The Columbian's Editorial Board meets with candidates for Vancouver City Council Position 1 at The Columbian on June 27. (Nathan Howard/The Columbian)
One of the duties that comes with being The Columbian’s editor is a seat on the editorial board. And with the primary election season fast approaching, it seems like I have been sitting in that seat a lot lately. In the last month, we’ve had a half-dozen meetings with candidates for public office.
Here’s why: Like most newspapers, The Columbian tries to present a variety of opinions on its editorial page. That includes our own opinion, also known as an editorial.
Our opinions, which are labeled “In Our View,” are the consensus of the editorial board, which consists of Publisher Scott Campbell, Community Partnerships Director Jody Campbell, Editorial Page Editor Greg Jayne and yours truly. In practice, Greg writes nearly all of the editorials unless he is on vacation, but we share and critique them before publication.
During election season, we try to interview candidates in local races that have a large number of voters, and present our recommendations as to which candidates seem to be the best suited for the job. We don’t claim to have the last word on it; that is up to the voters. But we realize that you probably don’t have the time to go out and listen to all the candidates and investigate their platforms, so we want to offer our services and advice. Feel free to agree or disagree.
The process starts with a bunch of phone calls to the candidates (or in some cases, their campaign managers). We want to interview all of the candidates for an office as a group, so that they have a chance to answer the same questions and also feed off each other.
Once the date is secured, the group interview takes place at a neutral site — generally, The Columbian’s Conference Room 3. We set aside an hour. The candidates come in and sit on one side of the table, and the editorial board sits on the other. We record the meetings with audio and video, and a photographer takes still photos. Since all the interviews are “on the record,” the reporter covering the race usually sits in a corner but doesn’t participate in the interview. However, oftentimes the interview will generate a news story.
I will admit to being a little nervous the first time I went to one of these, but quickly realized that many of the candidates were much more nervous than I was. I guess that is a good thing: It means they are taking their candidacies seriously.
Greg runs the meeting according to a format. Each candidate is invited to make introductory remarks, and then we try to ask them questions on topics relevant to their race. Sometimes they agree, but it is more interesting to hear candidates who disagree.
After the meeting is over and we’ve shaken hands all around, the board members privately discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates and their positions on the issues. Then we decide whom we like the best, and the consensus becomes our endorsement.
For the primary election, we generally recommend two candidates, because in Washington the top two finishers advance to the general election regardless of party. We’ll follow up with a second editorial before the general election recommending a single candidate.
I say “generally recommend” because we made an unusual exception after meeting with the three candidates for Clark Public Utilities commissioner. We recommend any of them. Believe me, you can’t go wrong. But, as a voter, I wouldn’t have known that without the help of the editorial board interview.
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