(This letter published in The Republic Oct. 2.)
From: Kermet Merl Key
Columbus
I did not plan to vote this election. I saw no difference between the conservative Republicans and the blue-dog Democrats on my ballot. After almost a year trying to convince our school board to use the hand wand metal detectors they had been given from the state and in accordance with the Indiana School Board Association, I found that like nearly all our elected leaders they were not interested in what you or I had to say unless asked for comment in the local newspaper. Having once been elected as a Democrat to my township trustee advisory board, I no longer wished to participate in the tragedy/comedy that is our local politics.
Imagine my surprise when I came home on Saturday, Sept. 21 to find an “Elaine Wagner for City Council” sign in my yard. I had been at work all day and no one had contacted me. I asked my wife if anyone had spoken to her and she was just as surprised to discover that someone had put a sign in our yard without her knowledge while she was home. I took a picture of the sign and posted it to Facebook. Soon a friend in the Shadow Creek subdivision said the same thing happened to him and that his wife had thought he did it. I contacted Bartholomew County Democratic Chairman Bob Hyatt and he said that he guessed “that they used canvass data from 2018 where people said they were agreeable to a sign.” There were many signs for other candidates throughout Columbus on Saturday, but only Elaine Wagner’s was in my yard. Odd, because even as a Democrat, I voted for her Republican opponent in 2015.
This is emblematic of our local leadership, the two-party system, and the current state of our politics. Make no mistake, Elaine Wagner’s current opponent, Jim Hartsock, hasn’t contacted me either, nor is he likely to because the data shows I’m a strong Democratic voter. Candidates are counselled not to waste their time and resources going door to door and speaking to people that likely won’t vote for them or, worse, encourage them to vote for their opponent. Instead, they speak only with their assumed base unless speaking publicly and then they speak “to” rather than listen. For why should they? It does not matter if only a third of registered voters show up as long as they get more votes than their opponents. That’s why these yard signs create an image of “grassroots” campaigning that is in actuality AstroTurf.
Right now, I am skipping the Columbus Common Council, District 2 box on the ballot. Neither candidate is likely to earn my vote, but the “At-Large” box is still at-large. I am as likely to be persuaded by those candidates as they are by me. I’ll listen if they will. However, the mayor and city clerk-treasurer was decided last May. Or was it 2015?
(Editor’s note: This letter is paid content.)
