Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 10:26:32 -0700 From: divrsity@scn.org (Dennis S. Rybicki-Hopf) I am a member of the SEAttle Municipal Elections Committee for lesbians, gays, and transgendered people (SEAMEC), writing unofficially. BTW, SEAMEC is expanding. We are trying to cover ALL elections in King County. Some important things: Be non-partisan. I know it hurts, but you need to be fair to all candidates, and inclusive of everybody. Even Republicans, some of whom are actually on our side. Fairness brings long term benefits and credibility outside the gay community. Build your own questionnaires. You need both a written questionnaire to get some idea of the candidate's history and qualifications for the position ~he wants AND an oral questionnaire for the interviews. We have three sets of orals: One for school board candidates; another for judicial; and a third for everyone else. The judicial questions are based on the standard questions, but vetted by a pro bono law firm to conform to the canons of judicial ethics in our state. Get community input for the content of the oral questionnaire. There are several needs to be balanced. The candidate's stands on issues are important, but there need to be enough questions for the panelists to get a handle on the candidate's character, especially to be able to tell when ~he is lying or concealing something. The questions should force the candidate to think. Ideally every candidate will learn something positive about the glbt community and/or gain some awareness of our issues from the interview. Keep the questionnaire itself confidential, and change it every year to reflect the changing needs of the community. Use mock interviews and other training tools for interviewers. Consult a trial lawyer for tips & tricks. If you can get one on the steering committee, that's a bonus. In conducting the interviews: Take steps to ensure a level playing field. Use a printed script to inform the candidate about the process. Make sure ~he understands your process. Ask the same questions of every candidate for a particular office; repeat questions if asked, but don't clarify or explain; keep the interview results confidential and do not allow the interviewers to take sides in an election -- until AFTER the results are published. Do not conduct interviews with fewer than three interviewers, and prefer eight to twelve. Co-ordinating the interviews is a BIG job. Pay somebody to do it. The steering committee's meetings should be open and dates and places published in advance. The steering committee puts together: <> published info about the candidate <> a candidate database if there is one <> the recommendations of panelists <> the data brought forth by those present at the meeting to come up with its best estimate of how well the candidate will represent our community if ~he is elected. After the ratings are published, take steps to distribute that information in as many venues as you can think of. Here's a partial list: bars and restaurants; bookshops; libraries; direct mail; community newspapers; electronic forums. Here's what I posted locally, prior to the '95 primaries: As SEAMEC's Corresponding Secretary, it is my privilege and my pleasure to announce that we have completed, and are now distributing, the candidate ratings for the 1995 primary elections. This post, and the next three, are concerned with SEAMEC and the '95 primary elections. Filenames on my computer: README.TXT : Overview AND ****--->> Party Invite! <<---**** SYMBOL.TXT : Explains the symbols we use on the rating sheet RATE95P1.TXT: State Senate, Judicial, and County races RATE95P2.TXT: Port, Municipal, and School Board races RATES95P.TXT: Downloadable Portmanteau file, includes all the foregoing ***---->> VOTE SEPTEMBER 19TH! <<----*** **---->> YOU MAY TAKE THIS INFORMATION INTO THE VOTING BOOTH!! <<----*** **---->> PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DOWNLOAD THIS INFORMATION, PRINT IT, COPY IT,UPLOAD IT TO OTHER BULLETIN BOARDS, AND POST AND PUBLISH IT ANYWHERE IN KING COUNTY!! <<----*** The SEAttle Municipal Elections Committee (SEAMEC) is a non- partisan candidate rating organization that interviews, evaluates and rates candidates running for political office in Seattle, King County and the State of Washington. SEAMEC rates candidates on their attitudes, knowledge, stance, record of proven activism, and past, present and potential commitment to issues specifically concerning the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Candidate interviews are conducted by panels of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered volunteers. SEAMEC has been serving the community since 1977. Membership and donations are welcomed and encouraged. A great big THANK YOU to the volunteers who made this year's primary interviews possible! Call (206) 781-7306, or write us at 1202 E Pike Box 901, Seattle, WA 98122, for more information. Note: If your display is misaligned, change to a 'fixed' font. If you are going to print these out, use 1/2 inch margins top and bottom. Start a new page whenever you see "[PAGEBREAK]" at the end of a line. Recommended font is 12point Courier New. [PAGEBREAK] DISTRIBUTION SITES! Get your copy of the ratings sheet at the following merchants: BAILEY COY BOOKS BEYOND 2002 POST OPTION ROSEBUD FANTASY UNLIMITED GLAMORAMA ** T H A N K Y O U ! ! ** ************************************************************* JOIN US! !!!! PRIMARY PARTY NIGHT !!!! at ROSEBUD ESPRESSO & BISTRO 719 EAST PIKE ************************************************************* -------------------------- 1995 KEY TO SYMBOLS. Each candidate receives five letter grades and an overall rating. Here's how they work: The OVERALL RATINGS are determined by the SEAMEC Steering Committee and are based on all pertinent information available on each candidate, including but not limited to the interviewing panel's LETTER GRADES. *-ENDORSED: SEAMEC's endorsement of a candidate, indicated by a TRIANGLE and BOLD TYPE is given when there is a clear choice of importance to voters on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues. {"*" and ALL CAPS on the BBS, sorry} 5-ACTIVIST: Vocal and active supporter of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights. As an elected or appointed official, sponsored bills, issued executive orders, gave speeches, etc. in support. If no prior political record, has been active in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights organizations and causes. Cannot qualify for 5 without a record of leadership/activism. 4-SUPPORTER: Votes for and is verbally supportive of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights and interests. Has not taken a leadership stand or been an activist in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered organizations and causes. 3-SYMPATHETIC: Passively sympathetic or supportive, may be an ineffective or passive supporter. Makes minimum efforts in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights and interests. 2-INCONSISTENT: Indifferent, inconsistent, or unpredictable 1-RESISTANT: Usually against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights, but is not outspoken. 0-ACTIVELY HOSTILE: Actively outspoken opponent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights; known history of anti-gay activities. DI-Declined Interview. Either declined to be interviewed outright or did not respond to written invitation and phone calls. DR-Declined Interview Rudely NS-Candidate failed to appear for scheduled interview U- Unable to schedule. SEAMEC was unable to notify candidate in adequate time to schedule interview, or candidate had unavoidable reasons for not scheduling. X- No Rating Given. SEAMEC declines to rate this candidate at this time. ?- Not Rated.Insufficient information for rating.[PAGEBREAK] ------------------------------------------------------------- RATINGS FOR JUDICIAL CANDIDATES ONLY: HR: Highly Recommended IN: INadequate RE: REcommended NR: Not Recommended AD: Adequate ------------------------------------------------------------ LETTER GRADES: Areas of Interest: Each interviewing panelist gave each candidate a letter grade in each of five areas: Equal Rights - Youth/Schools - Family - HIV/AIDS - Awareness. These letter grades are based on information from the interview ONLY. The published letter grades are the mathematical average of the letter grades assigned by the interviewers. ------------------------------------------------------------ Letter Grades: Within each area of interest (see above for details, or column headings on fliers): A: Excellent C: Average F: Failed B: Good D: Poor -: Insufficient data ------------------------------------------------------------ OTHER SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS: (i) incumbent (PA) Patriot (D) Democrat (PP) Populist (IC) Independent Candidate (R) Republican (L) Libertarian (SW) Socialist Workers (NL) National Law ---------------------------------------------------------- Note 1: Letter grades are for Equal Rights; Youth/Schools; Families; HIV/AIDS; Awareness IN THAT ORDER! Number grade is the overall (5=Activist FOR, etc) Note 2: "*" for ENDORSED CANDIDATES Note 3: If there are ANY differences or discrepancies between these postings and the ratings, -- the rating sheet is correct & I goofed. Note 4: If your display is misaligned, change to a 'fixed' font. Note 5: If you are going to print these out, use 1/2 inch margins top and bottom. Start a new page whenever you see "[PAGEBREAK]" at the end of a line. Recommended font is 12point Courier New. --------------------------------------------- Here's one screen full of a text-only version of the actual rating sheet, which is normally 8.5X11 or 8.5x14 (printed on both sides) and includes the foregoing info in addition to the actual ratings. ------------------ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||E|Y|F|H|A|||||||||||||| STATE SENATE 43d District Rae Larson (PA) U 4 *ED MURRAY (D) A A A A A 5 Art Rathjen (L) C C C D C 2 Pat Thibaudeau (D) A B B C B 4 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||E|Y|F|H|A|||||||||||||| STATE SUPREME COURT Position #3 Rosselle Pekelis A B A C A HR Richard Sanders DI ? |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||E|Y|F|H|A|||||||||||||| COURT OF APPEALS Division 1, position #7 Jeannette Burrage U IN Anne Ellington A A A B A HR ---------------------------- Finally, aim for annual improvement. Here's an unofficial measuring tool that I use to estimate SEAMEC's success: Post-election analysis of SEAMEC ratings. Suggested file names: README2.TXT : This file RSLTPA.TXT : Analysis for rated state, judicial, and county races RSLTPB.TXT : Analysis for all other rated races. Includes Summary info for all races. RSLTP95.TXT : Portmanteau file for downloading convenience. Definitions: I define "GOOD" candidates as those rated 5, 4, 3, HR or RE (representing ACTIVIST, SUPPORTER, SYMPATHETIC, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, OR RECOMMENDED respectively -- see elsewhere for details). This year, because of the judicial scale change introduced last year, and because no judges were rated "AD", I am adding that rate to the list of "GOOD" ones. All other candidates are "BAD" for this analysis. Races are divided into four categories: Federal, State Legislature, Miscellaneous, and Judicial. Partisan races have at most one winner for each party. Nonpartisan races have a single winner if one candidate received 50% of the vote; otherwise there are two winners for each race. Judicial races with fewer than three candidates are deferred to the general election. Party abbreviations: D Democratic I Independent Candidate L Libertarian N Natural Law PA Patriot R Republican Each race must have one of five outcomes: GOOD candidate(s) won, lost, or tied; all (or only) candidates GOOD, all (or only) BAD. Tie results are reported for races that were too close to call, and for nonpartisan races where a GOOD candidate and a BAD one will advance to the finals. I used the Wednesday Seattle Times for Win/Lose/Tie data. Printing information: This document was proofed using 12-point Courier New. Suggested Page Breaks presume 3/4 inch margins top & bottom. [page break] [eof README2, sof RSLTPA] |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||WIN |LOSE|TIE |GOOD|BAD | STATE SENATE 43d District | | | | | | Rae Larson (PA) | | | | x | | *ED MURRAY (D) | | | | | | Art Rathjen (L) | | | | | x | Pat Thibaudeau (D) | | | | x | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||WIN |LOSE|TIE |GOOD|BAD | STATE SUPREME COURT Position #3 | | | | | | Rosselle Pekelis | | | x | | | Richard Sanders | | | x | | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||WIN |LOSE|TIE |GOOD|BAD | COURT OF APPEALS | | | | | | Division 1, position #7 | | | | | | Jeannette Burrage | | | | | | ------------------------ ... Summaries: |WIN |LOSE|TIE |GOOD|BAD | FEDERAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | STATE LEGISLATURE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | MISCELLANEOUS | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | SCHOOL BOARDS | 2 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 0 | ========================== GRAND TOTALS | 4 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 1 | If you think the foregoing is a lot of effort, you're right. SEAMEC has long since spun off a fundraising arm; we let other orgs actually beat the bushes for votes. I hope this helps you to actually start something like SEAMEC in your own community. Please contact either me (divrsity@scn.org), or SEAMEC, for more info. ps: For national races, contact Project Vote Smart at Project Vote Smart 800/622-7627 gopher to gopher.neu.edu 1112 503/733-3777 bbs Corvallis, OR For voting records in the (Washington) state legislature, contact Lavender Action 360 943-4662 PO Box 7703 Olympia, WA 98507-7703