Dr. Roy Nosek, dentist-politician, is challenging incumbent Marilyn Kienbaum for her at-large seat on our Common Council. It’s not Ali-Fraser, but more Iran-Iraq, in my estimation, and an interesting contest. I’ve remarked before that “Whitewater just wouldn’t have its own unique students-within-a-tiny-cramped-corridor line and my-nostalgic-salt-of-the-earth-any-other-ideas-be-damned feel without such community treasures. ”
Over the last two years, since he took office in April, Dr. Nosek has played a more notable – indeed, notorious – role than any politician in the city. No one else is as well-known for a clear set of issues. I disagree with Nosek on every one of main concerns (student housing, dumpsters, signs, ordinance enforcement), but I admire his ability to make his issues known. Even causal followers of local politics know of Nosek, and are familiar with where he stands.
The same cannot be said for others on our Common Council, however more reasonable or temperate their views. Jim Stewart, Patrick Singer, Lynn Binnie, Max Taylor – no one who serves is as easily identified. Many of these other incumbents could not be readily connected to a single substantive program in the city. (I see that one need not be so identified to be successful; it’s merely true that Nosek is far better known for a set of positions.)
He’s hardly gentle, but then, I am not particularly shocked – as you can guess – by an assertive public stand. There is, despite all my dislike for his views, something refreshing about a man who really doesn’t seem to give a damn what people think. In a world of lemmings, or ostriches, Nosek is, well, not a lemming or an ostrich. I have satirized Nosek variously, but he’s surely no wallflower.
Nosek inclines to a community ordered through ordinances and regulations, and often likens infractions – even minor ones – to law-breaking. There’s not a lot of subtlety in Roy Nosek, and if there were, one would not see it for all his bluster, anyway.
Only Marilyn Kienbaum is as well-known as Nosek, for her manner, for her work on the food pantry, and as a contributor to the Whitewater Register. She benefits from a particularly effective public persona as a grandmotherly guardian of Ol’ Fashioned Common Sense and Wholesome, Home-Grown Whitewater values (such as they are). She’s an advocate of a certain, seemingly business-friendly approach, without an apparent understanding of markets, or free, voluntary exchange and association. (I would not – ever – consider her a libertarian. Quite the contrary, in fact.)
Kienbaum speaks, frequently, through metaphor and nostalgic reference. Nosek, by contrast, displays far more grasp of issues, whenever his unfortunate tendency to cause people to wince as he talks is not so distracting. For it all, despite her less-sure grasp, Kienbaum remains the favorite in this race.
Why?
- Kienbaum’s grandmotherly persona is all most people know of her. She seems so sweet and caring, so warm and friendly. She’s as local as local will ever be, and that helps her enormously, too. What she actually thinks about any number of things really doesn’t matter politically. She’s hardly Mother Angelica (with or without the eye patch Sister sometimes wears). That’s not all there sometimes is to a person. That she might flimsily espouse on any number of subjects isn’t worth anything to me. (It’s a shame that others, educated and mature, are so easily cowed, or duped.)
- Kienbaum’s also known for her food pantry work. I have no certain idea how the food pantry’s actually run, or how well it serves our community, but years of association with it helps Kienbaum enormously. That’s all many people know of her.
- Nosek’s anti-student rhetoric makes him a protest, minority candidate. Even many homeowners upset with housing issues, or supposed aesthetic concerns, likely find Nosek’s harsh statements (‘death’ of this or that) cringe-inducing. He’d be a much better columnist (or blogger) than politician – print is a warmer medium than in-person or television debate, but Nosek shows no understanding of those differences.
- Students will walk over broken glass, from every corner of the city, to vote against Nosek. Are there any students who support Nosek? No more by percentage than cows who support Burger King.
So, is Nosek, scourge of dumpsters, mourner of Tratt Street, doomed to lose to an incumbent who shows far less grasp, in my estimation, of political discourse? He’s not my candidate (nor is she!), but there is a path – however rocky and narrow – to victory for Dr. Roy Nosek, DDS.
Next: How Nosek can actually win against Kienbaum.