Candidate's Night

I was pleased to attend the Neighborhgood Association's Candidate's Night yesterday evening. It was good to see all the candidates in one place for the 7th ward Common Council race. I would like to offer several observations on the candidates and what they said. I think a public discussion of the candidate's positions and qualifications is a good thing and something that should be encouraged. A blog is as good a place as any to do that.

1. The candates provided opening satements that were quite revealing. Cathy Fahey, the only woman running, provided an upbeat and positive feature focused statement about her qualifications and credentials for running. While her education was focused around her profession of teaching and some of her experience was that of the average middle class mom (cub scouts and PTA) she more than made up the difference by a demonstrated record as a community advocate who was involved in the public policy process of the community. Dan McGinn showed the kind of educational credentials one might expect from someone aspiring to public office but showed he seemed to rely on phone calls to officials and friendships rather than direct public policy work of attending public meetings, comment, and public advocacy. Ford McLain presented a clear interest in public policy formation at the community level but didn't seem to have a good understanding how public policy gets formed within the existing system. He also did not demonstrate a history of community involvement. Richard Melewski presented a picture of a businessman who has ignored public policy and therefore felt unconnected to the public policy process and then accused the process of ignoring community concerns. He didn't appear to understand how laws come into being and had a fear driven dooms day outlook on community life. Brian Scavo was a no-show for the presentation.

2. Of all the candidates I really feel that Kathy Fahey and Dan McGinn were the ones to pay attention to. Not just because they are contesting in the democratic primary. The other candidates did not demonstrate a good reasonable understanding of the community planning or governmental processes. A case in point was the issue of Charter Schools and education in general. These two referenced what has been done to oppose the charter schools while the others said "There's nothing that can be done". There's a good deal that can be done and I believe this will unfold in the coming months. The vote the Common Council took to put itself on record, and the referendum on the school ballot are among the kinds of things that can be done. Laws are good and bad and come in to existance through public processes and go out of existance that way. Just accepting them is never the proper response to bad laws.

3. By far, Kathy Fahey really showed herself to be the candidate that understood planning and community participation and was not simply a reactionary who let the community and its issues drift by. It was telling when the question was asked, "Have you ever spoken before the Common Council in advocacy of any issue?" Only Cathy Fahey had. In fact most of the remaining candidates seem to say they had never even been to a Common Council meeting! I would think that that would be part of a pre-requisite in understanding how the local government process works!

There is one more point. Personally, besides Helena Heath Roland who had come as part of her campaign effort, my perception was that I was the only person of color in the room. Our community is made up of many different types of people. Where were they all? There are many asian, black and latino people in our community. None of the candidates referenced anything that touched on this. Though I did submit a question regarding this, it did not get asked. What is being done to "include" other elements of our community in events like the Candidate's night or even in the agendas of the candidates. References to "affrodable housing" and "community safety" are often subtexted as having race relations included in them. No explicit mention of the economic divide or human relations needs of the community was even hinted at apart from references to "affordable housing" or "safety". Those candidates that were biggest on the "fear" factor often use it as a cover for discussions of poverty and race (Scavo and Melewski I have in mind). If they do not mean this they should be explicit in saying so. Otherwise they make themselves out to be posturing to gain the support of racist elements in our community.