Melba Bishop's Articles

November 5, 1998

I am writing this column before election day but you will read it after you know the results. Even before election day there are some things that I can predict without hesitation. Right now campaign signs litter every parkway and street corner as well as many street signs and telephone poles. Many are sagging and some have been ripped --accidentally or on purpose. I can predict that the winners' signs will come down much faster than the losers' signs. It always is easier to remove a sign with your name on it if you won than to fight back the tears removing them when you lost.

Those awful commercials are running every 6 minutes on television--you know the ones, attacking everyone's record and character. We all shake our heads about how terrible it is that there is no civility in politics. Well, you get no help from this writer. I firmly believe those ads run for one reason. They work. Until voters take responsibility for their choices and stop voting for those who run attack ads, this practice will continue and get worse. Just imagine if candidate number three or four won a few elections and the exit polls said the reason they won is that they didn't attack their opponents. Don't be afraid that candidate three or four would ruin the country. Believe me, they couldn't do any worse than what we have had and just might shake thinga up a bit.

Soon we will all find out what this election cost the winners and the losers. I can most assuredly predict that the winners, almost without exception, spent the most money per vote and the special interests funded most of the campaigns.

Perhaps the answer to campaign reform is to limit election spending to the cost of one letter to each household in the district. Wouldn't that upset a lot of apple carts! Imagine an election where the candidates sent you one letter telling you what they would do if elected and actually had to walk door to door to meet you. Refreshing!

And, I must not forget the issues that never became issues. It always amazes me in Oceanside every election is about redevelopment. Redevelopment is important and should be discussed but all the issues east of I-5 deserve more attention .

I was amazed that the Triathlon traffic mess was not an issue. My family and I worship at Calvary Chapel , a congregation of 1600, on Oceanside Boulevard. I live a short 5 minute drive from there and having seen the signs about a "traffic disruption" we allowed 45 minutes to get to church Sunday morning. After being directed in circles for over 45 minutes my usually calm husband lost it and demanded that the traffic officer tell him how to get from Mesa and College to Oceanside Boulevard. We were directed to go to Mission Ave and travel west to the I-5 freeway and go south to Oceanside Boulevard. When we got to church we were going into the ten o'clock service with others who had intended to make the 8 o'clock service and left the church meeting 10 o'clock service families who were arriving for the 11:20 service.

Last Sunday the minister mused that he had read the North County Times and learned that a city official had said that there was very little disruption to the traffic for the Triathlon. He asked for a show of hands of those who had a different opinion. Nearly every hand in the room went up and horror stories were whispered all over the congregation. This was not an issue in the campaign but then, of course, the sermon on Sunday was about the example set for us by the long-suffering nature of God.