From enduring opinion, one often hears that small towns are places of folksy and humble people. Small-town America is meant to be unpretentious. We should be clear with ourselves: America is meant to be unpretentious, a rejection of the tyranny of status and title so much a part of the Old World.
And yet, and yet… one finds that even in a small town in south Wisconsin, one will sometimes encounter a proud, vain declaration of credentials and accomplishments. The website of my town, Whitewater, Wisconsin, is just such a place. On our town’s website, Whitewater’s city manager proudly lists his experience, academic credentials, and awards. (It seems many officials listed on the municipal website have this sort of bio; the city manager’s is an exemplar.)
Here’s a screenshot from the City of Whitewater website, along with the text below. (Two quick remarks — (1) I have a clear legal right to display the screenshot, and (2) the photo and text are both from the city bio.)
Screenshot:
Text:
Kevin Brunner has served as City Manager since 2004. Previous to joining the City of Whitewater, Kevin served as city administrator for the Wisconsin communities of De Pere, Monona and Saukville. Kevin has also served as Assistant to the Mayor in Appleton and Assistant to the County Administrator for Kenosha County.
In 2007 Kevin was Named Wisconsin City/County Manager of the Year by WCMA, and in 2008 he was recognized by ICMA (International City and County Management Association) for 25 years of service to local government. In addition to his duties as City Manager, Kevin serves on the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities Board of Directors, Walworth County Economic Development Alliance Board as Vice President, Downtown Whitewater Inc. Board of Directors, the Carthage College Advisory Committee and Alumni Council, and Treasurer of the Whitewater University Technology Park Board of Directors.
Kevin graduated Magna Cum Laude from Carthage College and received a Masters in Public Administration from Michigan State University. Kevin also attended the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.
If a screenshot should be worth a thousand words, then one now knows all about City Manager Brunner one might ever need know. One sees in this only the vanity of a bureaucrat.
It’s common for private websites to list academic credentials, etc.; it’s rare for governing officials to do so. You might want to know where your private doctor went to school. There’s a reason, though, that these displays are rare in public life, especially in small-town America: governance is not a matter of credentials and past accomplishments.
Holding the office of city manager, one needs no showy recommendation or credentials, only the lawful exercise of authority conferred from one’s fellow citizens.
Not only does this recitation of academic honors and awards (!) add nothing to one’s political authority, it’s shamefully vain and un-American in a public official.
Does Brunner expect particular deference for this? I don’t know; I’ll leave it to others to decide for themselves if that might be so. (I know that there’s a way of rationalizing all this by saying: “Well, it’s to show the quality of the officials Whitewater is able to land.” To which I would reply: “My point exactly, apart from any credentials, and none to the town’s credit.”)
Look around, at Whitewater, Wisconsin. Where does this gentleman think he holds office? This is not Versailles; we are better off that it’s not. Brunner is a public official in a small Wisconsin town. Dignity comes from the office, conferred and held humbly under law, not a showy and vain catalog of the officeholder’s academic credentials, etc.
How many people in this town are poor, illiterate, troubled, or desperate? Too many. They’re residents and citizens, just as much as Brunner. Are they expected to approach him on ‘little cat feet,’ grateful to be in the presence of the learned and accomplished man himself? He does not occupy a private role, but a public office, the authority of which is conferred from citizens as citizens. The accomplishments that matter don’t come from Brunner’s résumé, but from our forefathers, who built a great republic.
Some of the listed accomplishments are too funny — Brunner doesn’t simply tell you where he attended school, but that he graduated magna cum laude. If he had graduated cum laude, would he be less the city manager? If he graduated summa cum laude, would he be more so?
Other cities list biographies for their leading officials, but they usually emphasize public policy goals in the statements, with little or no emphasis on education, etc. Recitations of accomplishments aren’t personal to the official, but policy-oriented.
From Madison, see the bio for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, ending with, “Born in 1959 and raised in West Allis, Wisconsin, Cieslewicz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. About once a month you can find him playing Sheepshead with friends at the Memorial Union. He lives in the Regent Neighborhood on Madison’s west side with his wife Dianne and their dog Calvin.”
From Milwaukee, see the bio for Mayor Tom Barrett, ending with, “Tom Barrett grew up on Milwaukee’s West side, graduated college and law school from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a member of both the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate, and was elected to five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Barrett and his wife, Kris, live in Milwaukee’s Washington Heights Neighborhood with their four children: Tommy, Annie, Erin and Kate.”
Short, simple, plain: What one hopes for in a public official.
There’s also no humor, warmth, or sense of the light-hearted in the written bios on the City of Whitewater website. It’s all oh-so-serious, dry, and self-important. (Perhaps the photo accompanying the screenshot is meant to be light-hearted; it seems, instead, incongruous and discordant when paired with the text.)
Credit where credit is due: I don’t think I could write a better parody of a city manager’s self-importance than the one on the City of Whitewater website.