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OpinionRepeat after me: Itís going to be a good political yearYou know how mothers are always telling their kids things like ìdonít walk on that retaining wall, youíre going to fall,î or ìdonít carry your little brother on your back, youíre going to hurt yourself,î and somehow the kids manage to fall and get hurt? We all know it would be better for parents to have more confidence in their offspring and say things like, ìgood job balancing yourself on that fence,î or ìhere, Iíll show you a safer way to carry your little brother.î My point is this, 2004 is a political campaign year. We could be negative about everything and criticize those who would run for office, or we can take a positive attitude and look at what each candidate has to offer and encourage them and strengthen them in their attempt to represent us. We will attempt with all our might to be unbiased and informative in presenting the issues and candidates to you, our readers. ECM Publishers has some guidelines we try to follow regarding political campaign procedures. I say ìguidelinesî because we will probably fail if we try to stick strictly to ìrulesî or ìpolicies.î And those on one side or the other will always find our mistakes. But like I said, we will try very hard to be impartial and informative so you can make up your own minds. Remember, letters to the editor must be signed, including phone numbers and addresses. Form letters are not published. Letters are subject to editing and letters deemed libelous will be rejected. Whether a letter is published in whole or in part is totally up to the editor. Notices of fund-raisers must be paid advertisements. We do not ìcoverî fund-raisers. We will provide one opportunity for a candidate to briefly introduce him or herself as they file for office. After that, endorsements must be paid advertisements. We will publish a voterís guide in the issue(s) before the election, giving candidates a chance to address issues important to them. Later, I will remind you of the last-letter-to-the-editor requirements. For now, I say letís go forward with a positive attitude and have a good political campaign year. ©ECM Post Review |