To the Editor:

To All the Politicians I’m Not Voting For:

In case you are wondering, here’s a laundry list of the things I don’t like about you and your campaigns: Canned RoboCalls from you, your campaigns and your big-name friends. My personal record is 4 calls within 20 minutes the day before the Primary.

Candidates who espouse intolerance as a family value, especially when targeting specific audiences that love to hate. You know who you are, and so do the rest of us.

Candidates who try to use their personal fortunes to buy an election – and the ones who rely on their Political Dynasty families for name recognition.

Candidates who think anyone gives a damn about the other guy’s sex life. If that is your idea of facing the issues, you don’t have a clue about the issues facing the rest of us.

Candidates (and parties) who think push-polls are a good way to influence voters.

Polls commissioned by parties conducted by operatives who don’t even know how to pronounce the other candidate’s name.

Candidates whose volunteers call three times in one day to ask how you’re going to vote, and when you tell them that you’ll probably have to hold your nose to vote for their guy because the other guy is worse, say “Thanks for your support!” (One good thing about the new paper ballots is how easy they make write-ins.)

Candidates who hide behind their handlers and refuse to come out in public, except in front of hand-picked crowds of supporters or for fund-raisers.

Candidates whose campaigns jerk community organizers around for weeks and then say it is too late to accept an invitation to debate.

If you don’t have the courage to stand up in front of a community-based candidate event with your opponent, you most surely do not have the courage to go to Albany or Washington and fight the “system” you claim to despise.

So I’ll be going to the polls on November 2 and I’ll be voting for that vanishingly small handful of candidates who actually treat me as something other than a sofa – something to leave a last impression on. The first impression you left was your downfall with this voter.

Donna Seymour

Potsdam