Staff Editorial

Don’t be influenced by campaign ads

A new campaign ad denouncing Democratic candidate for governor Bill While and supporting incumbent Gov. Rick Perry has begun a heated debate among Texans — especially among Houstonians.

“Four years ago, my husband Rodney, a Houston police officer, was murdered in the line of duty by an undocumented alien, who had been convicted and arrested several times before,” Sgt. Joslyn Johnson says in the ad. “In the past, Bill White supported sanctuary city policies that made it difficult for officers to safely do their jobs. I trust Gov. Perry to secure our safety. Bill White had his opportunity as mayor of Houston, and he failed.”

In Austin, White publically called the ad “a shameless exploitation of a widow’s grief,” saying that, “professional politicians like Rick Perry, in the last stages of the campaign… will do anything to push emotional buttons in order to stay in office.”

White has made the same claims about Perry, saying that he allowed records to be deleted from Texas’ state database.

“Rick Perry cleaned the records of thousands of convicted sex offenders who were deported and kept this policy until we confronted him about it,” White said. “Perry even let deported criminals keep valid drivers licenses… Because of Perry’s failure to secure the border, local police spend their time arresting illegal immigrants who commit crimes every day, as they did when I was Houston’s mayor.”

So it seems an issue of pot versus kettle, and instead of endorsing one candidate and attacking the other, we’ll implore voters to research the issues, the candidates and especially the advertisements, assuming they’ve had any effect on your decision.

In politics, it’s never as it seems, and this is a key example. One candidate throws blame, and the other reveals some old documents that make it look like the first candidate’s fault.

It’s a lot to keep up with, but it’s important you do some independent research before you head to the voting booths. That, or you can stay in the dark and receive all your news from one place all the time, which is, well, dumb.

2 Comments

  • I'm glad you wrote this article.

    When people apply for a job, they give a CV or resume showing what they've accomplished.
    When politicians apply for a job, they say almost nothing to show their "track record" but instead attack opponents. Imagine if you sent out a Resume saying nothing about what you've done, but attacking all other potential applicants.

    I'm sick of the ads which not only do not inform, but intentionally asttemt to mis-inform.
    Personally, I saw no attack ads until Bill started them, so based purely upon that, I'd send the "work horse" to the glue factory. But I encourage everyone to research all choices, and vote their own conscience. What irks me is that instead of advertising a decent Resume, they make you research … as if we don't do enough of that for school already lol.

  • Umm..Perry started the attack ads back in the primaries. White just sat and coasted through. Just sayin’.

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