Our thoughts about the interview with Judge Swaim

We realized that after the interview with Harrelson we posted our thoughts about how the interview went. Well then, it’s only fair to do the same for Kristie Swaim.

Kristie has been the associate circuit judge in Adair County for eight years, so she has to be doing something right, right? From our interview, it seems that she is. Kristie was very articulate and had very well thought out responses to the questions we threw her way. The interview was much more formal than our interview with Harrelson. That is, Kristie kept her comments only to those relevant to the interview. We’ve been told in our communication classes that some people are media savvy and some are media virgins. In other words, some people know how to talk to the media; to answer their questions without really answering their questions. Others, however, do not have this expertise. They are new to the media and eager to give any response that comes to mind. Well, Kristie was definitely media savvy.

Kristie was very careful about what she said and her responses sometimes seemed rehearsed. Now, don’t get us wrong… this is not a bad thing. Kristie has been through the campaign process many times and she knows what is appropriate for a judge to say and what is not. Being that blogging is a different form of media (more casual and conversational), and since we are university students, we had hoped she might reveal slightly more. But this simply did not happen. For example, we asked her what she thought about her opponent, Josh Meyer. Her response was that she didn’t have any thoughts about any of her opponents. Well, come on now. We know this isn’t true. There’s not one thought you have of him? We understand why Kristie wouldn’t share, we only wish she had said something along the lines of “I’d prefer not to discuss my opponents.” Her claim that she had “no thoughts” about them sounds rehearsed and artificial. And is probably false.

Judge Swaim is a very nice, respectable woman and she definitely has an objective view in the way that she handles herself (which is great for being a judge). We just would have liked for her to be a bit more candid.  

Come back on Thursday to hear our thoughts on the heated discussion panel that happened last night.