CAMPAIGN - I'm Too Honest

[  When I began posting my daily CAMPAIGN blogs March 1st, I said that I would do it for at least a couple of weeks on a daily basis. Now that two weeks have gone by, I will limit my CAMPAIGN entries to new issues that may surface this election season. I will keep the CAMPAIGN blog going until the May 20th primary, but I won't necessarily be posting entries every day.  ]

     During a previous election, one of my school classmates who has known me my entire life told me that his family was voting for me, but he honestly didn't know if I could win the election. The reason? I was "too honest." I didn't feel bad. If I'm being told that I may lose an election, there's nothing more praiseworthy than to accuse a person of being too honest.
     That message hit home with me again this past week. I did a live ten-minute interview Tuesday morning on NewsRadio 1240 KQEN, Roseburg. One of the questions was something to the effect of, "Can Douglas County Commissioners work with state officials to get things done?"
     My initial off-the-cuff response was, "It depends on the issue and the state agency that you're dealing with." I gave a follow-up answer to the effect of, "It's sometimes difficult for one person to work through hundreds of people in a state bureaucracy to accomplish a goal."
     After the radio interview this week, one of my campaign supporters said I was being too honest. My campaign supporter said it's never right to lie. But HOW a question is answered can sometimes make a difference. Perhaps it would have been more pro-active for me to say, "I will work my hardest to work through the state bureaucracy to get things accomplished."
     Part of the reason that I don't sugar-coat my answers is probably due to the twenty years I spent working as a reporter. I always strived to use content-neutral words and to always offer more than one side of an issue. Those may not be the ideal attributes for a political candidate who instead needs to tell the people what they want to hear.
     I do know that a significant number of voters appreciate my candor, based on past election results, and I so I will always continue to tell the truth. But I will also make sure that I include all of the positive attributes of an issue.