RSSGordon Smith, Not a Poll-Taking Politician?
Sounds Like a Poll-Tested Message
Oct. 22, 2002
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CONTACT: Greg Eddleston � geddleston@dwd.org / (503) 228.6079
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ELI STUTSMAN AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT TO MEDIA 2:30-3:15 PM
Law Offices, 621 SW Morrison, 13th Floor
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Portland, OR --- In today�s Oregonian, Senator Gordon Smith said he was �not a poll-taking politician� when the issue of his opposition to Oregon�s Death with Dignity law was questioned.
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But that doesn�t ring true for one person polled this summer by Gordon Smith�s campaign measuring public opinion on death with dignity to determine how the Senator should characterize his opposition.
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Portland Attorney Eli Stutsman, political strategist in the 1994 and 1997 death with dignity campaigns and the attorney who defended Oregon�s Death with Dignity Law in Lee v. Oregon, and is currently working on appeal in Oregon v. Ashcroft, received a call from Smith�s pollster this summer.
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�Polls are done with sample sizes of a few hundred people. Gordon Smith has the amazing misfortune of polling me on how he should respond to his opposition to death with dignity,� as Board President for Oregon Death with Dignity, the advocacy organization that passed the law, Stutsman has done more polling on this issue than perhaps any other person in Oregon.
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�As someone who knows how to craft polls, I�m always intrigued to be called on one.� The poll was obviously testing Smith�s opposition to death with dignity and what the best response would be.� We�ve always anticipated he would say his opposition was �principled� and that he would expect voters to give him a pass on it, despite their overwhelming support for the issue. But how principled is a poll-tested response from a politician claiming not to be a poll-taker?� Stutsman asked.
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�Smith�s personal opposition to the issue should not be the issue � we always respect a person�s personal views � but the fact he actively works against the citizens of his state in Congress and supports John Ashcroft�s effort to overturn the law, that should be a problem for Oregon voters,� Stutsman added.
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FOR MORE ON SMITH�S OPPOSITION go to www.3peasinapod.org
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The greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one's own desires and beliefs. The most common desire among those with a terminal illness is to die with some measure of dignity. From advance directives to physician-assisted dying, death with dignity is a movement to provide options for the dying to control their own end-of-life care.
Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) is the leader in this movement, successfully establishing, advancing and defending the landmark Oregon Death with Dignity Act -- a national catalyst for openly discussing and actively reforming end-of-life care for those who are terminally ill.
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