Question the Candidates, Vote by their Answers

In the upcoming election saga you may want to take the time to pose a series of questions that require simple yes or no answers from the candidates.Open ended questions are never really answered and if you leave any opening for discussion or interpretation you basically play into the hands of those gifted to be glib or non-committal in their response. Do yourself and others justice with a single direct question that merely requires a simple yes or no.
If you are really clever you may construct some series that demonstrates inconsistency or illogical thinking on the part of the candidate. A contradiction can easily occur to an earlier response if there is doubt on the part of the candidate or he can't remember what he said only minutes ago. Or, on a more positive note, you can see just how far a candidate may go on an issue or what may be considered negotiable by the candidate as a compromise with others is needed. Once in office the deal making becomes more obscure and lost in the party politics but at least you can see how they may respond to a particular issue that is dear to you.
You are not asking them to defend a position, because you want to know now their promise, their committment, and how they will vote. You are in cpntrol of the question and they must convince you to vote for them.
Below are some of my favorites that represent crusades I have written about on this blog site.
1. Would you sponsor or support legislation to establish term limits for elected and appointed officials?
2. Would you sponsor or support a direct referendum option for Connecticut to allow its citizens a democratic approach to initiate or change legislation via a direct voter initiative?
3. Would you sponsor or support legislation to amend the State of Connecticut Constitution to redefine the so called "budget cap" wording to fix the misunderstandings now in contention?
4. Would you sponsor or support legislation to provide the State's accounting information as a Freedom of Information service to the public? Such a service must offer the State's check register to identify payee, date, amount, and purchase order reference that also correlates to the originating agency. Trust me, this is a treasure trove!
5. Would you sponsor or support legislation to eliminate or cap the overtime "excess" that is often applied to the last 3 years of employment for calculation of pension?

Be bold and go forth where politicians fear to tread!