I just got this letter from John Kowalko:
One of the things I take most seriously in life is my responsibility and sworn obligation to serve the best interests of the people of Delaware and my constituents in the 25th District. I am therefore recounting some recent events to expose what I honestly believe is an assault on the voters and the integrity of the system. I used to reflect on how fortunate I felt that I wasn’t involved in the negativity and bitterness of New Jersey politics. I am proud to campaign on the issues in Delaware but I fear that some would prefer that we join the mass hysteria of negativity.
I imagine I should feel confident in my reelection bid since my opponent is so bereft of ideas to address the issues actually facing Delawareans that he is continuing to use unscrupulous means to suggest to my constituents “what should” concern them. While I was out walking my District today, (Sunday the 21st) as I’ve been doing steadily for the past four months, trying to get a feel for the concerns of the people and listening to their problems and wonderful ideas, I received a call on my cell phone. This call was similar to others I had received in July regarding what I considered then and now an obscene and offensive practice by the Republican Party, (and in this instance), my opponent. It is the transparently, shameless attempt to influence voters with a series of misleading innuendo and false assumptions, a practice known as push-polling. The caller was a constituent, whose name I will keep confidential, who is a leader in their community. The caller was obviously upset by the tone and tenor of the questions and felt it was a blatant attempt to misrepresentative me and my philosophies in order to wage a negative attack on me.
I point this out for several reasons. First and foremost I find this type of aberrant behavior as betraying the public trust and abusive to the voters and the rights of the voters to be able to make an unbiased, unfiltered and untainted decision as to whom they wish to represent them. Second, and almost as important, I feel that it is a measure of my opponents character that he seems either too lazy or too aloof to knock on the doors of those constituents and ask them what is troubling them and how he could help them. If he believes that he can take for granted the serious issues facing each and every one of us daily and insinuate politics into the consciousness of the populace then he should reconsider his urge to be a public servant. Meeting the voters individually and face-to-face is certainly an arduous and time-consuming task but well worth the effort when the reward is a smile of appreciation and a sincere thank you. To suggest to those very same people that you are concerned with their problems and needs by scurrilous and tainted phone outreaches insults their intelligence and is unconscionable behavior. Complicity in this activity, even condoning such a practice, is shameful and a betrayal of trust. I stand on my record and have made my views and opinions available on my website and in many public forums. I will continue to do that since it is exactly what the public deserves and is entitled to. If my opponent or anyone else would like to have a public debate or discussion on matters that impact the community I will always make myself available. To use deceit and propaganda to shape opinion and obscure reality is the politics of distraction at its worst and the public does not deserve such disregard.