On School Board Candidate Kelly Davis

Whitewater invites people to choose the city, to live here, and to commit to our community’s civic life.  We offer our way of life to others, hoping that they will join us in the improvement of our schools, public institutions, and neighborhoods. 

Into our small city now comes a talented and educated woman who seeks political office.  Kelly Davis has not been here for decades, but she, her husband, and their children have more than enough years in Whitewater for a strong understanding of our schools & community.   

Supporting her candidacy is an easy decision: smart, well-read, active, and principled should (and in Kelly Davis’s candidacy easily does) carry the day.

(As with the other candidates in the race, a statement of her views may be found online at http://www.lwvwhitewater.org/elections.html.)

Mrs. Davis has both distinguished educational credentials and experience by profession in tax policy.  Her professional work makes her particularly well-suited to the school board’s tasks ahead. 

I’ve read her online candidate statement, listened to her speak, and found the positive opinion so many hold of her to be well-justified. 

I’m also familiar with her volunteer civic commitments, as she has been active in Whitewater. (To write about Whitewater as I have is to watch and observe civic life closely, even if one does not write about every group or organization.  The best observations, in fact, come without becoming a distraction while one observes.  Observation and reflection are quiet undertakings.) 

Mrs. Davis has a record of successful support for our schools, for prominent Whitewater charitable and athletic events, and of her church in town.  That’s a well-rounded portfolio, so to speak.  Needless to say, it requires an energetic person to do so much, and do it so well. 

Now, I do not contend that Mrs. Davis and I share the same politics, or that she’s likely to agree with my own views on civic life.  I do contend, and always will, that agreement on partisan views is unnecessary. 

It’s a commitment to honest, principled policy, diligently pursed with integrity whatever one’s ideology, that will advance and uplift our community. Facts are to be advanced, data are to be presented honestly, values are to be professed truly & faithfully: that’s a good path for anyone. 

It’s a path Kelly Davis ably walks in Whitewater. 

Consider these words, of her own choosing and emphasis, from her candidate statement:

I think it is important to regard a budget as a moral document that shows what we value and consider to be the district’s priorities.

In the end, the only sadness one has about reading her remarks is in wishing that one heard similar sentiments in our public life more often. 

Having listened to her speak extemporaneously, and answer questions, it’s clear to me that Kelly Davis will work cooperatively, speak clearly and forthrightly, with regard to all the community.  No doubt many others have seen these same traits.     

I support Kelly Davis for school board, and I hope you will, too.

Previously: On the Whitewater Schools.

Tomorrow: On School Board Candidate Dan McCrea.