Retirees Seek Harder Hitting Voter’s Guide

Without taking sides, can the American Association of Retired Persons continue to educate members effectively to vote in their own best interest? In an era of money-driven campaigning underwritten by the wealthiest of political action groups, that question challenges the nation’s largest lobby as it clings to a policy of not endorsing candidates.

Efforts to uphold the 32-million member institution’s non-partisan charter and yet make sense of election issues occupied AARP activists in Spokane last week. Members of AARP/Vote, the lobby’s voter education arm for the Fifth Congressional District, ripped apart the AARP’s own “State Voters Guide” for Tuesday’s general election.

The 32-page guide, which went to 40,000 older Washington voters, “probably cost a million dollars, minimum,” grumbled district coordinator Frank Yuse. But in his view, “It did not effectively frame issues.”

The retired Spokane educator said questions were not worded in ways that would help readers discern whether the candidates addressed senior concerns factually and gave straight answers on where they stand.

That was the consensus of other team members, too, who decided a “cut and paste” job was needed to remodel the guide for future elections.

In the guide, congressional candidates were asked their positions on Medicare, Social Security, tax reform, long-term care and finance reform. Candidates for governor were asked to address campaign finance reform, housing, education, long-term care and the environment.

“But if you were an independent voter and reader,” Yuse said, addressing the group, “how would the guide serve you?”

“I am thoroughly confused,” answered Reed Hansen of Pullman, a retired economics professor at Washington State University.

“Yeah, I am, too,” said Yuse, who spent a career teaching reading comprehension and independent thinking. “Take a look at what the guide has to offer on Medicare, for example.”

Responded Elinor Nuxoll, communications specialist for the state AARP, “As a voter hearing all the sound bites on TV, then reading this, I would wonder how you can increase spending on Medicare and cut it at the same time.” Others expressed similar sentiments.

“Well,” Yuse asked Hansen, “Would our resident economic expert care to tackle that?”

“It’s very difficult,” said Hansen, whose area of expertise in economics includes government finance, taxes, budget and fiscal policy, “to explain the money illusion. But if you were to tell a working stiff that he got a 6 percent increase in his wages, he would know he was getting more money and would think immediately that he was better off.

“However,” said Hansen, who also is the state AARP’s legislative coordinator in this district, “if you informed the worker that inflation was 10 percent, and he only gets a 6 percent raise, I think he would know he’d been had.”

That essentially is what legislation enacted by Congress this year would have done, said the economist, if it had become law. During the past decade, Hansen and others agreed, the price of Medicare services has gone up 10 to 15 percent yearly.

“Put simply, the price of Medicare doubles every five years,” said Hansen, while spending by Congress on Medicare over the next five years would have risen 48 percent in terms of current dollars.

“Compounding the problem, we are going to have millions more Medicare recipients sharing those future inflated dollars, so there is going to be less service for each,” summed up Hansen.

“AARP doesn’t want us to say vote for so and so,” observed Maxine G. Davis of Spokane. “But I don’t see anything wrong with asking pertinent questions like, did the candidate address such and such points? This isn’t taking a partisan position - it’s trying to help the reader make an informed decision.”

Acting along those lines, members will press state and national AARP officials to approve a more direct line of questioning. If the Fifth District political action team gets its way, future AARP voter guides will try a lot harder to nail candidates down on specifics.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review