George:

In response to Helena Cobban's post to you, let me make clear what may seem like a subtle distinction.

She thinks I am saying that "we" should not take positions on issues such as the sodomy laws. That is not what I am saying at all. I am saying that if there is no real likelihood that a City Councilor will have to cast a vote that touches on a particular issue, it makes little sense to seek his or her opinion on the issue. And when we know that the issue is a divisive one, where there is a substantial chance that no matter what position is taken, it will anger someone who might otherwise support them, it makes little sense to force candidates to take positions on those issues. That does not mean that "we" don't take positions on the issues -- I have, and I will, write to Mitch Van Yahres and Creigh Deeds, who can vote on the sodomy laws, with my opinion. We have every right to expect state officials to take positions on matters of state law.

In my own experience, when I ran for City Council 12 years ago, I was asked whether my anti-death penalty activism would hurt me. I replied that unless City Council was talking about enacting the death penalty for housing code violations, it made no difference to a Council race.

I don't know where present and past City Councilors stand on the death penalty; it has never occurred to me to ask. If I like a Council candidate's stance on housing and schools, I'll vote for her, even if she supports the death penalty.

When I submitted my name for Circuit Court Judge 3 years ago, I was asked the same question. Here it was relevant, because a Circuit Court Judge would be asked to preside over, and possibly to impose, a death sentence. I replied that I would have to recuse myself from a death penalty case because I could not in conscience follow Virginia's law on that. The issue was relevant to the position I was seeking, because I would be forced to make a decision in that office on that issue.

Nothing in what I have said should be interpreted as meaning that WE as voters and citizens should not have opinions, or that WE as voters and citizens should not express them. All that I have said is that it is unwise to force City Council candidates to take positions on matters of state law that they will not have the power to decide, particularly when those issues have the potential to be cost votes.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, February 15, 2002)