Governor Reynolds Did Not Respond
Why would governor turn down free publicity one month before an election?
Never did I think I would live to see a sitting governor of the state of Iowa turn down free publicity on the front page of the state’s biggest newspaper one month before an important election. But that’s where we find ourselves.
The Des Moines Register sent a standard questionnaire to candidates, giving them in essence an open microphone to say whatever they want about the issues of the day. The result is a verbatim transcript. There’s no interference by an editorial writer, or even, God forbid, a news reporter putting their interpretation on the story. It’s a wide-open forum for the candidate to tell voters where they stand on abortion rights, education, tax policy and the like – using their own words.
In a story posted on the Register’s website Monday, and likely coming to a print edition soon, the Register says, “Reynolds chose not to fill out the Register’s questionnaire.”
This is the height of political arrogance. It assumes Iowa voters are already so familiar with her positions that she doesn’t need to do everything in her power to inform them. It assumes there aren’t Iowans out there really wanting to learn about her, like people who have just moved to Iowa or young Iowans just coming of voting age. Many Iowans have busy lives and don’t even start paying attention to politics until right about now. They might have found Reynolds’ answers useful.
Maybe Reynolds doesn’t want to talk about issues. Maybe she wants the tightly controlled message in her TV political ads to do all the talking for her.
What it really does is play to her base. The message to voters seems to be – don’t worry about issues. You only need to know two things about me. I have an R after my name, and I just gave the finger to the Register.
The Register, to its credit, makes every effort in the questionnaire to be fair by printing past statements she’s made on each issue, while also pointing out on each section that “Reynolds did not respond.”
So, here’s a great chance for Democrat Deidre DeJear and Libertarian Rick Stewart to tell those new voters what they would do for them.
There was a time in politics when any candidate who pulled a vanishing act like this would be punished at the polls. I can’t imagine Bob Ray, Terry Branstad or Tom Vilsack ever turning down an opportunity to sell themselves and their ideas – to reach as many Iowans as they could with their message.
In a campaign where she has every advantage – incumbency, money, a large lead – one would hope she would at least try to be a governor for all Iowans, not just those who agree with her.
On a side note, Register readers may have noticed that the front page of Sunday’s Metro & Iowa section had a similar questionnaire with the candidates for U.S. House from southeast Iowa, and that Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks also did not respond. But when I clicked on the Register website version of the questionnaire, there were Miller-Meeks’ answers.
Register politics editor Mike Trautmann says Miller-Meeks sent in her responses late Friday night/early Saturday morning. He says part of Sunday’s paper already had been laid out and the page designer didn’t know the answers had come in. So, they’ve been added to the online version and the Register will re-print the full questionnaire in a coming edition, with an editor’s note explaining what happened.
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone in the Reynolds campaign sends in her answers in time for the print edition?
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I've disliked Reynolds long before this all began. I hope she somehow is ousted from Gov.
This is horrifying and sad. It makes it almost impossible to believe she cares about anyone who reads the Register which generally means folks who care about the news, fair coverage, and the issues that effect all of us.