Where do they stand?

By Jim Simon
Seattle Times staff reporter

It's a common complaint: Candidates never talk about issues.

Think -- and listen -- again. Attend some debates and you'll often find candidates well-schooled in the complexities of public policy. If you ask, many will provide detailed position papers on weighty questions like vocational education or light-rail transportation. Still, for the mass of voters, campaigns generally come down to those 30 or 60 second television ads about cutting the federal deficit that wind up sounding something like this: "My opponent, Jane Smiley, wants to cut the Social Security benefits that pay for your grandmother's rent and heart pills."

So what happened to the serious discussion? And without it, how can you figure out whom to vote for?

Set aside those ads. There are much better ways to figure out how candidates might act once they get into office.

Check the votes

It's easiest, of course, with incumbents -- because try as they might, they can't avoid leaving a trail of votes behind them. Many interest groups compile score cards on members of Congress and the Legislature, and if you have a pretty good idea how much you agree with that interest group, the score cards can point to a candidate you may love (or hate).

The National Rifle Association, for example, monitors votes on legislation affecting gun owners. The Washington Education Association, which represents teachers, will track legislative votes on education bills and support for teachers' salaries. If you're interested in environmental questions, you might obtain the ratings compiled by the League of Conservation Voters. If lowering taxes is your thing, check out score cards from the National Taxpayers Union.

Most of these guides are non-partisan in name only. Republicans tend to score higher from business, gun-rights and pro-life organizations. Democrats get high marks from unions and abortion-rights, and environmental organizations.

One of the most potent users of scorecards is the Christian Coalition, which passed out nearly 400,000 of its voting guides in Washington state in 1992. It showed where candidates stood on issues important to religious and social conservatives: abortion, gun rights, school vouchers, etc. It got social conservatives flocking to polls in this state, helping Republicans take control of the state House and the state's congressional delegation.

You can obtain a more complete and unbiased portrait of members of Congress from a nonpartisan group in Oregon known as Project Vote Smart. If you look up, say, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, a Republican who represents Washington's 8th District, you can obtain her biography, voting record on dozens of key bills, campaign finance records, her answers to an issues survey -- and her ranking from nearly 50 special interest groups of all political stripes.

For first-time candidates, with no public record trail, pinning them down on issues can be harder, but not impossible. Check out which groups are endorsing them. Many of these organizations interview candidates or have them fill out lengthy questionnaires. Locally, the Muni League -- a good-government organization -- does general ratings about a candidate's qualifications. (Be forewarned, those doing the ratings tend to be professionals or business people.)

And of course, read everything you can about their campaign: check out our Politics page for the most recent stories, and use our search engine to find previous stories.

You can also hear candidates, in their own words, on TVW.

Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company