There is no doubt that these tragic wildfires that still are burning away throughout Southern California have been extremely traumatic for many, many people. The magnitude of the areas burned, homes lost, and residents evacuated is a bit mind boggling. As it has been reported frequently on television, more residents have been displaced by this disaster than make up the total population of many, many entire states. As I write this, ashes continue to fall in my Irvine neighborhood — the sun tinged with the orange of smoke…
So in light of all of this going on, you have to wonder about the judgment of candidates for political office who are campaigning and fundraising in this impacted area, either oblivious or insensitive to the magnitude of the situation.
For now, I am going to be a bit more vague, choosing not to pummel particular candidates, and stick to my overall point. When the fires first broke out, a friend of mine running for the Assembly immediately postponed a fundraising event he had scheduled. But another candidate split the difference, canceling one event while continuing with another at a posh hotel while just a few miles away, thousands were gathered at an evacuation center (sigh). A southland Republican County Committee appropriately postponed a major event, showing superior judgment. Still, a local city councilmember in an impacted area is having a re-election event tonight…
Perhaps the most troubling for me is the "big boys" — at the Presidential contender level. One Republican candidate for President is coming into SoCal tomorrow for a big fundraising event in Los Angeles, and another has a pending swing through SoCal in a couple of days. Anyone who has been involved in political event management and fundraising knows that these events are not islands unto themselves. A high volume of faxing, e-mailing and phone calling takes place as professional fundraisers and rally-supporters are working to make these events successful.
I find it very distasteful that while neighbors are dealing with these fires in their own way, whether directly impacted, or trying to empathize with this who have been — that they are being hounded by Presidential campaigns — Republicans no less!
These fires are more impactful to some than to others, but it doesn’t change the fact that a major facet of politics is perception. How candidates and officeholders react in the midst of a tragedy tells you a lot about whether they are focused on themselves, or on the people around them.
It would be my hope that, whether seeking the Presidency, or re-election to a local city council, candidates would wait a little while, and perhaps focus their efforts and those of their supporters, for a short time, towards relief efforts for those most impacted by the fires, instead of on their own candidacies — at least here in Southern California.
I’d be interested to hear the perspectives of some of our readers…
October 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
The Challenged Athlete’s Foundation (CAF) took sage advice from its governing board and canceled their San Diego Triathlon and Spinathon that was set to take place this Sunday. This very difficult decision follows on the heals of a fire in Sept. that decimated CAF’s headquarters and destroyed thousands of dollars worth of equipment and gifts. I mention this because of the stark contrast it presents compared to the candidates that are going to disrupt local emergency efforts on their swings through the area.
CAF is the poster child for the hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of citizens for whom a return to “life as usual” is many weeks/months/years into the future. This is the wrong time for candidates to play “politics as usual”.