Will Rogers
The reelection campaign for U.S. Rep. Jim Rogan mailed a questionnaire
to local voters two weeks ago, and I'm begging readers to stop sending me
copies. Rogan's campaign asked voters to tell him which issues are
important, and where they stand. While debate over abortion is almost
always heated, an alternative Rogan offers in his questionnaire has
readers rushing to share their copies.
Rogan's mailer asks voters which of four general views they support.
One reads, "Allow abortions for rape, incense and the life of the
mother." That's right, incense, as in sandalwood. And there were other
gaffes.
I'd gleefully joke about the screw-ups, but smugness requires
pretending this newspaper has never published "meat" when the reporter
meant "meet," or misspelled a city official's name, or worse. Longtime
readers may recall our story about a local hospital donating used sheets
to a good cause. No one here could explain how the word sheets in the
headline was replaced by a common vulgarity often used to describe feces
or campaign literature. Of course, we can try to redeem ourselves with a
correction or clarification. When goofs as stunning as "incense" go out,
looking foolish costs Rogan's campaign from $20,000 to $40,000 -- the
typical cost of such mailers.
I did get a giggle from the mailer's question about schools, a snicker
not dependent upon an error, but upon the insulting simplicity all
candidates routinely impose on hideously complicated issues. Voters were
asked if Congress should support or oppose what Rogan called four
"programs to improve our schools," each detailed in just two words. One
certain to generate hot debate is simply called "less bureaucracy." It
will surely test Rogan's well of personal courage to battle the
well-funded "more bureaucracy in schools" lobby.
CASH ON THE KNUCKLEHEAD
Elsewhere on the schools front, if someone offers you the 25-cent tour
of a Burbank school, exercise caution. It may cost more than that. A
reader contacted me to say her 11-year-old was coming up short on
purchases at the school lunchroom. Apparently overnight, prices
skyrocketed -- but only for some students. Victims weren't being picked
on, they were dealing with staff not familiar with the Susan B. Anthony
$1 coin. Apparently those manning cash registers decided that, if it's
roughly the size and shape of a quarter, it's worth a quarter. Kids using
a Susan B. Anthony for a $1 item were told to cough up three more.
While others have complained the SBA dollar and the quarter are
