Intimations of Personality. A look at Web Pages

Seven Candidates for US Congress are in Medford Today for a Joint Appearance.

They will try to impress us with their readiness to be in Congress, and distinguish themselves among the other candidates.   Let's look at their web pages.

Website: Click Here

Eric Burnette.    Burnette's web presence is bare bones.  He has the splash page shown here, with headline, photo, and tabs for "About", "Join Eric", "Events", "Contact", and "Donate."

The "about" is some 150 words of biography--California maritime academy, volunteer firefighter, helped build a children's park, likes unions and worker safety.  That is it.  The "join Eric" is a sign-up page.  The "Contact" gives a place to ask a question.

The website makes no effort to "sell" his candidacy, i.e. share his view on issues, describe the person's character or background. The "Events" tab is empty.  It is clear that the direct web page is intended simply as a pro-forma web presence plus a place to sign up or donate.  Burnette's real web presence is on his Facebook page, Eric Burnette for Congress, which is searchable within Facebook. His Facebook page is active, with updates every couple of days:   https://www.facebook.com/EricBurnnetteOR2/

Website: Click Here

Michael Byrne.   Byrne has a professional and serviceable web presence.  It's home page has very competent navigation, with clear tabs for "My story", "Positions", a Contact Me form, and a good clear "Donate" button.

There is a good "Ask me a question" form.  There is a "News" tab, that gets updated every day or two.  There is a place to click to get onto an email list.   Administratively, the site does everything right.

It's content reflects my impressions of Michael Byrne: a likable sincere guy who has been active in direct service to his community, and oddly without pretension or airs, given that he is a candidate for congress.  He represents himself as a working man, a stone mason.  His opening introduction video is 51 minutes long, him speaking to the camera, which is a lot to ask of a curious voter.   His explanation of his views is clear and not surprising.  He is a liberal progressive.  Medicare for all.  No more war.  

He is very general about federal lands, saying in his entirety:  "Wise Use of Federal Lands.  We are blessed with incredible natural resources and they belong to all of us."  "Wise Use" is code for use rather than leave-untouched; belong to "all of us" implies federal control.  What he doesn't say is more important than what he says.  He does not say "these lands are pristine examples of unique legacies. . . ." or otherwise imply that the lands controlled by the Forest Service and BLM are to be highly protected from human use.

Byrne's campaign has an active Facebook presence, with timely comments on current events, firm expressions of opinions ("No tax cuts for the rich.  No rush to war.  No desecration of the environment", comments on student debt, denunciations of Mick Mulveney as head of the CFPB, etc.     https://www.facebook.com/congressmanbyrne/

Website: Click Here

Jim Crary.  Jim Crary has been doing this a long time and is fully up and running with both an active website and active Facebook presence.

Crary has positions listed on some twenty items, including Campaign Finance, Guns, Women's reproduction, Net Neutrality, Environment, etc.  Crary has thought this campaign through.  He communicates it in his public presence and it shows in his web presence.  His preparation and sure-footedness with the issues is part of his appeal.  He does not surprise in the positions he takes.  He is a progressive, environmentalist, with a multi-part program to deal with immigration ("For the record I am adamantly opposed to the wall.")

Activities every day

He has all the right tabs: Contact, Donate, Volunteer, and also includes a Calendar that is updated in detail. 

He links to his Facebook page, which is active and current, including comments on national events which clarify Crary's political views.   There appears to be something added every day.  He shows over 2000 likes.
https://www.facebook.com/crary4congress




Raz Mason is a new candidate to the race. Her website was up and running quickly and it has all the essential elements of a legitimate campaign website: tabs for "Meet Raz", "Vision", "Values", "Contact", and "Donate."  The website has ample photos and videos; it is also very general in text descriptions of her political positions.  She has headlines like "Moral Courage, Rural Dignity."  

Website: Click Here

She describes her values:
"Calmness is Courageous."
"Everything is Connected."
"Service above Self."
"Idealism + Realism."
"Always be Learning."

She observes in text and in a video that "If we start with anxiety and division, that's what we will get more of."

She suggests, "Let's work on calmness and courage.  We will always face challenges, some of them major.  Our strength of character, built over time, is our greatest form of security."

In late January she saw an email by Greg Walden that attempted to raise money by criticizing Democrats for "playing politics with children's health."  She responded:   "This is a divisive email.  Each communication that builds enmity, rather than mutual understanding and shared positive endeavor, weaken the foundations of our democracy.  We can disagree.  The honorable way is to do so agreeably."

The content of her website suggests a very different campaign focus than any of the other candidates, one on the fundamental psychology of humans and governance.  Good governance comes from good internal values, free of self destructive impulses.  

She has an active twitter feed with some 2100 tweets and 477 followers, and a somewhat less active Facebook site that has occasional updates on mindfulness, disrupted learning, trauma-informed practices by police.  https://www.facebook.com/razfororegon/



Jamie McLeod-Skinner  McLeod-Skinner has an active web presence, slightly different in design than Crary's, fewer photographs, less text, a less extensive calendar.  I describe it in comparison with Crary not because it is worse or less effective, because it may not be.  It is smaller.  McLeod-Skinner has about 1,000 words on her policy goals.  McLeod-Skinner has two sentences on campaign finance reform (stop foreign influence, overturn Citizens United) while Crary has multiple paragraphs.  What McLeod-Skinner says in a sentence of goal and sentiment, Crary explained in policy detail.  Her comments may well be enough for most voters.  Both McLeod-Skinner and Crary express essentially the same world view.  I do not discern clear policy difference between those two candidates, or for that matter, any of them.

Her website has relatively few photos,

Website: Click Here

which could be added easily.  

The website may be exactly long enough, but it is a different way to talk policy and issues than does Crary or Tim White.

Candidate Facebook update.  Support solar.

Her Facebook page is easily found within Facebook search.  The page has about 1,500 likes and followers and it is updated daily, with comments on current issues.  Her Facebook page--like that of every other candidate--shows evidence of ongoing candidate and staff involvement.  Facebook--not her webpage--is her primary vehicle for voter outreach, an inference I make because of how much more current is her Facebook page.  https://mcleodskinner4or.org   

Jennifer Neahring.   Dr. Jennifer Neahring has by far the least web presence of the various candidates.   

After a diligent search using search tools I concluded that either she does not have a campaign website, or that it is unsearchable, which means the same thing. She does have a Facebook presence.  One needs to search for "Dr. Jenni Neahring for Congress" to find it.   A search for "Jennifer Neahring for Congress" brings you to a page with comments and photos by friends, but no introduction by her.  She can probably fix that.

She is now beginning to bea very active poster on Facebook, with photos of her various campaign activities. Jenni in Pendleton.  Jenni in The Dalles.  Jenni at a bookstore.  

The site has only a tiny bit of access to her biography and point of view.  Navigating to the right side one can find a long paragraph on her thoughts on "Working for a Healthy Oregon" with comments on the Affordable Care Act.  But that is it.

I found no pages whatsoever that described her positions on issues, points of view regarding Walden, taxes, immigration, campaign finance, BLM land practices, or anything else.  Back in time into the Facebook posts I found a link to a campaign website, one that didn't appear in search engines. 

https://www.drjennineahringforcongress.com

Warning when I clicked on the link.

I clicked on it and got a warning that the site was unsafe.

Summary:   Dr. Neahring has not yet worked out the bugs on the internet portion of her campaign.  There is time to fix this, but she starts way, way back of some of her opponents.  She brings strong skills to this campaign, but does not yet have the campaign itself up and running.

Tim White 

Website: Click Here

Tim What has an active web presence.  It is fully functional, with tabs for volunteering, contributing, signing up for emails, and for learning more.  Clicking on "Learn More" brings you to issues.  They have 100 word summaries and then a "read more" option that brings readers to a full description of his point of view.  It is very similar to Jim Crary's in its thoroughness and far, far greater than the other candidates.   This White has thought about the issues.  His orientation is progressive environmental.  He differs from his Democratic opponents in  one way that I see from reading his website.  His tone is different from the other candidates.  He is a bit more direct.  No pussyfooting.  Greg Walden is wrong.

Compared to the other candidates, his website is oddly text-rich and photo poor.  He could easily have illustrated his long position papers with photos, but did not.

The emphasis of the website is on White's positions on issues, not his engagement with the people of the district.   That, too, could be changed easily if he chooses, but the website may well be a window into White's orientation, as if to say we are electing a political fighter, not a community schmooze.  What is important is what he believes and how he says it, not whether he is meeting a store clerk in LaGrand or standing in a bookstore in Ashland.

He has an "Events Calendar" which has a few events listed, including the one this afternoon in Medford, but February has a total of eight meetings listed.  Either it is not up to date or his schedule is very relaxed.

One item in this website is unique among the candidates, a tab for "Blog".  These blog posts include approximately weekly comments on items that capture his interest.  The blogs have a different, more combative tone than does his website or the public speeches he made in the Rogue Valley two weeks ago.

He has a link to his Facebook page, which does have photos, although relatively few compared with the other candidates. https://www.facebook.com/TimWhiteforOregonCD2/