Measure A’s littlest campaigner

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR--Lindsay Wolfe has been going to the voting booths with

her father since she was 3.

Older and wiser at 8, she has decided to help him campaign for Measure A

by making phone calls and going door-to-door.

Lindsay is an avid supporter of the proposed $110-million school bond

that Newport-Mesa voters will decide on Tuesday.

Her political activism began when she decided to tag along with her

father, Norman Wolfe, who is one of the Eastbluff Elementary School site

coordinators for the campaign. After a few minutes of listening to her

father make campaign calls to residents, she asked if she could call

people, too.

So, with the go-ahead from campaign headquarters, Wolfe let his daughter

give it a try. She began by calling her mother and her friends’ parents.

“Then she just got into the swing of things,” Wolfe said. “When we went

back the second night, she took a list and started calling.”

The third-grader at Eastbluff Elementary has her spiel down to a T.

“It helps schools that are old and need new roofs or new paint,” she

tells people on the phone.

While many ears are sympathetic to the woes of aging schools, it is more

likely her tinkling voice that wins the hearts of residents who get a

phone call from Lindsay. She estimates that she has dialed nearly 100

numbers.

Not everyone has been receptive to her innocent charm, however.

“There were some nice ones, some kind of rude ones and some mean ones,”

she said. “I think only one hung up on me.”

Lindsay said it’s most fun to talk on the phone to people who are

supportive of the school bond.

“I just thought it was cool because you get to help the schools,” she

said.

While Lindsay was making phone calls, her father was by her side, cuing

her if she forgot what to say or needed guidance.

“I was just sitting there with a big grin,” Wolfe said affectionately.

He exposed Lindsay to politics at a young age and was very impressed

when, during the presidential primary election in March, she asked him

what each measure was about and opined on how he should vote.

Lindsay said she can’t wait until she’s old enough to vote and thinks

that all children should go to the polls with their parents.

“They should have to vote with their parents because then they’ll be

ready when they’re 18,” she said.