Lynch Pen | Researching a candidate was fruitful

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

An interesting thing happened as a result of last week’s article. If you read it, you might remember that I thanked a lady who wrote a letter to the editor of The Times telling about a candidate for the U.S. Senate that I was unaware was running.

My article prompted a telephone call from a relative (Kevin Ruddick) advising me of a local appearance of that candidate and giving me an opportunity to meet him and hear him speak. If this doesn’t prove anything else, it does show that if we are willing to get involved as Ms. Ross did with her letter, we can help candidates gain name recognition.

Having typed my article, my wife recognized the name of the candidate - Trevor Drown - and saw an announcement about his meeting in Garfield in The Times on Wednesday, Aug. 26, which had been arranged by Brad Fortner, one of his supporters. The telephone call advised me that candidate Drown’s literature was available at Flying R-F Feed Store in Garfield, which further proves that one can contribute to the campaign process with a little effort. From Mr. Drown’s newspaper - The Arkansas Conservative - I learned there is a likely candidate from the Green Party which would be the fourth choice if that party does follow through with their option.

The process of obtaining a candidate for the major parties - Democrat andRepublican - is through the primary process. As an Independent (no party affiliation) Trevor Drown had to obtain a certified 10,000 signatures of voters to be placed on the November ballot. To demonstrate the time and effort involved, according to his literature, the candidate initiated his campaign with an exploratory committee in July of 2009 and followed up with an official announcement of his candidacy in December of 2009. The process of collecting signatures began in February and was completed in early May of 2010. The significance of those dates is simply that until Ms. Rowe’s letter, I did not know of Trevor Drown since I have not been involved in TEA Party activities, and Mr. Drown is from Russellville, not northwest Arkansas. Once again, this is proof you can make a difference.

None of this should be construed as an endorsement of any of the candidates. We have a long way to go until November and much can change between now and then. I am still waiting for a Senatorial candidate to stress their support for term limits because one of my problems with the major party candidates is their “Washingtonconnection.” The prospect of either the Democrat or Republican choice being sent to Washington for another six years frightens me. The process of entrenchment - committee chairmanship, committee assignments, longevity, becoming part of the inside fraternity - has not served our nation very well over the last few decades and I believe it is time for change.

Electing the Republican candidate, John Boozman, would keep him in Washington for a minimum of 16 years - 10 in the House and six in the Senate. The Democrat candidate, Blanche Lincoln, has served four years in the House and 12 in the Senate. Another six-year term would give her at least 22 years in the Washington fraternity. That sounds an awfully lot like “politics as usual” to me.

The literature available at the feed store prompted Dorothy and me to travel up to Garfield to hear Independent candidate Trevor Drown on Saturday evening at the Garfield Community Center. The turnout was not overwhelming, but considering it competed with Frisco Festival in Rogers and Grannies Quilts fundraising dinner in Pea Ridge, it did well. The exciting thing about the entire political process (for me anyway) is to see people with enough interest in the welfare of our nation to get involved as Trevor Drown and his supporters have done.

One would have to be a diehard political party activist ofthe James Carville ilk to not be impressed with Trevor and the group of people there on Saturday night. It is refreshing to hear a candidate stress his personal convictions and let it be known for the record where he personally stands on certain sensitive issues but emphasize that the Constitution takes precedence over his personal views. To say we were impressed would be appropriate. To be forced to look at his views and ask ourselves if we will take him seriously would also be appropriate. His choice of a free newspaper called “The Arkansas Conservative” as a campaign tool is exciting because he didn’t spend a lot of time on fund-raising.

As we learn more about Mr. Drown and the activities of his campaign, I will try to share them with you. If a person is not tied to a political party and wants to see change in the way Washington does the business of governing America, they need to get copies of Mr. Drown’s newspaper if for no other reason than to assess the qualities of political party politics versus non-party governing.

According to his travel schedule he will be back in our area with a meeting in Rogers on Sept. 11.

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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkan sas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/01/2010