Check out the statements

Tim Geddes

While I generally subscribe to the old saying “You can’t judge a

book by its cover,” sometimes the book jacket is all you have to go

by in making decisions.

This is the case with the Candidate Statement of Qualifications

filed by many of our City Council hopefuls. Often, the statements are

the only citywide contact candidates have with the voters in getting

their message out.

Incidentally, I was only able to find 12 statements on file out of

18 candidates for the City Council. That’s only two-thirds of the

field.

The statement is a 200-word summary that should succinctly state

why voters should cast their ballot for the candidate. There are four

major things I look for in asking a candidate statement to convince

me. First, does the candidate come across like a leader? In so many

words does the candidate state so? If I don’t see leader, leadership

or direct reference to the ability to lead, I get nervous. Leadership

is my top quality in selecting who I want to run our city. Only

one-third of the statements I saw made this direct reference.

Second in importance, does the statement provide contact

information (preferably a Web site) so that the voter can learn more

or follow up interest on the candidate? Less than two-thirds of the

12 statements contained this vital link.

Third, does the statement contain bona fide qualifications (who

the candidate is and what background, experience, and accomplishments

he or she has to run our city)? After all, this document is called a

Candidate Statement of Qualifications. Only half of the candidate

statements delivered on this.

Fourth, does the statement lay out purpose and priorities? Does

the candidate communicate a grasp of the issues and an understanding

of local government that would motivate the voter to support his or

her candidacy? To some extent, all of the 12 statements attempted

this, some much better than others. Did any of the 12 candidate

statements I reviewed contain all of these key ingredients? Actually,

one or two did. Voters can judge for themselves.

Additionally, I was pleased that most of the candidates refrained

from serving up political endorsements for this nonpartisan office in

their statements. Such endorsements are divisive and are no

substitute for leadership abilities in any event. The 2000 local

election was a good indicator of that truth. The candidates should be

judged on their own merits.

Voters this election owe it themselves to get all of the

information they can about the candidates for our City Council. The

Candidate Statements of Qualification are only a start.

* TIM GEDDES is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off,” fax us at (714) 965-7174 or e-mail us at

hbindy@latimes.com.