TS - Gallegos' campaign defends use of polling

Gallegos' campaign defends use of polling; calls it 'standard practice'
James Faulk The Times-Standard
03/27/2006 4:21 AM PST

EUREKA -- The campaign to re-elect District Attorney Paul Gallegos is defending a decision to spend $5,000 of its campaign money on polling.

One local critic has claimed that the polls actually asked about prominent local businessman Rob Arkley.

But when asked about the polling, and the questions that were included, Gallegos' campaign manager, Allison Sterling Nichols, said the poll has underscored Gallegos' good position in the campaign.

"Our poll confirmed that a majority of Humboldt residents think Paul is doing a great job and are impressed with his success of taking violent criminals off our streets and reducing violent crime rates in Humboldt County," she said. "People agree with Paul's priorities of public safety, integrity in office, and equal justice for all."

Polling is part of the political landscape, she said.

"Polling is standard practice for campaigns, and including the names of other prominent community leaders or politicians is also standard practice -- it gives a benchmark to compare other results to," she said.

Dave Parris, campaign manager for Gallegos' opponent, Worth Dikeman, said polling is a legitimate campaign strategy, but that push polling -- designed to sway public opinion rather than gauge it -- is inappropriate.

He also said using a local person's name in the poll without their permission -- such as Rob Arkley -- is also problematic.

"What does that have to do with running your campaign?"

Jerry Partain, whose daughter received a polling phone call, said the call came from outside the area.

"It's interesting that the same people who don't want corporation outside the county to have anything to do with local elections hire people outside the area to make these calls," he said.

Partain, a prominent local conservative, also said that he believes the polls were not seeking the public's opinion, but were rather trying to push the public into supporting Gallegos.

According to his financial disclosures, Gallegos paid Julie Francis of Bellavia Research for the surveys. Partain said the call to his daughter came from out of the area.

"If we're going to keep it local, hire local people to do the surveys," he said.