Niceness rules the day

Watching local politics in the Panhandle has left me with this nagging feeling: Voters here don’t seem to like politicking that even approaches negativity.

It’s gotten so nice that there seems little separation among candidates. There is a bit of a reluctance, it seems, for candidates to spell out differences — which by definition cast the other guy in a less than positive light.

The recent campaign for Randall County Precinct 2 commissioner offers a bit of a case study.

The winner of the April Republican runoff, Mark Benton, took office today. County Judge Ernie Houdashell appointed him to fill the vacancy created by former Commissioner Gene Parker’s retirement. Benton had won the runoff over Doug Hershey, who actually had finished first in the March 2 primary; but since Hershey didn’t reach the 50-percent-plus-one-vote margin needed for outright victory, the top two candidates had to go one more round in the runoff.

During the campaign, Hershey sought to cast himself as the candidate who would vote on all issues before the commission, unlike Benton. Why the contrast? Benton works for Western Builders, a general contractor company that often bids on local government construction projects. Benton pledged to have no input in discussions involving his company, or vote on any matter involving Western Builders. Hershey sought to make something of that pledge, declaring he would be able to vote on all matters, given that he didn’t face any potential conflict of interest.

Benton won the runoff handily.

I don’t know if Hershey’s campaign tactic played a role in his losing the runoff. All I do know is that I’ve witnessed voters reject any hint of negativity on occasion. Anette Carlisle tried to go negative in her legislative race in 2006 against state Rep. David Swinford; she fell short. So did Jesse Quackenbush in his earlier challenge against Swinford. An upstart challenger to Congressman Bill Sarpalius, however, did succeed — in 1994 — with his negative attacks against the incumbent’s voting record; Mac Thornberry has been serving in the U.S. House ever since.

Can it be that we’re just too nice around here?