As someone who has worked for many years on state and national electoral campaigns, I’m familiar with the tactic where an opponent is tied to something the public fears or dislikes — whether it’s based on something real or not. Unfortunately these tactics can work, particularly when voters are not into the actual details. As we have seen in national politics, things can get nasty. But, I expect something better from Lexington.
I am currently supporting one of the candidates for Planning Board, but that’s not what I’m writing about. It’s about whether some commentators in social media and letters to the editor – in their eagerness to see a particular candidate win – have been going a bit too far in making their arguments. Planning, which is complicated and tedious, is a topic where most voters are not into the nitty-gritty. This makes a Planning Board race particularly vulnerable to over-simplifying.
When it comes to national elections, I would love to see less nasty dialog, but I’m not holding my breath. But, in Lexington we are neighbors who mostly care about the same things. So, let’s try to keep the standard of our discussion high and remember that everyone running for Planning Board is volunteering to serve for a difficult job because they care about the town.
Barbara Katzenberg
Town Meeting Member, Precinct 2
I, too, would like to see more thoughtful discussion and less vitriol during our local election seasons, for several reasons.
One: negativity is polarizing and destructive of the bonds between neighbors. We’ve seen the danger of that on a national level.
Two: our town government runs by committee. The Select Board, the School Committee, and the Planning Board are all committees. This means that, to function constructively, our town government needs the members of these boards to deliberate respectfully and collegially with one another. Candidates who resort to negative campaigning are signaling that they lack the skills to govern within the board/committee system of government that runs Lexington.
Three: thoughtful discussion invites us all to learn and be part of how we think about important issues that face our community. Calm consideration is always better than fear and panic.
Voters are not powerless here. We can choose not to vote for candidates who engage in negative campaigning.
The calculation for voters is more difficult when the candidates themselves are not directly engaging in negative campaigning, but their supporters are. Candidates cannot control what people who are not part of their campaign team are doing and saying. But when there’s a constant drumbeat of negativity on social media and letters to the editor and the candidates who stand to benefit from that decline to call for it to stop, voters can most certainly send a message by refusing to vote for them.
Jeri Zeder
Thank you Barbara. Your comments are right on point, not only for the elections but for recent issues related to the new high school. The name calling and exaggerations on social media has been discouraging and I think counter-productive. On the other hand, I appreciate the comments that illuminate aspects of these decisions I might not have thought of on my own.