We heartily endorse non-endorsements

Go ahead, call us cowards. Wimps. Spineless. Dispassionate. Detached.

We’ll

deny all of the above and stick to the following position like a political

bumper sticker on rusting chrome: The Garden Island won’t endorse any of the

local candidates hoping to be elected by Kauians in the general election Nov.

7.

Newspaper endorsements of politicians is a time-honored (well, at least

around a long time) tradition. TGI would rather break from that tradition and

make no endorsements in the island races. None. ‘Ole. Zilch.

The reason is

not because we lack opinions about the candidates for Kaua’i County Council and

the island’s seats with the Legislature, the state Board of Education and the

Office of Hawaiian Affairs. We have thoughts on all of them, from the

frontrunners to the barely-above-water. We just don’t feel our opinions should

or do matter much to the outcome of Decision 2000.

If we, the rest of the

news media and the candidates themselves do our election-related jobs right,

voters will have enough information to make informed choices on election day.

It’s true that journalists get to know candidates in ways that most voters

don’t. Who among the voting public has or makes the time to interview each

candidate? That wouldn’t happen, anyway, since there aren’t enough hours during

a campaign for candidates to go one-on-one with each voter. So reporters and

editors become the indirect link most of the time between candidates and the

masses. It’s a responsibility we take seriously. But in the end, who says our

perceptions and analysis of candidates is any better than what voters can

deduce from the information we convey? Depending on who we endorsed, whole

blocs of people wouldn’t believe us, anyway. Conservatives would see proof of

the media’s liberal bias, and liberals would think we’d lost our

minds.

Naturally, people who generally suspect the media has favorite

candidates and covers them more congenially will think this next part is

hypocritical. But here goes: TGI’s role is to help educate voters on the people

who would be their elected leaders.

Trying to sway those decisions doesn’t

fit that role.

If we felt strongly that the public couldn’t do without a

candidate or candidates, or if we were equally convinced that the populace

would be better off without a particular voteseeker, we’d say so. But this

year, there just isn’t enough reason to get revved up over any candidates, one

way or the other.

The choice is yours.

TGI editor Pat Jenkins can

be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 227) and pjenkins@pulitzer.net