‘Sniff test' should be applied to politicians

November 24, 2005

Spectrum\Mike Chmielewski

The time has come to talk about what's happening now. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow.

As I write this, the governor has offered a proposal to fund education with an additional $90 million. Reaction is quick, and commentators nod sagely while suggesting that the proposal is a good starting point for future legislation. But where are we now?

Now we are well into the school year, with about 10 weeks past and 35 more to go.

Now is the time when teachers generally know their students. Not only names, but where they stand in learning terms - the pluses and minuses that surround each student like a cloud as they confront their personal curriculum.

Now is the time when school boards begin to look at what is happening with all those needs chasing promised money for next year's budget.

Now is the time for veteran teachers to decide whether they will teach another year.

Now is the time for students to confront their own day's tasks, to go to school, to find an &#8220ah hah” moment of understanding.

Now is also a time to stitch together the past and future. The time to look back at promises made, promises kept Š or not.

It seems to be a characteristic of the political process, especially political campaigns, that candidates assume the mantle of hero. Promises flow like water in my driveway during breakup.

The stitching of past and future happens every day. Today when you send your child to school with a hug. Today when you decide to write a letter to the editor saying what you think about evolution. Today when you call your child's teacher or use iParent to find out how they're both doing. Today when you call a politician and say what you want and need. Whoa! Calling a politician out of the blue?

I'm going to be blunt. Politicians are ordinary people. In my mind, neither Uncle Ted nor Gov. Murkowski are as heroic as the citizen who votes after studying the issues. And the organized survey, telephone poll or newsletter in your mailbox is, to my cynical eyes, calculated to create awe of the purveyor's prowess or shock at the terrible result should the other party's views prevail.

Ingrained in our national spirit is the mythical hero who literally rides in on a white horse and saves the ordinary folk from ruin. Yes, there have been notable individuals who have assumed positions of leadership and used the inherent power for good. What often separates the good from the bad is the ugliness of personal aggrandizement. There is a sniff test for politicians familiar to those who've lived in rural Alaska, where we bring the milk container to our nose before pouring.

I suggest that kind of test can be applied now to political action. Pick your politician: assembly person, school board member, representative, senator or mayor.

And this is the hard part. Stay in the now. Don't ask what they have done. Don't ask what they will do. Look ‘em in the eye and tell them what you believe. And wait for their response to your ideas. Let them say what they think about your position.

And if this dialogue doesn't happen, if you walk away feeling that you were listening to a recording, that you weren't heard, that nothing has changed, you know what to do with that sour answer. Pour it down the drain.

Mike Chmielewski is a former Mat-Su School Board member.