Political poll still raising questions, concerns

By Carol Fletcher
Staff Writer
Suburban Trends
Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Ringwood – More is known about a political poll conducted by telephone in Ringwood in late July, but questions still exist for some who were called.

Residents who received the calls were asked their opinions about local issues, their current local and county political party voting preferences, and about Skylands CLEAN, a local environmental advocacy group.

Ringwood Republican Councilman Scott Heck, who initiated the poll that did not identify to callers that the local Republican Party had commissioned the poll, says he was just performing his job as the Republican leader for Ringwood’s Republicans and as the elected Republican county chairman and representative.

“It’s my responsibility to get input from the residents, and what better way to get it than by a poll?” explained Heck.

While Robin O’Hearn of CLEAN said that many of the group’s members received the poll call and were confused, thinking that CLEAN was conducting the poll, since the organization was mentioned, Heck confirmed that the poll was not about the environmental group, nor was it intended to target any other particular group of people.

Heck also said the poll was not candidacy-oriented, but was meant to understand the way the community as a whole was thinking.

“I would consider this a community poll, to find out the pulse of the community,” he said.

Heck explained that was why he hired a legitimate polling organization to conduct the poll, saying that this way the poll would be conducted accurately and deliver responses from a cross-section of the entire community. Heck explained, “I went to a polling company because they do an accurate sampling of the whole community.”

In a Ringwood Democratic Organization press release about the Ringwood poll, President Rich Falco raised numerous question, including: Why the polling organization couldn’t identify themselves to the people they called while conducting the poll?

Heck said that polling organization’s policy was not to reveal the Republicans or his name.

“I didn’t actually think about it. I understand they (the polling organization) have a standard response. It was an independent individual who did the calling. They do this for a living and they know how to get the best results,” he said.

Another question Falco raised concerned other Ringwood Republicans’ knowledge of the poll. Heck said he didn’t consult with many others about the poll, so people wouldn’t be expecting it.

“I didn’t discuss that I was conducting a poll so I wouldn’t skew the poll,” Heck said.

According to Heck, the questions that the polling organization ask recipients are essentially designed by the organization but are based on topics chosen by the clients. The clients then have a chance to approve or reject the questions.

Heck has no plans to use the results publicly, he said. According to Patrick Murray, researcher with the Eagleton Poll at Rutgers, releasing results from a public poll allows scrutiny on all aspects of the poll, such as the questions asked and the method for picking call recipients.

Heck did, however, reveal his plans for the poll results, and said “I am obviously reviewing them and will do an analysis of the responses. This is something I intend to utilize for myself.”

However, Heck feels that polling is essentially a benefit to the entire community, and said, “The information you get from residents and polls only helps to make the community a better place.”

Heck says the [attention] the poll is getting was a little surprising. “Polls happen every day. I’m not sure why people are excited,” he said.