Tales of Two "Servants"

Here in the 3rd District on June 8th we will join together once again to choose who we will to send to Washington from this region to represent our interests and to a larger degree, the state of Arkansas. The two candidates vying in a run-off are Cecile Bledsoe and Steve Womack, both of Rogers. In vetting each candidate, I discovered distinct differences. I hope my findings in fact will aid in your decision making process.

After several personal conversations with each candidates and researching of their records, here’s what I discovered.

When speaking with State Senator Bledsoe on issues where we disagreed, she listened to my views. She understood my position and even admitted that she had learned some lessons. She seemed sincerely interested in building relationships and bringing people to the table. She also even asked if I’d be willing to put her in contact with others who shared my concerns.

On the other hand in a conversation with Roger Mayor Steve Womack, hoping to clarify his position on taxes and his pet project of Adult Wellness Centers, he seemed to me to be unwilling to listen. He actually became defensive, at one point saying: "I don't hear you coming up with any answers"

In this same conversation which occurred a week before he agreed to sign the “Americans for Tax Reform Pledge” from ATR, Mayor Womack told me and another person that he would not sign the pledge because he felt that “taxes needed to be on the table.” It was the same statement he had made in a public forum not long before this conversation. So it seemed clear this was his position. But then, about a week later, he signed the pledge saying, it had been his intention “all along to sign it on April 15th." But that also was the day when Dick Morris called him on the carpet at a Tea Party rally on the Fayetteville square for being the only candidate of eight in the race not to have already signed the no tax pledge. You can decide for yourself, considering the timing of all this and his previous denials of the pledge, how sincere his explanation was.

Additionally, in our discussion when asked why private sector business was not included in his concept of these wellness centers he said he did not include them because in his view government: “needed to have full control, to do the best job"
In conclusion Mayor Womack said to me and my companion, “I am sure I will not get your vote but that is okay I am comfortable with the supporters I already have.” So much for constituent service.

These conversations for me, reveal two very different people with vastly different approaches to the job as a congressman. One was willing – even eager - to listen and ask for even more critiques, to take personal responsibility for her own actions and all without being publicly shamed. She also made a solemn pledge to Arkansans to not make the mistakes again.

The other appeared to be border-line hostile to questions, unwilling to hold an open and objective dialogue and clearly not genuinely committed to hold the line on increasing taxes even higher than they are.

I believe more than at any other juncture, we need and expect servant leaders not leaders who expect to be served. Arrogance in any public servant is not a pretty or endearing sight. I’ll be doing a follow-up posting on their records.

Just food for thought based in personal observations and experiences~

Masterson Predictions Arkansas Primary

These are just our predictions- nothing more, nothing less~

Senate
Lincoln Halter D.C. Morrison 10%...........runoff
Boozman - Holt runoff

Lt Gov
Darr wins

SOS
O’brien

Congress
1st Dist- Crawford squeaks by Smith
Have no idea on the Dem ticket
2nd Dist- Griffin wins
Elliot- Wills ...... runoff
3rd Dist-Womack and Moore in runoff

4th Dist- Gallas wins by small margin 51%


Supreme Court Seats
Baker wins....
Fogelman wins

Circuit Court Seats
Gary Carson wins…
Beth Bryan wins

Laurie's (first) Most Excellent Exit Poll~

I awoke this morning feeling supercharged for the events of the day. After doing my usual do-de-do’s like checking emails, updating twitter and Facebook, Mike and I piled in the car and headed off to vote at a fire station not far from the house.

I was immediately energized by the dealings. Being an “introvert” I only knew 50 percent of the people at the polls. Right after making our penciled little circles on paper ballots we decided to find some breakfast and write down our predictions about the candidates on our ballots, which I’ll share in the next post. Then I got the bright idea to do my own unscientific exit poll! Why not? I wanted to be out amongst the action and the people. I wanted to share in the spirit of the process after waiting for so many months.

I got home and quickly formulated the questions for my poll~ The fundamental idea was to see how many people I might find who wanted to become more informed and engaged. And I was really surprised by what I found.

I visited 5 voting locations within a 25 mile radius over 3.5 hours, wanting to get the largest random pool of people for Laurie’s first Most Excellent Exit Poll. The individual questions and results are posted below. But here’s what I found. Forty percent were at least 51 years old. The next largest age group at 25 percent was between 30 and 40. Over 45 percent of those I surveyed said they spent “several hours” gathering and researching information before voting while 30 percent said they spent just over an hour. Then 68 percent said they shared the information they had gathered with others (primarily a spouse or relative).

And here was a bit of a shocker, One hundred percent of the people who voted ( I believe that means EVERY single one of them) answered “No” to the question: “Are you happy with the current state of politics in America?” (Perhaps not much of a shocking surprise there). BUT, asked if they would want to become more involved to help change things 60 percent said NO! That was discouraging.

As a matter of fact, at the first two places I stopped to question folks, that number was also 100 percent. I was, ummmm, I have no words. Friends, it strikes me that our biggest problem is one of apathy. For those of us who understand how crucial it is that we all become engaged in the process of electing our leaders, it falls incumbent on us to make sure we are attracting others, and sharing with them, the absolute urgency in 2010 of becoming an engaged citizen, rather than an endangered servant~

Age	Percentage
18-29	18.00%
30-40	25.00%
41-50	18.00%
51>	40.00%
Time Spent Vetting
<>	25.00%
> 1 hr	30.00%
Several hrs	45.00%
Source of Info
Friends/Family	3.00%
Web	15.00%
ADS	5.00%
Organizations	0.00%
All Above	77.00%
Discuss Info with others
Yes	68.00%
No	32.00%
Happy with current state of politics in America
Yes	0.00%
No	100.00%
Voting Record
Always	80.00%
Sometimes	18.00%
1st time	2.00%
Want to be more involved
Yes	40.00%
No	60.00%

The Morning After?

Well, here we are just a little over 24 hours from the results of tons of primaries across the nation as they close the polls and report the results.

Wonder what will happen to all the candidates that have been expounding around the nation on their credentials, patriotism and how hard they want to work for us once the primary vote is counted?

The way I understand it there’s only one “winner” per party, unless of course there’s a run-off election. That having been said there are around 30 candidates who will not be moving toward the November general election just from the U.S Senate and Congressional races in Arkansas alone. When we begin counting non-winners in the other races such as Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Arkansas Representative seats, etc. we should be well over 100 concerned Arkansans that have said they recognize our many serious problems and have ideas for fixing them.

Taking this a step further to include all the staff and volunteers in each of these campaigns, folks who have been so intently focused on these important issues over the past few months I’d daresay we might be up to almost 1000 Arkansans.

On Wednesday, May 19^th I challenge all those who have been so passionately involved in wanting to set things straight within our systems by being a public servant to become a servant leader. Will you still be interested in helping make Arkansas and its citizens a better place with your time, money and energy even after the whoopla and excitement of a campaign has died?

I would say that with 1000 fully engaged, committed citizens, Arkansas is poised to make epic change to affect the nation!