Giessel’s Education Spin (VIDEO)

Devon has been endorsed by the Police, Firefighters, and Corrections Officers

Making History

As the Anchorage Daily News points out in last Sunday’s profile of a certain state senate race, a successful independent candidacy around these parts takes one back to an Alaskan icon like Jay Hammond. Running unaffiliated, without the trappings of political party infrastructure, certainly means you start out as an underdog.

But it doesn’t mean you have to remain one. Combine a candidate’s work ethic—hitting thousands of doors throughout the district over the course of a year—with the fact that the majority of the district’s voters are themselves independent, and the next thing you know the race has been turned on its head and the incumbent’s supporters publicly admit they’re worried.

The fact that by this point Ron has the momentum heading into the home stretch isn’t an accident or the result of fancy political strategery.

It’s as simple as hard work, and good ol’ shoeleather campaigning across the district. More importantly, it’s as fundamental as treating the voters with respect. Folks don’t expect any candidate to agree with them 100% of the time on every issue, but they do expect you to give them straight answers to their questions. And they expect you to not hastily change those answers depending on which audience you’re addressing. Lastly, they expect you to not insult their intelligence and claim that which they can see and hear with their own eyes and ears didn’t really happen.

Politicians who run from reporters like they’re the target of some 60 Minutes exposé don’t inspire trust. And when Alaskans run out of patience with a politician’s refusal to answer their questions at a forum whose very purpose is getting their questions answered… well, the next thing you know, the good people of South Anchorage are yelling “answer the damn question!” at that politician.

It just looks bad. See for yourself.

Giessel at the Anchorage Tea Party forum, June, 2012. she stands for the“complete privatization of Alaska’s school system.” The moderator even makes sure to indicate that the question said “complete.”

During the Home and Land Owners candidate forum (HALO) in South Anchorage in September, Senator Giessel appeared to have second thoughts about revealing her agenda. She, her opponent Ron Devon, and Senator Kevin Meyer were asked, “Should the state help fund private schools?” A simple question. Each candidate had a red “no” card, and a green “yes” card.  Devon and Meyer answer “no.” Giessel refuses to answer in front of her constituents, and they make vocal their displeasure.

It gets even stranger. Now, she’s actually rewriting history to distance herself from… herself. This is how she describes what she said in the first video. Do you believe the story below, or your lyin’ eyes.

“That question came from an audience member, and the moderator read it and said,
‘I don’t know what that means.’ He said ‘What about privatization?’  Now, Senator Meyer and I looked at each other… Senator Meyer is the co-chair of the Senate Education Committee. We looked at each other and concluded that they must be referring to parental choice, which both of us advocate. That is, what we just talked about earlier – parents being able to choose which school is best for their students, and so we put up a yes paddle.” (Sen. Cathy Giessel on KSRM radio Kenai, 10/23/12)

Desperate People Do Desperate Things

Criticizing a candidate’s positions on the issues is fair game. In fact, that kind of contrast is what campaigns are supposed to be about.

I’m proud of the fact that Ron Devon has limited his criticisms of his opponent to her positions, and her refusal to state forthrightly what those positions are.

He has not attacked her, her staff, and certainly not her family.

Ms. Giessel obviously has no reservations about such things. Of course yours truly has come under attack, as if it’s a secret that I’m a liberal blogger and politically to Ron’s left. And that’s no more relevant to the fundamental issues facing Alaska than whatever my children’s politics turn out to be. Cathy Giessel herself deserves plenty of criticism, for instance, but not for the politics of her husband, or her son. So what? That’s as irrelevant to this race as my progressive leanings.

Not only do voters consistently recoil from politicians attacking private citizens who aren’t even on the ballot, but often such politicians get egg on their faces when they decide to go there.

The incumbent recently sought to get mileage out of the fact that Ron’s campaign manager, like many Alaskans and like Giessel herself, has spent time out of state. Seeking to portray Ron as a hypocrite in a recent debate for supporting “Alaska Hire,” you could tell this was intended to be her big “gotcha!” Oh BOY was she nailing him with that one!

The only problem? His campaign manager was born in the same Fairbanks hospital and attended the same high school as Giessel herself. When Ron pointed this out and introduced the nice woman to the audience, Girdwood residents were left giggling and a certain politician was left red-faced.

And even if this approach hadn’t backfired so gloriously, what does that kind of inside baseball have to do with Alaska’s budget, schools, or oil production in any case?

Coming To A Mailbox Near You

In Giessel’s previous campaign, her opponent Janet Reiser was attacked at the 11th hour with all sorts of personal nastiness and falsehoods. Voters received phone calls telling them Reiser is a “baby killer.” Elsewhere it was alleged—falsely—that Reiser was fired from her job.

Politicians who lack integrity, honesty, and who see a race slipping away from them do this sort of thing in the final hours.

Having been unable to win over voters on the issues, having displayed a willingness to engage in personal nastiness that has nothing to do with the issues facing Alaska, and having shown a casual disregard for the truth, nobody should be surprised if Giessel stoops to such last-minute tactics again over the next week.

In fact, I’d be surprised if she didn’t, because it’s just who she is.

The good news is that this time, her opponent won’t be caught by surprise. And this time, neither will the voters.

We’ve seen this movie before.

[Full Disclosure: For those who haven’t figured it out, I have made no secret of the fact that I’m married to Ron Devon. This was written all on my own, but just to cover bases… because you never know, I’ll include the standard:  Paid for by Alaskans for Ron Devon 6520 Italy Circle, Anchorage, AK 99516]

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