Politics update from Texastan:

Should a Richardson school board candidate answer this question?

In an interview with me a few days ago, one candidate for the Richardson school board expresses support for the teaching of Creationism in science classes.So I ask an opponent of that first candidate for a position on that issue — “Are you in favor or opposed to that?” — and got an extended non-answer.

I’m not going to identify either candidate here, or even the Place, because I’m giving the second candidate a chance to produce a more responsive response. I may have been unclear in how I framed my initial query and/or the candidate may have misunderstood what I was asking. So I want to avoid any possibility of creating a wrong impression.

But am I out of line in thinking that the second candidate ought to 1) feel some obligation to give me (and the voters) a yes or no; and 2) not be surprised in 2010 that such a question might come up?

There’s Richardson context for this question: Back in the early 1990s, elections for several RISD board positions got tangled up with questions about religion and public education.

And given how this conversation has gone, and out of fairness, I’m going to raise the Creationism question with all of the candidates still running, So the rest of you are now forewarned…

They are not going to go quietly into the night.