Lawrence Evans: Christensen needs to vote

I often read Rob Christensen’s columns and have found him to be an intelligent and sensitive observer of local politics. But his July 5 column “Obama wants me to send $3” diminished my opinion of him by a very large factor. It was a column about email requests for money he (like all of us) gets from political parties.

What shocked me was his apparent pride that he never makes political contributions, is not registered to vote in any party’s primaries and never votes in state or federal elections. I can partially understand the first two, if he’s worried about his credentials as a “neutral” journalist. Only partially, because he writes opinion columns, not news reports.

Surely one who offers opinions on political questions is expected to back up his convictions with private political activity. But not to vote at all in state and federal elections? If I were his boss, I’d speak harshly to him.

Not to vote is an abdication of civic responsibility, not to be used to preserve a false appearance of neutrality.

This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Lawrence Evans: Christensen needs to vote."