Few candidates uncompromised by dirty politics

One of the inescapable lessons from any election season is that many candidates for major office don't think much of our intelligence.

It's true for many offices and both major political parties. They call us on the phone and present false information about their opponents as fact. They play to stereotypes and oversimplification of voting records. They stand on pillars of self-righteousness and attack their opponents as if they have no faults of their own.

And don't forget the name-calling, behavior most of us wouldn't tolerate from our children if they were running for student council.

What a contrast to the political climate when Jimmy Carter was president. "Ford, Reagan and I just referred to each other as 'my distinguished opponent,'" he said in a letter sent earlier this year in support of his son's candidacy for Senate. Carter is highly regarded as a man of integrity and has accomplished great things since he's left office, championing human rights and charitable causes worldwide. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

Yet even Jimmy Carter cannot claim to be unstained by the dirty water candidates must swim in to get elected.

That same letter convinced me of that. It contained a story of a young girl "who came to Plains with a group, and asked whether she should be a Democrat or a Republican. I asked her a series of questions, and her answers let everyone there know that she was already a Democrat."

The questions?

Among them were: "Do you believe we should ignore the advice of Jesus ('Render unto Caesar...') and Thomas Jefferson ('Build a wall...') in keeping separate the church and state?"; "Do you believe that political leaders should deliberately strive to divide Americans from each other?"; "Do you believe we should protect the environment or let it be destroyed for immediate commercial advantage?"

Other questions touched on launching pre-emptive wars, tax cuts for the wealthy, federal deficits and ignoring nuclear arms treaties.

The end result, of course, is that the girl would either have to be a Democrat or an intolerant religious hypocrite in favor of raping our natural resources and dominating the world militarily. The latter, we can safely assume, is his view of the Republican Party.

That doesn't sound like most of the Republicans I know, but maybe things are different in Georgia. It's a stereotype, of course, and I wish Jimmy Carter, man of integrity, had resisted the urge to make use of it. It essentially destroyed any confidence I had left in the veracity of political campaigns.

With a notable exception: local politics.

Supervisors, school board members, county commissioners. justice of the peace ... I'd even go as high as state Senate and Assembly. These are the races that for many voters are an afterthought at the ballot booth, yet they'll have far more impact on our lives than whomever we send to Washington.

And the nice thing is, you don't have to get your information from TV commercials. You can usually just talk to candidates on the phone or even in person.

Many of those candidates will be appearing at the Brewery Arts Center on Oct. 17 and 19 in forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Northern Nevada and the Appeal. You'll be able to hear from candidates from Assembly districts 38 and 40, the board of regents, supervisors, school board and district attorney. We'll provide final details as soon as they're available.

The Appeal will also publish a special section on the candidates on Oct. 17. Early voting begins Oct. 21.

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Thursday's edition of the Appeal featured a story about an analyst named Jay Goldinger, who predicted a slow decrease in the housing market over the next several years. His opinions are no doubt very interesting for the thousands of residents who own homes, especially those thinking of selling.

We received a call on Thursday notifying us of some trouble Goldinger had been through in the past and, according to our code of ethics, want to let our readers know about it as well.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in 1999 charged him with defrauding a business, stealing $15.9 million from the Tustin, Calif.-based public company PairGain Technologies, Inc. It alleged that, in 1994-95, he "commingled the funds of PairGain and his other clients, then engaged in a massive securities-futures trading misallocation scheme. Through the scheme ... Goldinger shifted tens of millions of dollars from certain clients, including PairGain, to other clients, while simultaneously generating enormous commissions, fees, and income for himself."

Without admitting or denying the complaint's allegations, Goldinger agreed to settle the charges by consenting to a final judgment that included paying back all the money he had earned and paying penalties.

None of that should have any impact on the predictions Goldinger handed out in Carson City on Wednesday, said Paul Stowell of Business Bank of Nevada, which sponsored the luncheon at which he spoke.

Stowell said Goldinger was open about his past. and it doesn't affect his status now as a respected analyst.

"He's considered one of the leading experts in his field," Stowell said.

The periodic luncheons are intended to help the bank's customers achieve success in today's economy.

• Barry Ginter is the editor of the Appeal. Contact him at bginter@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1221.