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.