GREAT BEND, Kan. - Political races are the only contests I can think of with no referee to punish bad behavior. In basketball, if an opponent trips you on your way to a game winning layup, you get foul shots. In jury trials, if an opponent introduces inadmissible or misleading evidence to a jury, a judge can grant a mistrial. In baseball, a pitcher throwing spitballs is ejected, often banned for months.
But political elections in Kansas are unique. There are no refs, and there are no Kansas statutes criminalizing lying in political campaigns. In a close race, a candidate's conscience is his only guide, as Jimmeny Cricket would say. And conscience alone doesn't stop candidates like Sam Brownback from a "win first, apologize later" mode of operation.
One lawyer who requested a mistrial based on prejudicial evidence told the judge: "You can't throw a skunk into the jury box and expect the jury not to smell it." And Sam Brownback knows better than most that you can throw a skunk into a ballot box at the last minute with no possibility of punishment or a do-over. It's winner take all.
Politics is a tough business. But where a candidate like Brownback wears his Christianity on his sleeve, it becomes very difficult to justify last-minute "do unto others, then split" type of conduct.
I called my friend Jill Docking the other day with one simple message: "Jill, I will give the maximum donation to your campaign immediately if you announce for Governor." She didn't take the bait. Nor did she say anything negative about Sam Brownback when I said: "Come on. You owe him a defeat after what he did to you in '96." She doesn't dwell on the past.
So what happened in 1996? Congressman Brownback ran to fulfill the vacated Bob Dole U.S. Senate seat, which he abandoned to run for President. Governor Graves appointed Lt. Governor Sheila Frahm to Dole's seat.
Congressman Brownback filed against Frahm and Docking in the special election to fuffill the remainder of Dole's term. Brownback mugged Frahm, suggesting to Republican primary voters that she was a serial tax raiser, even though he didn't tell voters the tax increase in question was to fund the comprehensive highway plan. Frahm, whose former Senate district was so vast she was often called "The Governor" voted for highways to remote parts of Kansas. Her constituents need to get their crop to market.
But it was Jill Docking who really got sprayed as she appeared on the cusp of defeating Brownback in the general election to become the first Democrat U.S. Senator from Kansas since the Great Depression.
Mysterious phone calls, too numerous to not be coordinated, were made to households
saying: "Be sure to vote for Brownback, and remember that Docking is a Jew." Brownback's ads began trumpeting that Jill's maiden name was "Sadowsky," that she hailed from Massachusetts, home of liberals like Ted Kennedy. But the background music to it all was: "We have enough Jews in Congress. Don't vote for another Jew."
Brownback won. Any person who has even attended Sunday School a few times can tell you that God promises Christians who support the Jewish people special favor, and a curse on those who curse the children of Abraham . Brownback's Savior, Jesus, was a Jew.
As Tip O'Neil said: "No man can read another man's heart." And even in spite of
complaints by Mitt Romney in last year's presidential race that a Brownback staffer was putting out the word to Iowa voters: "Don't vote for a Mormon like Romney," I take Brownback at his word that he is sincere in his Christian beliefs.
But if you really want others to become Christians, we should all try to bear good fruit, the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Paul's Letter to the Galatians.)
Brownback is am ambitious, tough campaigner, with no holds barred. Anyone who seriously challenges him will get the skunk spray treatment that Frahm, Docking and Romney got. So potential candidates have to ask themselves: "Is it worth it?" Is it worth it to get in a fight with no rules and no referees against a guy who wants to win at all costs?
Some, such as our Governor, are smart enough to know some things aren't worth the trouble. But someone may still come forward to run, remembering what Abraham Lincoln said about the man who was tarred and feathered: "If it wasn't for the honor of it, it would hardly be worth it."
The "Honorable?" Senator Brownback may be sincere in his Christian beliefs, but one must question those beliefs and his practices.
Jesus didn't honor dishonesty nor did he promote ethnic or religious prejudice.