Here’s an assessment of the March 12th issue of the Whitewater Register, my Register Watch™ feature. For those new to the website (welcome, by the way), the feature started because Whitewater’s weekly newspaper has played a longtime role publishing poorly written, dull stories that coddle local politicians and supposedly important Whitewater residents.
In fact, the Register’s part of an out-of-town chain, offers few local stories, runs ads mostly for out-of-town businesses, and is in a multi-year circulation decline.
If the Register were not part of a chain, I doubt it would still be publishing; even as part of the Southern Lakes chain, the print edition of the paper may not last much longer. MyWalworthCounty.com’s the long-in-coming website of the newspaper chain, and that website may be a futile effort to boost circulation for newsprint links in the chain, or perhaps to offer Southern Lakes a publishing platform when many of the local papers fold.
I don’t know if the Register will fold, but it seems increasingly likely. Two years ago, or even a year ago, I talked with many people in town who told me that Hell would freeze before the Register would fold. I’m not so sure anymore.
(One sign of the Register’s increasing irrelevance is the interest that Whitewater politicians have directed elsewhere. One follows this interest: where they turn their attention, I’ll turn mine.)
The Register’s March 12th issue has an above-the-fold story on civil rights activist Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of several black students escorted under federal force into Central High in Little Rock. Brown-Trickey recently spoke on our campus, and her story is both inspiring and, coming as an address on campus, a local one, too. More of these stories, and the sensibility underlying them, might have made a difference, these last few years.
This could have been a feisty, plucky weekly newspaper, and through that course, might have survived, independent and proud. Inquisitive stories on political issues, and watching City Hall the Municipal Building closely might have assured an everlasting future. Some feelings might have been bruised, but every reporter who wrote those inquisitive stories on budgets, politicians, and policies would have slept for being true to a free press’s scrutiny of municipal affairs.
Look, though, at how much white space the Register’s front page has — even with a bold type headline for the story, there are large amounts of white around the headline (and too much around the paper’s bold banner). To see how anemic the paper’s Whitewater coverage has become, one need only look to page 10, where an East Troy story greets Whitewater residents: “Chamber, WCEDA and Village team up for small business loan workshop.” It’s the Whitewater Register, but a story about the East Troy Area Chamber of Commerce.
I wish the best to each and every resident of East Troy; that the Whitewater paper carries the story tells all one need know about our local press.
There’s a fine website, called Local Government Watch, committed to a focus on town government, not merely in Wisconsin, but across America:
While most government watchdogs are watching Washington or the statehouse, who’s watching the courthouse and city hall? This site is intended to give you an example of just what sort of chicanery goes on with your local tax dollars.
If anyone were so foolish that he or she doubted the seriousness of our economic condition, then grim statistics will sweep away all uncertainty. Nearby Janesville now has an unemployment rate of 13 percent, the highest in all Wisconsin.
We’ve no politicians in Whitewater, Wisconsin. We’ve no career bureaucrats, either. They’re all public servants. Ask them, and they’ll be happy to tell you as much. I’ll take them at their word — they (like the Vulcans from Star Trek) have “come to serve.” We are fortunate for it.
They have surely noticed what others have, too — that America sinks in recession, groans under increasing public expenditures, all with no end in sight. Only two dozen miles away, Janesville sinks into something worse than mere recession; her number of unemployed grows each day. Much was made of the benefits of being in her orbit in better times; in these difficult times, one might guess our prospects, like hers, are darker.
Let’s be clear, and set aside the euphemisms of well-fed, white-collar politicians and career bureaucrats, that we have ‘difficulties,’ ‘challenges,’ &c. No we don’t. We have jobless residents, destitute neighbors, and hungry and frightened fellow citizens. Not far away, in some vulgar hovel, but here, in the ‘Banner Inland City of the Midwest.’ Here, in this city, of this state, of this beautiful republic.
All the preening, false humility, and showy processions change nothing of our fellow residents’ condition. And yet, our Common Council comes to serve.
I have a modest proposal, seemingly small, but principled:
Renounce compensation for service while holding elective office in Whitewater. Take none of it for yourselves. Confer it, completely and transparently, to those in need.
These are not times in which those who represent Whitewater should take even a penny in compensation from this community. If it’s an honor to serve — and it is — and one hears it from our politicians often — then it should be a true, unpaid honor, under the increasing unemployment, hunger, and poverty of our city. (The same should be true — easily as much, perhaps more so — of our elected Municipal Judge, Richard Kelly.)
Lincoln was right, considering an even more sinister circumstance — one should not wring bread from the sweat of other men’s faces.
Service needs no compensation, no stipend, no ersatz retirement check. Reject it all – in doing so, our political class will have embraced a truly principled and fair service.
I thought I’d share a satirical video that I discovered previously, but forgot to pass along. Kevin Brunner, City Manager of Whitewater, Wisconsin, is no longer new to town. If nearly everyone in town knows of Dr. Nosek (who could not?), then nearly as many know of Kevin Brunner.
He’s likely a part of city government for years to come, having re-commited to employment as a city official. (That re-commitment came only after first-round-interview-and-out applications to positions in Oshkosh and Janesville; no matter, he’s probably here for a while.)
Not long ago, really, a member of city council was quoted in the Register remarking on the ‘vision of Kevin.’ That’s quite something. Scripture says that Ezekiel had a vision, but one presumes Brunner’s vision is more …secular and political. He’s not the only famous Kevin, though, or even the only Kevin celebrated for his vision.
On the other side of the world, Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd‘s received similar acknowledgment. A blogger from Australia (Hugh Atkin) won an award for satirizing the Australian Kevin’s supposed vision with a video available on YouTube. The video’s in the style of an old Chinese propaganda film, in which Rudd’s party (Labor) celebrates his rise in Australian politics.
The Australian Kevin’s an elected official, and the satire highlights events in Australian politics.
Still, the physical resemblance to Whitewater‘s Kevin is noticeable, as is the presumption of vision, enlightenment, whatever…
The calendar is particularly blank, for our small town. Here’s a screenshot, as confirmation —
That’s a joke, of course — there are thousands of calendars in Whitewater, on walls, in phones, in notebooks, and desks, just filled with reminders for meetings, calls, occasions great or small, for work or play. Thousands.
The emptiness of the city calendar hinders none of that; if anything, an empty city calendar is a happy calendar, for so many (many thousands) who need no guidance from those on the city’s payroll. If there were no public meetings in the city, life would go on here. By contrast, if there were no private gatherings in the city, life would be unrecognizably arid.
It’s a conceit — and a particularly laughable one — that some in the city once described their motivations as the search for civil discourse; having so little understating of civil society — private, productive, and spontaneous beyond any government activity — they’re ignorant and unqualified to venture a compelling opinion.
There were workers in the former Soviet Union who did more, with less, than the white-collar leaders of our municipal building. If anyone in Whitewater possibly believes that the most important — or most productive — work in the city takes place within the walls of 312 W. Whitewater Street, then he’s too foolish to be believed on any matter.
Readers know that I am not a particular admirer of the English, denizens of a dank, cramped isle, practitioners (mostly) of a dank, cramped politics, (where have you gone, Mrs. Thatcher?), and adherents of a dank, cramped culture.
Yet, all is not lost, as I see from a fine speech from a British member of the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, in response to an address from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. MEP Hannan also has a blog, www.hannan.co.uk .
(Note — Hannan felt, all things considered, that Obama was worthy of support in the last election, so he’s of an eclectic politics.)
Here’s Hannan’s reply to Prime Minister Brown’s latest puffery & braggadocio.
One is not supposed — I often hear — to speak so candidly in Whitewater, Wiscconsin. Of course not. Look, though, where this leaves us — less clear, less candid, less honest, less robust, than some of the English. We did not write a Declaration, win a Revolution, establish a Constitution, and adopt a Bill of Rights, from timidity. more >>
I wrote a note of inquiry to Scott Angus, Editor of the Janesville Gazette and GazetteXtra.com, to ask about the upcoming Walworth Country Gazette. He sent along a reply, mentioning that the Walworth County edition will launch on April 27th — the same day that the Janesville Gazette begins seven-day morning publication. (Afternoons are difficult for newspapers, especially now, with so many rival media.)
We cannot have too much press coverage, of Whitewater, or of Walworth County, and so I wish all these efforts the best. It’s not just coverage, but plentiful coverage, that assures a better reporting. (If, for example, we had only a single local weekly newspaper, and no other news at all, then we’d have not a newspaper, but a municipal press release, re-issued periodically.)
There’s a powerful, natural tendency of local politicians to push a story their way — one cannot fault a politician’s staff for trying to shape coverage favorably. When a publication seems to be failing, politicians will move on, to find another reporter to beguile, with praise, attention, and promises of special access.
The challenge — and in a small town it’s a huge challenge — is that young or inexperienced reporters are easily captivated, and will sacrifice their objectivity, curiosity, and integrity to flak a story in exchange for a politician’s attentions, for feeling like an insider in government.
It’s hard to resist that temptation, and it ruins a good many people, who might otherwise have had promising careers, committed to true standards and principles of journalism, with the assurance of their own integrity.
A man or woman, raised in a proper tradition, and having lived in the world, would be better to lose anything and everything than conscience and integrity. No society, neither small nor large, is so worthy that one should bargain principle for access.
This desire to belong, to be part of a clique, or to stay silent for fear of being shunned, is the Sirens’ call of politicians, self-important town squires, and is hard, even for serious people, to resist. We are social by nature; the manipulative exploit our natural tendencies to their selfish ends.
More publications, competing for the same readers, will compel some to consider politics, and politicians, more seriously, less compliantly. From that competitive environment, a better press will emerge.
I am a great optimist in this (and so much else), as there are many good and hopeful possibilities from new ventures, and new media.
I’ve been remiss — I’ve not noted that there’s a new league of Women Voters’ newsletter for March. The March 2009 Newsletter has a schedule of upcoming LWV events. A copy of the newsletter is available as a pdf link in this post, and as a link on my blogroll (on the left column of this website).
Here is a partial listing of events, with more information and events inside the newsletter.
Date: April 7, 2009 (Tuesday)
Event: Election Day
Date: April 23, 2009 (Thursday)
Event: Paula Mohan speaking on “Energy Policy in the Obama Administration.”
Location: 7 PM, City Hall Council Chambers
About the League —
The League of Women voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. We take action on public policy positions established through member study and agreement. We are political, but we do not support or oppose any political party or candidate.
I don’t know of any public meetings scheduled for today. A gift, from a few to so many more — one less risk to run. Thank you, city officials.
A sad story, today, from Wired‘s science section — “March 25, 1916: Ishi Dies, a World Ends.” It’s about the death of Ishi, the last survivor of the Yahi tribe of American Indians. Wired recounts the story:
The California Gold Rush of 1849 to 1850 attracted 90,000 new settlers to California in a single year. That influx created major problems for the region’s native people, who’d previously had to contend with Spanish soldiers and missionaries, Mexican ranchers and, lately, Americano settlers from the East.
In Butte County, where the Yahi lived alongside the Yana, mining silt poisoned the salmon streams, and deer and other wild game fled as the new settlers’ livestock competed for grazing resources. Indians starved. Epidemics of the white man’s diseases took a further toll, and the indigenous population collapsed.
By 1861, the Southern Yana had disappeared and the Northern and Central Yana had been reduced from 2,000 people to fewer than 50. The Yahi started to raid cattle to stave off starvation and extinction. White settlers reacted with a vengeance, and the Three Knolls Massacre in 1865 left only 30 members of the Yahi alive.
Ishi and the other survivors escaped, but cattlemen used dogs to find them and killed about half of the Yahi. The others fled farther into the hills, and hid themselves for more than 40 years.
Following their traditional lifestyle as much as resources permitted, they gathered acorns, ground them into flour and cooked the mush. They turned the skins of deer, wildcats and rabbits into clothing and blankets.
It was tough. Soon there were only five Yahi. Then two. When Ishi’s mother died in 1911, he was alone. Butchers found Ishi in their corral at Oroville on Aug. 29, 1911. They took the undernourished and terrified man to the Oroville Jail.
Two University of California professors, Alfred L. Kroeber and T.T. Waterman, read about him and arranged for him to live at the university’s new museum of anthropology in San Francisco.
Ishi was theoretically free to return to his homelands, but it’s doubtful he could have survived alone, the sole survivor of a culture detested and persecuted by most of the people who would have been his neighbors. Instead, he opted to stay with the friendly anthropologists, their colleagues and their families.
Ishi worked as an assistant at the museum, explaining his language — which had been presumed extinct — to Kroeber and Waterman. He identified objects in the museum collection (baskets, arrowheads, spears, needles, etc.) and demonstrated how they were made and how they were used.
The anthropologists also recorded Ishi singing traditional songs. But he never told them his real name. Ishi means “man” in the Yahi language.
Ishi eventually succumbed to tuberculosis at age 54. The museum staff respected, perhaps even loved, Ishi, and they did their best to give him a traditional Yahi funeral. They cremated him along with bow and arrows, acorn meal, shell-bead money, tobacco, jewelry and obsidian flakes….
On Saturday, March 14th, the Whitewater Area League of Women Voters sponsored a forum for candidates for city offices. Here’s the video from that event. I’ll offer commentary below.
President of the LWV, Ellen Penwell, ably hosted the candidates’ forum. After outlining the rules of the forum, each candidate received an introduction, made an opening statement, answered several questions posed to all, and then made a closing statement.
I’ll offer a few remarks about each of the candidates (all of whom are seeking a seat, either by district or at-large) for Common Council.
First, though, a quick observation. Most of the candidates emphasized how long they have lived in Whitewater. Well, yes, of course they have. It’s a mixed accomplishment, though — if one has been here so long, and circumstances are still troubled, what does that say about how one has spent one’s tenure as a resident? Tenure, generally, drifts toward entitlement, and there is already a thick, smug feeling of entitlement among a few hundred people in this city of fourteen thousand.
Jim Winship (Registed write-in candidate, District 3). Well, he’s the candidate who represents what-might-have been. Having lost to Dr. Nosek in the last election by only two votes in the District 3 race, Winship seeks to win as a write-in candidate. He has the soothing manner that Dr. Nosek lacks, but no less restrictive a view on some zoning issues. (Winship would consider a change in R1 zoning requirements to no more than two unrelated persons; even Dr. Nosek would leave the limitation at three unrelated persons.)
Winship, if tenacious enough, might have been able to make more the last two years’ time with his soothing manner. There’s no way to tell; alternative histories are just guesses. Winship will get the 3rd District seat, and then we’ll see what a congenial manner, combined with a restrictive view on housing, might produce.
David Stone (Candidate, District 1). Either Stone or Olsen will get this seat, but how this will affect Whitewater politics, I cannot say.
Patrick Singer (Candidate, District 5). An introduction, closing statement, and general presentation reminding of nothing so much as an earnest high school candidate’s student assembly speech.
Gregory Torres (Candidate, District 5). One can be young, and yet have a mature view, looking judiciously to broader forces to shape life for the town.
Jim Olsen (Candidate, District 1). As above, either Stone or Olsen will get this seat, but how this will affect Whitewater politics, I cannot say. That’s no recommendation — one should hope to see how something might be different after a candidate’s election. I just can’t see that in this race.
Roy Nosek (Candidate, At-large seat). Is there anyone in Whitewater who does not know Dr. Nosek? It’s improbable — only the feeble-minded, comatose, or dead have yet to hear of him. If the Pratt Institute were still here, perhaps he’d be known among the dead, too. I don’t believe for a moment that he’s right on the issues, and the economics of his theories (and of Winship’s, too) are wrong. Their restrictive approach is certain to fail; they’ll not correct a problem by distorting a market.
Still, I have an increasing respect for Nosek’s conviction — if not its substance — over these last two years. He’s one of the few people who actually says something to someone plainly; most conversations in Whitewater are behind someone’s back. His challenge — and it’s huge — is that he does not understand one medium or forum from another. His convictions need not change, but he would have done so much better these last two years if he had tailored his advocacy to the forum in which it was delivered. Print tolerates far more heat than television, radio, or public speeches. Nosek’s like Pat Buchanan in this way – Buchanan was tolerably incendiary in print, but did far less well when he took that approach in public speeches. Roy Nosek shows almost no understanding of this, and it’s been much to his political deteriment.
Marilyn Kienbaum (Candidate, At-large seat). Like something out of Edwin O’Connor’s Last Hurrah, Marilyn Kienbaum campaigns on. I cannot tell how much, if any, of her remarks were read from a script. Her opening, especially, had that feel; someone of her self-touted experience and community knowledge should be able to talk off-the-cuff. (All of these candidates should be able to do so; most did.)
A few quick points, briefly mentioned, but serious. Kienbaum talks about how long she’s lived in the area (from the Pleistocene Era, I think), but the idea that Whitewater is unique of all the earth is an empty conceit. It’s just a way to insist that someone should listen to her based on her tenured residency, and supposed connection to the very soil of the city, rather than substance. Better still — that having lived here, so very long, somehow she knows better just by breathing our air and walking our streets. She doesn’t; it’s a silly person’s idea.
This hardscrabble, salt-of-the-earth posturing is merely cheap mysticism. God, Himself, has anointed no one to govern here forever. And of Nature — Our air teaches no lessons of economics, our soil offers no studies in law, our water imparts no philosophy. You may pretend if you wish; I’ll not join your foolishness.
Some serious, educated people have deferred to Kienbaum, and it’s not to their credit. This city belongs to no clique, however smug, and less so to one elderly politician, having over-stayed her time in office.
Kienbaum’s remarks on the Food Pantry are particularly telling; she often talks about how happy she is to see young people assist her there. She mentioned such more than once (at 20:36 minutes, and again at 38:33 minutes on the video of the forum). Let’s be clear — the purpose of the Food Pantry is not to offer volunteer positions, nor to encourage young volunteers to impress Marilyn Kienbaum with their enthusiasm. The Food Pantry exits to serve those in need, ably and well, where that service is caring and efficient. Nothing matters more than service to others. If you’d like to brighten an old person’s day, then you may visit at home with some flowers and chocolates. It’s not your job to make the Food Pantry director happy — it’s her job to feed our many needy residents efficiently and respectfully.
Ready for some nostalgia, Whitewater? There was a time when proper families taught their children that one served others without such self-regard. more >>
The March 5th issue of the Register has an above-the-fold story entitled, “City manager’s request for hiring freeze receives support.” Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner’s plan, as the Register recounts it, is to implement a hiring freeze on full or part-time city jobs until August 1st. The Common Council supported this effort, with the exception of backfill hiring for a position on the police department.
The Register notes that “….Brunner reiterated the plan is not a cost-savings measure. ‘The bottom line is that I think it is disingenuous to hire someone and then not be able to pay them in the future,’ said Brunner. ‘The (state budget) deficit could have a greater impact than what has been projected. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there now.”
Register Editor Matt Schwenke goes on to write that “While city attorney Wallace McDonell said Brunner could have instituted the hiring freeze without council approval, Brunner said that he did not want this to become a ‘polarizing’ issue and asked for the council’s support.”
Can anyone believe, in this deep recession, with budgetary and fiscal challenges both locally and nationally, that a mere hiring freeze of city workers is so ‘polarizing’ that Brunner cannot act without Common Council’s imprimatur? If not this, and if not now, then when, ever?
Where, by the way, in a climate when millions of jobs have been lost these last months, is the groundswell for hiring replacement City of Whitewater employees? If this might be a polarizing issue, then it’s polarizing only within the walls of the Municipal Building — no one else of any sense would complain about a freeze.
To whom much is given, much is expected; to manage the city is to make at least a few decisions, in troubled times, without a task force, commission, PowerPoint show, mission statement, or another’s pat on the hand. Can the former City Manager of the Year (selected, I think, by other city managers, not voters) not exercise a little authority without his finger to the wind?
One could pretend all of this is sensible, prudent, or admirable. It’s not.
A council member, longtime politician, and website publisher, by the way, notes that in this matter he will “support the city manager.” Too funny – it was the city manager who sought Council’s support — all this reciprocal hand-holding leaves our politics nothing so much as a support group, not a serious legislative or executive authority.
Forget about public meetings (none, I think) or school (it’s break!) — the Wisconsin Historical Society has the one fact worth noting, today:
On this date [in 1874] magician Harry Houdini was born in Budapest, though he later claimed to have been born on April 6, 1874, in Appleton, Wisconsin. At the age of 13 he left Appleton, where his family had emigrated, for New York City, and began his career as an escape artist and magician. [Source: Outagamie County Historical Society]
Update, 2/09/10: Coan’s account of his travels is no longer online. I challenge the City of Whitewater to put that work back online. The Travels of Marco Polo are readily available online, so why not Coan’s series? The original link to the City Manager’s Weekly Report for 3/13/09 is no longer online, as the city has a new website, and many documents formerly online no longer are. I have my own copy of that report, though, that I have made available.
In a post from December 2007, entitled, “Cat Has Your Tongue?” I chided Whitewater officials for supporting confidentiality regarding litigation against the City of Whitewater while they simultaneously jabbered ridiculously discoursed profoundly on any number of topics.
One of the oddest of officials’ efforts has been Police Chief Jim Coan’s Parallels in Policing series. Here’s what I wrote then:
Travelogues. Coan offers readers a four-page account of his ride along with the New Orleans police department after Hurricane Katrina. That community suffered greatly from the storm, and Coan’s humanitarian instincts led him to there as a passenger in a local police vehicle. It’s not Travels with Charley, but it is revealing reading. Coan’s account acknowledges that policing in New Orleans has limited resemblance to policing Whitewater. One might have guessed as much, but still Coan made the trip. The New Orleans account is part 4 (yes, part 4) in Coan’s Parallels in Policing series. He’s also been to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Perhaps one might also remind Coan that in Euclidean geometry, parallel lines do not intersect, and the cities he’s chosen are about as far removed from ours as one could expect in America.
If Coan likes traveling in a car so much, perhaps he would like a bus even better. Greyhound offers reasonably priced, one-way tickets to Arizona, and it’s beautiful there this time of year. Why wait?
A mature man or woman would be embarrassed by these narcissistic reports and newsletters. Coan must be proud of them, or he wouldn’t write and post them.
Turns out, Coan’s not done — he’s recently paid a visit to — wait for it — Las Vegas. The Whitewater City Manager’s Weekly Report for March 13th has the details:
Police Chief Coan Spends Time with Las Vegas Police Department Police Chief Jim Coan spent some time this week with the Las Vegas Police Department. On his own time and at his own expense, Chief Coan did a ride-along with members of the LVPD on Tuesday evening. Coan now has been on ride-alongs with some of the largest and most notable police departments in the U.S. including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and New Orleans and hopes to ride along with the Washington D.C. PD in the future.
Coan notes that these ride- along experiences have really broadened his perspective on policing and police work – and have been very interesting, fun, and exciting as well.
It may have been on Coan’s time and expense, but it was Las Vegas’s time and expense, too. What could the Las Vegas force (city population of 552,539) possibly learn from a visit from Chief Coan of Whitewater (city population 14,296)?
Alternatively, if someone wanted to apply useful lessons from elsewhere to Whitewater, might not one expect that the cities visited looked more like Middle America, and less like major cities (some of which are vacation spots, some more like a gawker’s dream)?
I cannot wait for the published account of Coan’s latest ride along. I’ll keep looking. If someone would like to send me an advance copy, I’m accepting birthday cards email at adams@freewhitewater.com.
By the way, I’ll be in Las Vegas this summer, also at my own expense, to attend Freedom Fest, the World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds. Guest speakers for the 2009 gathering include Steve Forbes, Larry Kudlow, and David Boaz of Cato, among many others.
I’ll blog on the event, with info on the panels, breakout sessions, parties, and slice of life stories of others attending from across America.
(And if, by the way, at any point during my stay I find myself in a patrol car, I can assure you that it will be for something more meaningful than an asinine ride along and travelogue.)
