What is there about the political process that seems to reduce the people involved in it to posturing public relations puppets?

That seems a reasonable question in the wake of this month/s one 7 and only 7 debate between the major party candidates for governor.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and challenger Phil Angelides spent a televised hour talking about almost nothing 7 and just more than two minutes, combined, discussing their views on what is, year in and year out, one of the most pressing issues for a majority of Californians.

We are talking, of course, about public education. A recent Los Angeles Times poll found that only illegal immigration is a more important topic than the state of public education. Among Democratic voters, education is priority No. 1.

There is a good reason for such concern. California/s public school students rank 48th out of the 50 states when it comes to overall academic achievement. We/re 43rd when it comes to per-student spending. Among states whose high school grads go directly to college, California ranks a dismal 40th.

Yet, during the gubernatorial debate on Oct. 7, the candidates were asked one question about public education, and each man was given 60 seconds to answer.

Two minutes for voters to hear how Schwarzenegger or Angelides would solve one of the worst problems facing California. Two minutes to explain how taxpayers/ money might be better spent on education.

And we do spend a lot on public schools, but don/t seem to be getting much payback. Half the state/s General Fund 7 ,102 billion a year 7 goes to education. Property owners continue to see their local tax bills rise, much of it going to schools.

Yet voters really are no wiser about each candidates/ strategy for improving education after the debate than they were before.

In fact, as each man attempted to cram his views on improving schools into the allotted 60-second time frame, the debate moderator forced them on to what perhaps he believed to be a more pressing issue 7 discussing the funniest things that have happened to them on the campaign trail.

Are we really so frivolous that we/d prefer to be entertained than informed? Are candidate asides and anecdotes really more important to us than making sure our children can and will be competitively educated?

We don/t think so. We believe most voters really want to know how each candidate would solve the increasingly critical problems in our public schools.

Once again, the political spin doctors have failed to understand the public/s need for usable information. And we still don/t know how Schwarzenegger or Angelides would go about fixing the education problems.

Oct. 23, 2006