Representative democracy depends upon effective representation. Christine Palm, our 36th District’s representative, has done an outstanding job for us and deserves our full support for a second term.

Effective representation for everyone, regardless of party affiliation, is becoming increasingly rare. Fortunately for our district, Christine Palm is one of the most competent, thoughtful, and effective representative I’ve had in my six decades of voting. Good representation means understanding and prioritizing the needs and issues important to our district and our state instead of representing those of a particular political party. This means seeking to thoroughly understand complex issues, not simply parroting a few selected, often politically charged bullet points while closing party ranks. Christine makes the effort to fully comprehend proposed solutions and their ramifications in local and broader context instead of simply repeating party-approved sound bites.

Being a good representative means listening to constituents with an open mind and to be willing to help them expand their understanding and appreciate the complexity of legislative decision making. Christine knows that this means speaking with her constituents, not to them. Her background experience and skills helped shape her effectiveness. Having worked in investigative journalism, she learned how to gain honest understanding by asking probative questions to seek the truth. As a teacher, she learned to discover what it is that one might think they know but really don’t, thereby opening a path to enhancing communication while ultimately enabling better representation.

In a world where success of a political party’s brand has become paramount, it is important for all who love our representative democracy to recognize outstanding representation and then keep it safe and nurture its growth. We need Christine Palm to continue to represent us. Let’s re-elect her in November for a second term.

Al Saubermann

Deep River