When your phone rings and you hear "Hello, my name is so and so from Voter Research Bureau, and I'm calling voters about issues facing Toledo and Lucas County." It's the Lucas County Democratic Party phone bank calling you and not some independent polling company.
As you can see for yourself in this scan most of the questions are pretty much the standard ones that any basic poll would ask. Ironically the form that was given to me was printed on the back side of Carty Gets Results stationary, but that's probably more related to not wasting paper than anything nefarious.
Telephone polls happen, I'm not naive enough to think that every one of them is straight forward or even nice. Democrats and Republicans both do this sort of thing, the recent controversy surrounding Republican Mary Taylor's choice of questions when asking about Democrat Barbara Sykes immediately comes to mind.
Question 6 alone is pretty basic at first glance:
(FOR CITY VOTERS ONLY) Four candidates running for Toledo City Council are, Bob Vasquez, Joe McNamara, the endorsed Republican Dave Schulz, and the endorsed Democrat Lourdes Santiago. Who are you most likely to vote for - Vasquez, McNamara, Schulz or Santiago?
Then we come to this: (their emphasis not mine)
If McNamara - Would you be more or less likely to vote for Joe McNamara if you knew that he is taking his marching orders from the Blade?
The only candidate targeted for any additional "what if" question is Joe McNamara. I can't help but wonder how many people that state they are voting for Joe would change their mind based on the additional question. One can assume if numbers of those who state they are voting for Joe express "Less likely" the Blade aspect would continue to be pushed.
Which to me; realistically is not a reason to vote for or against Joe McNamara. While no one can dispute that there have been press conferences/press releases done by other Toledo City Council candidates that did not get coverage, that's not something that can be laid at the door of Joe as far as responsibility. The same basic accusation was directed at Ben Konop during the primary. I also know this is not just related to City Council races, there have been other candidates who have tried to get information out there that the Blade did not deem newsworthy.
I understand other candidates and their supporters feeling as if they are not being treated fairly, and I don't think anyone would dispute the fact that the Toledo Blade like the majority of media does have an editorial agenda, but this to me is a Blade issue not a McNamara issue. I can't speak for the Blade and I can't speak for Joe McNamara, but the concept of Joe taking his "marching orders" from the Blade is pretty out there. I realize one of the questions asked will be who gave this information to me, that I won't divulge, but I will confirm that it was not a Joe McNamara supporter or anyone connected to the Joe McNamara campaign.
I'm not sure how controversial this will be, however, if nothing else when you pick up the phone and you hear the caller identify themselves from "Voter Research Bureau", you'll know who it really is.
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12 comments:
Lisa- it's a push-poll to inform voters of an issue that they think will deride that candidate.
It is a great GOP ploy, used by Karl Rove all over the country.
Of course, as Carty spent quite a lot of time in the GOP, I supose he knows all of their tricks.
Writing about this has nothing to do with bias - it's writing about information that was given to me.
As far as Ben? I have always been honest about my feelings. Same with Joe, and my daughter, just because Joe is her favorite candidate means only that Joe is her favorite candidate. I'm sorry you don't feel I'm objective, I disagree. I would have written this no matter which candidate it was about and I'll continue to do exactly what I have done this far. I'll tell you the same thing I tell the candidates I talk to - it's not about me and who my personal preferences might be or not be - it's about getting information out there so that people make informed choices.
I find it interesting that you'd prefer to make this about me rather than what the post is about. Personally I do not think I am that important.
:-)
I for one agree with Lisa on this one, it has nothing to do with her, it's the information that she is putting out there for the public to know. I think she gives a good coverage of all of the candidates that she writes about and I have not seen one bit of bias towards one or another as far as specifically being favorable or unfavorable. She simply puts the information out that she comes across. She takes alot of her personal time to research things before she does this so that she knows that what she is posting is fact and has the proof to back it up. The only reason I would see for someone to take this post and push it over on her is because they realize that those involved are in the wrong 100%. Stating what you think and what you can prove are 2 different things and Lisa has stated nothing more than what she can prove. BRAVO Lisa for having the backbone that many others don't and won't have. It's how people get the necessary information to make choices in life, whether it's political or not. You did the right thing and I'm behind you 100% and always will be!
Thanks Jo, I appreciate that very much. I don't expect people to always agree with me, and Waterville Dem and I will have to just agree to disagree on this one.
Just because the Blade has or doesn't have an agenda doesn't mean that Joe or Ben or any candidate for that matter is taking orders from the Blade.
Any of this Blade conspiracy talk is ridiculous. The fact is that the Blade covers those who actually say and promote new ideas. The two candidates who do this are Konop and McNamara. They're the only candidates out there promoting new ideas, and these new ideas deserve coverage. All of these other candidates would get the same coverage if they were creating and promoting new ideas for the improvement of Toledo, Lucas County, and the region. It's as simple as that. There is no conspiracy, nor is either candidate in the pocket of the Blade. If you think that, you are ignorant.
A lot of people are excited about Konop and McNamara because they are a breath of fresh air. They are not entrenched with our current, pathetic local government, nor are they Carty's bitches. I say good for them and good for the Blade for promoting new ideas to help Toledo grow. We need more of them.
It took a lot of guts to come forward with this. She would have still given just as much coverage on it had it been anyone else that was "under attack." All she is doing is presenting evidence. Her daughter is infatuated with Joe much the same way that most 12-yr-old girls were infatuated with the Backstreet Boys. That does not make Lisa support the Backstreet Boys, nor does it make Lisa support Joe. If she supports Joe at all, it is because she believes in his ideas. She's a voter too, she's allowed to have her own opinions of candidates, and I feel she does a wonderful job keeping her opinions out of these discussions.
Back to the subject, however, how unethical is it for the Democratic party to pose as a Voter Research Bureau, especially to defame a candidate? He's one of their own, even if he isn't "endorsed" by them. I don't care if others have done it in the past, and I don't care who you are, this is wrong and it needs to be stopped. Stop bickering about who is getting the most coverage where, and realize that there is dishonorable activity happening.
It's clearly a push-poll as LD claims, but he tries to say that it's only a GOP ploy, when in fact it's been an effective strategy used by republicans, democrats, unions, business organizations, issue backers/opponents. It's only recently that people are making an issue of the push-poll and the "hidden" agenda to put out information (both positive and negative) about something or someone.
I agree that it's wrong for any group to claim to be one thing (a research group) when in fact, they're something else (a political party, campaign committee, etc...). Too bad neither LD nor Waterville Democrat have spoken against such a practice (yet).
Lisa - you've been up front about your personal preferences versus sharing information fairly and openly with people. If you'd found the Republican party doing the same thing, I'd expect that you'd post that as well. I also know that you've willingly published all the press releases you've gotten from all the candidates - and that's much appreciated by those who have become accustomed to looking at your site for the latest on the candidates. You're doing a great job!
As for Kurt's position that only two candidates are doing anything newsworthy, I guess I'd disagree. I think Bob Vasquez has had quite a few newsworthy events/ideas/positions. And I make a distinction between an "idea" and a "realistic proposal relevant to the office sought." I will be carefully evaluating both the ideas and the coverage the candidates get. But then, I'm the type of voter to rely upon multiple sources of information and seek out what I don't yet know...
What would have made this an objective poll? If after asking a preference on, for example, the commissioner's race, they followed up the following question:
Would your preference change if you knew that Ben Konop was the nephew of former commissioner Sandy Isenberg and had only recently moved into the County or that George Sarantou was one of Carty Finkbeiner's supporters on Toledo City Council and has said he wants to use the position of commissioner to run for mayor?
A poll like THAT for each candidate in each race would be really interesting!
Maggie- I did not mean to indicate that ony the GOP does push-polls. Of course, all parties and interests do these.
Yet, as Carty is an 'all-party' guy, he'll copy what worked for Rove and Bush in 2000 is South Carolina with the push-poll they did on John McCain.
Carty's very worried that Lourdes will not make it. If she's gone, then he has only Sobczak and the 3-R's [and perhaps Brown] as his supportive base. Not a majority.
So, he's becoming very anxious about her campaign and most probably ordered 'whatever will help' her to win.
LD - I agree with your analysis of Carty's concern with the council race.
However, the poll questions had a push question only on Joe...my limited impression is that Joe, Bob and Dave are all getting much more attention - and support - than Lourdes. Do you think the only Joe push question means that they see Joe as the main challenge to Lourdes?
They may view Joe as a challenge but Lourdes and many other Democrats see Dave as the beneficiary of this in-fighting. Dave's great name ID and fight against the term limits violators makes him appealing to R's, Indy's and D's.
Do you think the only Joe push question means that they see Joe as the main challenge to Lourdes?
Yes. His financial war chest is of great concern to Carty's crew. Add to that the fact that Joe was derided face-to-face by Carty and you have a significant challenger to the appointed council person [who would rather be a judge.]
Will Dave benefit from the 3 dems in the race? Hard to tell, but that "R" next to his name is not going to be appealing to voters this fall. Further, I do not know if he has enough money and workers to get out his message.
liberal_dem said...
"His financial war chest is of great concern to Carty's crew."
A war chest implies that he has rallied the metaphoric "troops" to donate to his campaign - simply writing a check from his trust fund to buy himself a council seat is politics for sale, not a campaign "war chest."
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