Other candidates target endorsements with 'ridiculous positions'
Editor, Townsman:
Political action committees award endorsements on the basis of questionnaire responses in which candidates profess overwhelming devotion to the PAC's views. While these questionnaires do force evasive politicians to take firm stances, they also drive desperate candidates to adopt ridiculous positions in hopes of securing endorsements.
One can see this tendency particularly well in the race for the 18th Essex District seat, where I am running for the Republican nomination.
The current representative, Democrat Barbara L'Italien, has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO in her campaigns over the past eight years. To win that endorsement, the AFL-CIO demanded agreement on a host of issues. This year's questionnaire demands support for a legally mandated higher wage paid to union workers at large businesses and a wasteful measure forcing the state government to pay artificially-high union wages on any state contract, even those involving non-union workers. The first issue violates fundamental principles regarding equality of treatment under the law, the second is just downright wasteful.
Some PACs on the right are no better. Jim Lyons, my fellow candidate for the Republican nomination, had to agree to an extremely invasive and activist role for government to win the endorsement of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. MCFL's questionnaire demands that its candidates oppose embryonic stem cell research including growing organs for use in transplants, vote for forcing women to undergo an ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion, and forbid terminally ill patients from choosing to die with dignity. I know Lyons is a good man, and thus find it hard to believe he would support such measures for any reason other than desire for an endorsement.
The bizarre positions forced on my opponents by their desire to receive endorsements have convinced me not to seek any PAC endorsements. To date, I have been the candidate most willing to lay out my policy positions to any citizen who asks, and I plan on maintaining that distinction. However, I will not act against my best judgment to obtain endorsements and funding from groups that demand strict allegiance to positions no credible candidate would publicly announce.
John Thorlin
115 Summer St.
The writer is a candidate for state representative in the 18th Essex District.
