Politics 2000

The Senior Citizens League recently conducted a survey of all U.S. Senate candidates concerning issues of special importance to senior voters. We know senior citizens are the age group most likely to vote.

The results were posted on TSCL’s election Web site. I talked with TSCL Shannon Benton Executive Director. My questions are in italic. Ms. Benton’s replies are in bold. I thank her for her time and assistance.

Why did you decide to send questionnaires to U.S. Senate candidates?

We decided to send questionnaires to the U.S. Senate candidates because we feel it’s part of our public education and advocacy efforts to keep seniors informed of their candidates positions. We hope to do the same with U.S. House in the next election.

Where can I read the responses?

http://vote.seniorsleague.org/ Click on the state for the responses.

Did you have difficulty encouraging the candidates to complete the questionnaires?

We had some difficultly in getting responses. Some campaigns just didn’t have the staff to do submit responses. Other campaigns said they received so many requests for their positions on specific issues that had to just select some of them to respond to. And, sadly, others just didn’t reply at all even after repeated attempts to get the information we were looking for.

Do Seniors League members typically vote for Republicans or for Democrats?

We do not maintain that type of information. However, we can say that TSCL itself is 100% nonpartisan. We support or oppose legislation based on its ability to help senior citizens…whether it’s introduced by a Republican or Democrat. We work both sides of the aisle.

Did you send questionnaires to candidates for other offices, such as governor and the U.S. House of Representatives?

We did not solicit responses from Governors because we only work to affect federal legislation… not state. We hope to do the U.S. House for the next election if we have the staff to pursue it, and the funds to maintain such an effort.

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