Editorial: Schweich's death requires political reflection

We may never know the precise reason Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich ended his life.

The publicly presumed reason is that it was a result of negative campaigning, specifically an alleged anti-semitic whisper campaign that was targeting the governor candidate as a person who practices the Jewish faith. Schweich was Episcopalian, though his grandfather is Jewish.

Many presume the religious misinformation was being spread to create a disconnect between Schweich and his GOP voters and supporters, a majority of whom identify as Christian.

Schweich, before shooting himself, had contacted media members from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Associated Press. It was revealed in phone calls and messages that he wanted to discuss with the journalists the so-called whisper campaigns taking place within his own party. Minutes after making the phone calls, he killed himself. More information was revealed late last week that Schweich was on the phone with a colleague about the anti-semitic campaign in the minutes before firing the gun.

We do not know whether Schweich took his own life for the reasons being talked about, whether there were other political interactions we don't know about or whether Schweich was dealing with a prolonged mental illness. The result is tragic, regardless. He left behind a wife and two children and many friends.

Something we can surmise in the wake of Schweich's passing is that political campaigns are remarkably putrid, even in Missouri.

Former U.S. Sen John Danforth, a longtime mentor of Schweich's, an ordained Episcopal priest and revered Republican, denounced the repugnant negative campaigning at Schweich's funeral.

"The death of Tom Schweich is the natural consequence of what politics has become," Danforth said. "It is now our duty -- yours and mine -- to turn politics into something much better than its now-so-miserable state."

Danforth said Schweich had expressed that he was upset not only about the anti-semitic remarks, but also the negative ads being run by Catherine Hanaway's campaign. The ads claimed Democrats would "quickly squash him like the little bug that he is" in a general election.

That, in a nutshell, is what politics has been reduced to.

In a public ad, a man was belittled because of his physical stature. Privately, it appears, his opponents were spreading hurtful lies, all in the name of politics.

We've all seen the ads, whether it be a presidential ad, senatorial, statewide office; even local races have turned ruthless at times.

But the ads have been running, and the campaigns have been negative for only one reason: they are effective.

While there is plenty of finger pointing going on in political circles about negative ads, we all need to do some self reflection.

Does negative advertising work with you? Do you vote based on ads that you see bashing a candidate, or do you vote on a person's record? How much research do you do before you cast your vote?

Have you ever been offended by a negative ad? Did you make it known to the other candidate your feelings about the ad?

These ads are why donations mean so much to politicians. Large campaign chests allow political campaigns to trash their opponents to wide, often ill-informed voters, over and over and over. Candidates would not spend those type of dollars it if the strategy wasn't effective. The ads wouldn't be effective if voters didn't allow them to be.

Tom Schweich was known as being an atypical politician. He had a reputation for not playing the game, for being a straight shooter who would go after anyone as an auditor, regardless of politics.

We hope Schweich's death will change some hearts in today's win-at-all-costs politics.

It's time to elevate the civility in the noble pursuit of public office.