Negativity

Well, I guess it's that time again. At all levels, the negative ads, negative commercials, negative press releases are the tactic in vogue.
If I could have it my way, I would simply stress my own accomplishments and value to the District, but politics is a contact sport, some would say a "blood sport," and it sure isn't Burger King.
In my first race for State Rep, a professional asked me to tell him about myself, my background, my qualifications so he could help me prepare an advertising campaign. Then he said, "Tell me the bad things."
I thought about that for a while and said, "Well, I don't know. I think I've been a pretty good girl all my life and I don't think I have ever done anything really bad."
He didn't miss a beat:"They will make it up. What will they make up ?"
Sure enough, they did. I was astonished how a record of being tough on development was turned around to suggest I had encouraged it!
I've gotten a little bit thicker skin these days, but I still don't like it. No one does. It's not that there isn't some element of what comedian Stephen Colbert would call "truthiness" in a negative ad, it's just that it's put together in a way that leaves a false impression of who the candidate is and what she's done.
The professionals will tell you that negative ads work, that while voters say they hate them, they actually remember them, believe them, and they believe them more than the ads which state the candidate's accomplishments.
There's a reason political contests are called "campaigns," which is a military term that evokes war and winning battles.
For the record, I have a 98% attendance record and have made more than 10, 852 votes. It's after 9 PM, and I am writing this after coming off the Floor. In a few minutes, I will jump in my car and drive home so I can be in North Wales tomorrow morning before driving back up here to Harrisburg. I know I work hard for the District, whatever the negative ads say, and a lot of other people know it too.
And anyway, here's some food for thought : campaigning here beats campaigning in Iraq, either the military or political kind. Today's newspaper carries a story about women afraid to list their names on the ballot for fear that others who disagree with her beliefs will retaliate violently against members of her family.
The photos of me on the other side's mailers are ugly but they don't draw blood. And I know from experience that later people will say, "Have you lost weight ? You look so much better in person."
To which the appropriate response is, "Well, thank you very much" without noting that in person, I'm in color and three dimensional, too.
Kate Harper