TV ads are useless, where are the issues?
Campaigns based on why you shouldn’t vote for the other candidate are a disappointment — the candidates could better use their campaign funds.
COMMENTARY
Janelle Stecklein

Every time I turn on the TV I see ads for political candidates.

This would be a good thing, except that the majority of the ads on TV are negative campaign ads. The candidates have thus strayed from the issues that should be addressed in the elections.

Honestly, I would prefer to know where a candidate stands on an issue, rather than all the negative things about them. I have no idea where Perry and Sanchez, Texas’ current main candidates for governor, stand on the main issues.

I do know though that Sanchez is being accused by Perry and his supporters of having been involved in a bank scandal. According to the 2002 Governor’s Election Guide site(http://www.governing.com/gov2002/texas.htm) Perry claims Sanchez laundered $2.5 million in drug money.

Sanchez also has several negative campaign commercials that I have seen over and over again, and which use the slogan: “Rick Perry. We didn’t elect him. We don’t need to keep him.”

The 2002 Governor’s Election Guide claims Sanchez is gaining ground due to all his negative campaign ads and also because of the fact that many of his potential voters don’t know very much about Rick Perry.

The candidate’s issues are important to me because the person we elect governor will be in office for four years, and it is important that we choose a reliable candidate to represent the majority of Texans’ beliefs, and not do anything misleading or stupid for the general population in the next four years.

I think the candidates have strayed from what is really important in this upcoming election, and need to go back to the basics of what they stand for.

Some of the positions Sanchez is taking on issues, according to his official Web site, (http://www.tonysanchez.com), include property insurance company reforms and making education his number one priority.

He plans to appoint physicians to the Texas Department of Insurance, with the goal of making sure doctors and patients make the important decisions and ensure that HMOs pay the bills on time. He says he wants to enhance policies in criminal justice; combine the Texas Public Utility Commission and the Texas Railroad Commission; and create economic progress and opportunity.

Perry, on the other hand, according to his Web site, (http://www.rickperry.org), says he hopes to make homeowners’ insurance more affordable, make it easier for small businesses to buy health insurance, expand health-care and make prescription drugs more available to seniors.

Perry plans to fund “institutions of higher learning” in order to raise the recruitment and other aspects of getting “first generation college students” into college; initiate work study programs in Texas; and enhance higher education through technology.

It would be helpful, as the candidates are spending so much money, if they would take the time to advertise their stances on the issues, instead of harping on the other candidate’s past mistakes and things that happened years ago. This would help me as a voter to know where they stand and what they hope to do for me and Texas.

Copy editor Janelle Stecklein is a freshman journalism and political science major from Plano. She can be reached at (j.l.stecklein@tcu.edu).