Apr 7, 2002 4 min read

There’s nothing wrong with asking for the public’s opinions, except it can be a waste of time and taxpayer money when elected officials attempt to mold the results to match a preconceived agenda. Misleading information also can be produced if the public’s responses to specific survey questions are deleted from the final report.

As an example of this sleight of hand process, check out a survey conducted by state Rep. Larry Roberts. He mailed a survey form to voters in the 51st Legislative District with 19 response blocks, 16 which had “yes,” “no,” or “no opinion” boxes.

The casual reader of the results of the poll, which Roberts released March 12, may not have noticed he did not provide the results from four of the 16 “yes,” “no” questions. For the other 12 questions, he outlined specific percentage numbers for each vote cast.

For instance, he reported 77 percent of those responding to the poll said judges should be elected, 13 percent prefer judicial appointments, and 10 percent are undecided. That format was used for all of the other 12 questions.

Yet, no percentages were offered to show how voters responded to these four questions: His performance as a legislator; his accessibility to the public; his attention to important issues; and public satisfaction with his staff’s performance. The only information on how the public responded to those questions is a comment from Roberts saying “the survey indicated overall satisfaction” with his performance.

Apparently the batteries in his calculator failed right at the moment he was attempting to figure the percentages for the number of people who thought his work as a legislator should get a passing grade. Wonder why he is not reporting those percentages to the public?

For a legislator who claims to be a champion of open records and public information, it’s odd that he would withhold specific figures in an opinion poll he conducted. Apparently the public is not entitled to this information, even though taxpayers paid to have the survey prepared, paid the postage for each letter that was mailed, and paid state employees to compile the results.

If the poll had shown overwhelming public approval for his performance as a state legislator from the 1,300 people who responded, is there any doubt that those percentages would have been highlighted, in bold type, at the top of his report?

Exactly what does the honorable state representative mean when he says his job performance rated an “overall satisfaction” in the survey? Why is he attempting to conceal percentages to only those four questions?

Roberts is not reluctant to reveal the percentages from another question on his survey: “Do you believe that conversations a legislators has with his constituents should be confidential?”

Seventy-two percent of those responding to the survey said a legislator’s conversations should be confidential, according to Rep. Roberts. Twelve percent believe the information should be public, he reports.

That bizarre question apparently is a feeble effort by Roberts to justify his legal campaign, which is costing taxpayers thousands of dollars, to block public access to bills paid by taxpayers for long-distance and cell phone costs. No one has ever asked to listen to any of his “conversations,” in person or by phone.

Another question on the survey may be much more revealing than Rep. Roberts intended. The question asked: “Do you believe legislators should have term limits?” Sixty-seven percent of those responding said “yes.” Twenty-four percent said “no,” according to Roberts.

That’s not exactly a resounding vote of confidence for the current officeholders. Is that why Roberts doesn’t want you to know about his numbers?

Mike Ellis is the executive editor of the Herald-Standard. His e-mail address is: mellis@heraldstandard .com. If you would like to see the Roberts survey report, go to this address on the Internet: http://www.pahouse.com/pr/Roberts/05103120a.atm.