The evening of Oct. 28, during Tempe Undergraduate Student Government's week of Sparking Democracy, Arizona candidates spoke to ASU students about what they will do once they are elected. Gubernatorial candidates Fred DuVal, Doug Ducey, Barry Hess and JL Mealer made appearances, along with Secretary of State candidates, Michele Reagan and Terry Goddard. Even unopposed candidate Jeff DeWit spoke to students about what he intends to do as State Treasurer.
Did the event spark democracy? No.
Simply walking into the ballroom, you could feel the tension in the air. Ducey supporters were huddled together in one area and DuVal supporters in another. The room felt divided, and it made for an awkward evening.
Ducey was the first to speak. When asked about educational funding, he said, “My opponent will tell you later tonight that we need to spend more in education, but I will tell you that we need to better spend the $10 billion we are already spending.”
He turned a negative remark into a positive one, to make him look better than his opponent. Although this kind of statement is much more tame than the political advertisements we saw on television, it was a reflection of Ducey and his campaigning tactics. There was no need to even mention DuVal's political agenda. Instead of highlighting his opponent's faults, Ducey should have solely focused on the positive aspects of his campaign. Every candidate should have focused only on his or her own merits.
Ducey wasn’t the only one to whip out that maneuver that night. State Treasurer candidate DeWit made many jokes regarding the Democrats' inability to get a candidate to run against him. The remarks were inappropriate and unnecessary. The event quickly turned into a bully pulpit — it didn't spark democracy at all.
It wasn't just Republicans who were guilty, either. DuVal'scampaign advertisementon the front page of his website opened with harsh claims that “Ducey cheated Cold Stone Creamery franchise owners” and “Ducey is part of Arizona’s problem.” These statements accomplished the opposite of what they are supposed to be accomplishing — they unveiled DuVal's ruthlessness to win.
Every year, it seems that political speeches, advertisements and debates become more and more defamatory. It seems as though candidates invest more in campaigning than they do in actual governance. Candidates will do absolutely anything to make themselves look better than their opponent.
This isn’t an acceptable way to play the game of politics.
If politicians think their audience wants to hear slanderous things about their opponents, then they must think that we are simple-minded and gullible enough to believe the accusations.
The people of Arizona could do without the cattiness and immaturity of campaigning. We are better than that. Cut straight to the chase and tell us positive things about your campaign. Tell us what you are going to do once you are elected. Run a political campaign, not a sparring match.
We need to open our eyes and see that bullying others isn’t what we are about. Bullying shouldn’t be what politics is about, either.
The sad truth is that no matter who wins elections tonight, Arizona's public leaders did not put themselves above immaturity.
If these candidates and their campaigns represent us, then we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Reach the columnist at ambice@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @alliebice
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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