Ignorant politicos at the Co-op [Opinion-Editorial] By Matt Kapko News Editor The Lumberjack February 25, 2004 Last week my sexy fiancé and I decided to register to vote. It was her first time and for me, a long-overdue change in political party affiliation. Realizing it was Presidents’ Day, I had to think quickly. I had a vision of young pamphleteers urging their fellow human spirits at the Co-op to partake in the most pure act of personhood – voting – and thereby, I assumed, someone would be equipped to register us. We approached the table as expected, with its Gallegos-mania backdrop, and asked the two ladies at the booth if we could register there. Yes, Arcata resident Diane Harincar said. Then, under her breath, she murmured, “as long as you vote no on the recall.” I was appalled, but grudgingly bit my tongue – kind of like I do at some hick bar when some racist speaks his favorite word. We carried on filling out our forms as I eavesdropped on a brief conversation between Harincar and her aide, Kersti Stoen, the wife of Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen. Harincar explained it only makes senses that Co-op shoppers would be supporters of Gallegos. Perhaps she really believes that the purchase of organic, overpriced food determines one’s political slant. When we handed her our completed forms, Harincar had the audacity to ask if we registered for a party. Following our defiant no, she said, “Oh, well then you won’t be able to vote” in this coming primary election. “I don’t think that’s right,” I shot back. They claimed that if we didn’t register with the Democratic Party, also known as the party I poop on, we wouldn’t be allowed to vote in the March 2 election at all. I informed them that our political party affiliation, or lack thereof, would never keep us from voting in any election, but recognized that it could keep us from participating in the Democratic Party primary election for president. Things were getting out of hand. I thought, “How could my rudimentary understanding of the election process possibly be more informed than two people who are gathering voter registrations?” I found their utter negligence for the truth embarrassing. Misinforming voters the way Harincar and Stoen did is no better than lying to county residents the way recall petitioners did to get enough signatures for the recall. It’s ridiculously ironic that a pair of members from Gallegos’ camp is conducting themselves in much the same way as the recall advocates. How can we ever demand respect when those “on our side” act with the same ignorance as those we’re struggling against? When members of the pro-Gallegos team attempt to fear us into registering a certain way or haphazardly state that we can only register if we vote a certain way, the Robin Arkleys of this world only grow stronger. My biggest fear is that people with the same opinions and ideas as mine will do such a great disservice to them that I will no longer want to hold onto them. When people like Harincar and Stoen act in such a way, I am momentarily inclined to loosen the firm grip I have on my ideals. And how dare they for making me even consider doing that. We don’t need to intimidate or lie to others to get them to think the same way we do. That’s what they do. It’s not for us to lower ourselves to the ways of the assholes we’re struggling against. Pacific Lumber and all their cronies will have really accomplished something much bigger than a recall election if that happens. Vote no on the recall election, not because someone at the Co-op says so, but because to do otherwise would be adding just another brick in the corporate wall. Home