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.