There’s another development in the Common Council race between Lynn Binnie and Paul Yvarra. In a published story in Saturday’s Gazette entitled, Whitewater council candidate admits mistakes about opponent, Paul Yvarra acknowledges what every reasonable person in all Whitewater already knew: that Mr. Yvarra’s charge about Fairhaven Senior Services being responsible for municipal fiscal difficulties was wholly false.

What does Mr. Yvarra have to say after smearing Mr. Binnie and Fairhaven (and the Prairie Village location)?

Here’s Candidate Yvarra after being caught in a deception:

Yvarra said he “made a mistake” and wasn’t trying to imply Binnie did something wrong.

Yvarra said he based his statements on information from a Jefferson County newspaper.

“I understand they are paying their taxes and paying extra because of the situation they are facing,” Yvarra said.

Oh, brother.

Even when he admits he was wrong, Mr. Yvarra shows himself to be deceptive and reckless. Any reasonable person reading Paul Yvarra’s original statement appearing in Wednesday’s Gazette will see that he most certainly did suggest that Lynn Binnie and Fairhaven did something wrong (“TIF No. 4 helped subsidize a development cost for my opponent’s employer. As my opponent and his employer did not meet their promises, this is one of the reasons for the distress [sic] classification.”).

Needless to say, Fairhaven and Mr. Binnie (as administrator of Fairhaven) kept all their promises, and were not responsible for a distressed classification for TID (Tax Incremental District) 4.

Almost – but not quite as bad – is how Paul Yvarra justifies the basis for his false claim. Wait for it – he says he “based his statements on information from a Jefferson County newspaper.”

That’s truly reckless, since (1) no Jefferson County newspaper said what Mr. Yvarra said, (2) he read whatever he read without comprehension, (3) he did no research or work on his own to confirm any of this bizarre claim, and (4) he deliberately made his statements to the Gazette‘s election coverage section without understanding the issues, careful review, and a respect for the truth.

Unfortunately, Mr. Yvarra’s whole campaign is littered with deceptive errors, in his several campaign flyers. The Gazette‘s story, of course, is addressing the false charge he made in a statement to them, but he’s made false claim after false claim in his campaign papers, as I’ve written previously.

A candidate this reckless as a candidate is an even greater risk if he should ever be in office. A community should seek those who will advance limited, responsible and accountable, honest government. Many, many people in town, of whom I am just one more, have advocated and represented that approach.

Whitewater deserves far better than someone who hurls false claims for electoral advantage, and whose level of effort is simply to say, well, I read it in a Jefferson County newspaper. (Of course, no paper even wrote what Mr. Yvarra imagines he read.)

I’ve written before about this campaign, sadly of note in part because Paul Yvarra has pushed more false, error-ridden, and reckless charges than any candidate in recent times. (I have no professional or social connection to either candidate, or to Fairhaven. My commentary has always been, and always will be, genuinely independent.)

See, of those prior posts, On Whitewater’s 4th District Council Race, A Dodgy and Deceptive Campaign (about the Yvarra campaign), and Mr. Yvarra’s Campaign: Even More Deceptive Than Before. For an optimistic outlook on how politics can be, see Positive Perspectives for Local Politics.

Fortunately, a few policy disagreements surely notwithstanding, it’s obvious to me that Whitewater already has a reasonable, thorough, and responsible representative for her 4th Council District in Lynn Binnie.

He has always served, and will continue to serve, Whitewater with honesty and diligence.

Whitewater’s now seeing what it’s like to experience a negative and deceptive campaign, but our city is better than that. To cleanse the palate, consider what politics should and can be.

Respect for facts and sound reasoning. People are naturally smart and reasonable, not just a few, but many, in every part of a community.

Those aren’t merely happy words, but a fundamental truth: society is not the work of a clique, but of vast numbers of people engaged in productive, mutually beneficial transactions every day.

In a marketplace of ideas, dodgy and deceptive claims are refutable, as one can draw on better works to cast aside erroneous ones.

America is in the forefront of all the world in science, technology, economics, and art. We’re that way because we have a society open to diverse talents.

Our high standards in other fields are no less applicable to our politics. Success elsewhere should encourage us to greater success in political life.

Looking clearly. Observation – valuable observation – in politics is no different from observation required to make a major purchase or decide on a place to live: looking honestly at circumstances, then deciding what they mean.

A person looking at life in Whitewater may see things he both likes and hopes will change, and at a minimum he or she should see simple facts the way most other people do. (The same white house, the same gray dog, the same green tree, etc.).

By contrast, someone who tells you that life’s not changed in Whitewater since 1958, or even 1978, isn’t noticing life as it truly is. On the contrary, that view is a good bit wrong, and a good bit strange, too.

We can, and should, look carefully and accurately.

Flexibility. A few decisions involve liberty directly, but most involve policy differences at the margins.

Saying what one will never do, in advance, on ordinary policy is profoundly ignorant – it presumes to see facts and alternatives that are not immediately known.

In fact – as a candidate who truly understood economics would know (and many people understand intuitively) – economic decisions are made at the margin. For buyers, one weighs a possible purchase against alternatives (opportunity cost), and for sellers, one weighs the benefit of additional expenditures for more units produced (marginal cost).

Those who decide economic alternatives presumptively are economically confused, and honestly are providing voters or clients only mediocre service.

One should be open to possibilities; anything less is unworthy of others’ confidence.

Ignoring status. We are a people, and a city of people, who are equals in liberty under law. We don’t need dignitaries, VIPs, majesties, or self-appointed poobahs. A few will try to use supposed status to cajole people into doing what they want them to do.

Ignore these unprincipled appeals to status – we are all equals.

Knowing credentials don’t trump careful, ongoing study. Good and careful work is good in-and-of itself, not through an appeal to credentials. If what someone writes is strong, it’s strong on the basis of reasoning and composition, not the author’s credentials (or vain declaration of them).

Similarly, someone who signs every statement with credentials can’t make shoddy reasoning and writing better by appending PhD after his or her name. PhD, MBA, JD, MD, NFL, CBS, whatever – they don’t make poor work good, and can’t make good work better.

Being one’s own man or woman. Liberty and equality – the heritage of our vast, continental republic – are best enjoyed by people as individuals.

What a sad thing it would be for a free person to set aside his or her opportunities to become another’s mere catspaw.

We can turn away from that path, reasoning, writing, and choosing as men and women standing on their own feet. The great men and women of our civilization cared for others as bold and independent leaders, on the foundation of their own individuality.

We can do the same, by their positive example.