You Want Even More Votes?
It was suggested in the story that on Election Day Mr. Ridley-Thomas may have been dealing in tasteless overkill. He sent out 11 of his finest charges from the voter registration project to monitor 50 polling places in his words to observe voting procedures and safeguard the voting rights of those who cast ballots. If Mr. Ridley-Thomas were a Republican, I could understand trying to ward off Democratic thugs. But these are your guys, Senator. I never have heard of Republican thugs. Republicans are refined, Senator. You already have more than 89 percent of the people with you. You are aiming, maybe, for 90 or 91? When 9 of every 10 persons vote for a candidate who cant always win a majority at home, methinks this is not a desirable electoral spirit. But, picky, picky. Mr. Thomass order to send out 11 spies suggests that he is possessed of a superb sense of humor or of unadulterated greed. Revealingly, perhaps, the senator with apt irony elected not to address this sensitive issue.
Postscript
No fresh-faced rookie, the senator has held elective office for the past 14 years, the first 10 on the Los Angeles City Council and the last 4 as a two-termer in the state Assembly. Winning 89.1 percent of votes cast for an office, as Mr. Ridley-Thomas did, can inflate a mans mental muscles.
