Home
Who We Are
Our Mission
Discussion Threads
Archives
In the News
Events Calendar
Make a Donation
Contact SONs
Words of Wisdom
County & Zoning Info
Take Our Survey
Aerial Photos
County Government Contacts
Links
|
|
What Do the Candidates for Accomack County Board of Supervisors Think?
SONs Commentary (September 16, 2007)
The Accomack County Board of Supervisors Opinion Survey
In the month August, your survey hound has been active interviewing all the candidates for the Accomack County Board of Supervisors. Below we relate why the County needed such a survey and the rules of engagement. The complete responses to the surveys are posted here in the links below. We did this in cooperation with the Eastern Shore News, which will print a summary article on Wednesday, September 19th.
Let’s begin the discussion – SONs Executive Committee Commentary
In an effort to seed the discussion on candidates and their issues, the SONs Executive Committee has analyzed the responses of all the participating candidates and presents them here. We urge all readers to weigh in and let us know your opinions by clicking on the contact us link in any document and filling out the email form. SONs will post all the responses within a day on a cumulative discussion page. We also believe that the several candidates that did not respond did themselves and the voters a disservice and we comment on these “refusenicks”.
Why SONs did a Board of Supervisor Candidate Survey
Here is how Tony Picardi explained the survey to the interviewees. “I have undertaken to do an opinion survey of each candidate running for Board of Supervisor in Accomack County. I am doing this on my own time. This is intended to be a totally objective view of what ALL the candidates think is important and what they would do about those issues. This will give the voters a view of what matters to each candidate. It is more comprehensive than the Post survey recently circulated. I will post the entire responses on the SaveOurNecks.com web site. I will send the complete responses to the Eastern Shore News, which has promised to summarize the results."
“I am doing this because I believe that informed voters are the foundation of our democracy and I am willing to put effort behind my beliefs. Your participation will allow voters in all districts to see what their leaders and potential leaders think and it will give you yet another chance to connect with voters on what you feel is important.”
The Survey Methodology
We called each candidate until we either made contact or ran out of time. Then we either conducted the interviews over the phone, or emailed or snail-mailed the questionnaire. Once responses were obtained from all the cooperating candidates, we emailed or mailed the complete text back to the interviewee for verification – "is this what you meant to say"? This was a guarantee that SONs would not publish anything that the candidates did not say or edit the interviews in a biased manner. A few respondents edited their answers. No respondent saw any other respondent’s answers at any time. The Survey cutoff date was August 31 for all respondents.
The Survey Instrument
These are the 5 questions we posed to the Supervisor candidates. The first three are open ended questions to see what was top of mind. Then we asked two directed questions on water and public safety, as these are two areas that SONs feels are particularly important for the county.
1. In your opinion, what are the top three problems for the county?
2. Why are these problems?
3. What would you do about them if elected to the Board of Supervisors?
4. What do you think about water in the county – storm water, ground water, seawater, bay water?
5. What do you think of the recent (June, 2007) report on the Accomack County Public Safety System?
The Responses
We contacted all sixteen candidates but one, Kay Lewis. She was totally incommunicado, even though we left her at least nine phone messages and mailed her a survey with a return addressed and stamped envelope. Of the remaining 15 candidates, four refused to participate, even though it was made clear to them that a third party, the editors at the Eastern Shore News, were going to do a summarization. SONs thinks that refusing to communicate with the voters reveals a mistrust of the democratic process. Communication is the best way to achieve an informed electorate, and we believe these candidates missed a golden opportunity to communicate what they are about. Below is a tally of the respondents, their districts and competition, if any. By clicking on the respondent’s name, you will link to their response.
Let us hear what you think
Please join the discussion on any of these topics by clicking the link on the respondent's page or contact us with your suggestions. SONs will post your responses in a future edition to this page.
To receive email notices when we add new content, give us your email address in the contact us page and ask to be added to our list in the comments box. We will respect your time and NOT email you unless you opt in.
Finally, we note that our continuing efforts to inform and influence on your behalf means that we have advertising, legal, and web maintenance expenses and thus we need your support.
Please consider a donation to SONs.
The Executive Committee
|
