but the more I learned, the more questions I found I had.
This all started on a Friday afternoon. Within 24 hours, I found out that I wasn’t the only one with questions. In fact, my inbox was full of people asking questions. By that Monday morning, I was sitting down with Durnell in a coffee shop for an off-the-record conversation in hopes of gaining clarity and insight. That led to further research points and an on-the-record email exchange. I’m grateful to our representative for her assistance and perspective — the three-part series that began last weekend and concludes today would not have happened without her. Nor would it have happened without her opponent, Smith, who indulged me with a phone interview this past Monday.
See, it’s not my job — or the newspaper’s, for that matter — to defend a candidate or choose a side. But when outside money tries to influence the decisions made locally, it is my job to shine a spotlight on the paper trail. We may not endorse candidates, but we do staunchly defend our readers’ right to make informed decisions based on real information, using facts. Not brightly colored glossy pieces of paper with alarmist rhetoric printed in large, eye-catching font.
What was neat to me about the whole process of interviewing Durnell and Smith and looking into their legislative history, though, was how much they both have in common. Despite their policy and background differences, they both truly are a product of the Ozarks, and I can certainly understand why it might be hard for some people to choose their best candidate on Tuesday.
Both of them call for transparency. Both of them say they want folks to know where the money comes from. Both of them are adamant that the only people they’re beholden to are the people of Howell County. Both of them want their constituents to go to the official sources to find out if their votes and financial disclosures are in alignment with individual and community values.
In other words, when it comes to outside special interests, they’re in agreement that everyone should be skeptical — local control matters. Local voices matter, regardless of the candidate you choose.
But here’s the thing that really gets me: The more I researched these flyers and the entities behind them, the more my feathers ruffled. I came here as an outsider and worked my way into the trusted inner circle of this community by listening and learning. As a result, I’ve become very protective of the Ozarkian ethos, and I understand and respect why folks don’t much trust outsiders here.
Outside political action committees can drop hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and influence rural elections that have nothing to do with them, but why? Well, there are probably lots of reasons, but the one that stands out to me is that they think rural voters are stupid.
They really think you all can be swayed and misled by catchy buzzwords, outlandish statements and scary headlines. They underestimate you, Howell County.
But I know better than that. That’s why we took the time to dig into the story and give you the information you need to make up your own minds — including where and how to find public records such as Missouri Ethics Commission filings and House Journal roll calls.
The primary elections are just three days away. Polls open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m. Check out the voter resources on page 4 of today’s paper, and commit to doing your part to make sure that outsiders don’t get to choose who represents us.
That’s our job.
See you at the ballot box!
