Posted on: Wednesday, November 3, 2004

VOLCANIC ASH

By David Shapiro

As if sewage, smog and industrial sludge aren't enough to worry about, the 2004 election has spewed disturbing new levels of political pollution into our environment.

It used to be that the main blight we had to contend with at election time was candidates standing at the side of the road in wilted carnation lei waving their signs.

They are at least biodegradable, washing away with the rain.

This year, we've had to deal with obnoxious visual pollution from yard signs that have sprouted like California grass in our neighborhoods.

These advanced from little placards in past elections to giant banners that circumvent anti-billboard laws as narcissistic office-seekers inflicted their outsized mugs on us.

In our homes, we've faced the noise pollution of endlessly ringing telephones and squawking voice mail messages from "robocalls" — annoying recorded pitches of candidates and their surrogates.

Our mailboxes overflowed with the rubbish of campaign mailers that were increasingly negative and more brazen than ever in distorting opposition records.

Hawai'i even saw its first serious attempt at a political cyber-smear as a distorted, blatantly partisan attack on a candidate's spouse, disguised as a news report, reached tens of thousands of voters via Internet mailing lists.

It's too early to tell how much impact this pollution had on election results, but it's a good rule of thumb that the sleazier the campaigning, the sleazier the government.

The thing to remember is that we suffer toxic politicking because politicians have exempted themselves from norms of common decency that the rest of us must observe. Democrats and Republicans are equally at fault.

The robocalls, for instance, are possible because lawmakers excluded themselves from the national no-call list that has been so successful in reducing the intrusion of other forms of telemarketing.

Automated calls amount to legalized home invasion that serves no legitimate purpose. Candidates can't possibly be getting any benefit from angry voters hanging up on their disembodied voices.

The only calls that seemed to have impact were the pranks and frauds that spread false information via this inexpensive technology that, once unleashed, is virtually impossible to police.

Candidates used yard signs to get around Hawai'i's longstanding ban on unsightly billboards, trading on the First Amendment rights of property owners to express their political views.

This is fine to a point, but it's gotten out of hand.

Scenic neighborhoods and roadways were wallpapered with campaign signs as candidates posted a half-dozen or more placards and banners on single properties — often side-by-side with opponents' signs.

Surely we could enact reasonable limits on placard sizes and the number of signs a candidate can place on each property without unduly infringing on free speech.

Hint to office-seekers: Candidates with the most and biggest signs are as often as not the biggest losers in the election. Ask Melodie Aduja.

Dishonest campaign mailings are a further example of politicians refusing to regulate themselves. They won't reform campaign finance laws that allow third parties to sling all the mud they want with little accountability tracing back to candidates.

As offensive as these practices may be, the worst pollution in this election has been the tainting of the American spirit of fair democracy by fostering an environment in which all that matters is winning.

In this 40th anniversary year of landmark civil rights legislation that finally gave full voting rights to blacks, Republicans in several states made a formal strategy of harassing black voters who favor Democrats — stationing official-looking goons at polling places in black precincts to intimidate voters, and in some cases, challenging their right to cast ballots.

Shame on them.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.