Silly Season
As I mentioned in last week’s Luminary, I was taken to task by Steven Youngblood over the airwaves regarding endorsements for this year’s elections. It was my duty as a publisher, he argued, to do so. (Ever since he’s gotten tenure, he’s been awfully argumentative.)
Our editorial board consists of our regular contributors on the masthead. Not all of us agreed on every candidate. In those cases, I broke the tie. Unlike major media firms, we didn’t call every candidate in for an interview. (I did, however, try to get Sarah Palin on The Luminary Hour.)
John McCain is the better choice for Parkville. I’m not going to dissect their tax plans, but in general, Obama supports an upper class tax hike and McCain does not. Parkville is an affluent town. You do the math.
This week, Kay Barnes invited The Luminary and a few other weekly newspapers to attend last minute campaign stops in Platte City and, later, Roxanne’s in Parkville. As I mentioned to Steve Glorioso, Barnes’ campaign strategist, it was a curious tactic since the events were planned on Friday and all of the weekly newspapers in the county would have gone to press with their election issues already. I don’t believe that Mrs. Barnes will be responsive to Parkville’s needs. I get the feeling she views the position as the crowning achievement on her illustrious career, a voter funded victory lap of the Washington D.C. cocktail circuit. She certainly hasn’t been responsive to Parkville’s local newspaper. Congressman Graves has served Parkville well, and even though his supporters have to hold their nose when he campaigns, in the end, I believe he’ll be the better public servant for our area.
As Platte County Treasurer, Bonnie Brown failed to account for $195,000 in 2005 and $17,000 in 2004 and evidence suggested she knew she wasn’t reconciling the general ledger correctly. While the money was eventually accounted for, Mrs. Brown refused to set the record straight, hiding behind closed doors in Platte City, refusing to comment. Mrs. Brown is expected to win the race handily, but that performance should not be rewarded with a return trip.
Lastly, The Luminary endorses Kathy Dusenbery for District 1 Commissioner.
Outgoing commissioner Tom Pryor was a nice guy, but he was not an effective advocate for the Parkville taxpayer. Readers will recall that he voted to reformulate the roads and bridges sales tax, sending the revenues collected from the south to the north part of the county. I’ve often said that either candidate – Bill Quitmeier or Mrs. Dusenbery – would amount to an immediate improvement at the county commission.
Mr. Quitmeier has made very compelling arguments during his campaign. In a particularly salient point made on last week’s Luminary Hour, he said that counties often zone with an urban core, that becomes progressively less dense as you move further from the core. That, he argues, doesn’t take into consideration topography.
Unfortunately, his campaign and his most vocal supporters, have waged a particularly vicious campaign against Mrs. Dusenbery personally. Mr. Quitmeier says he wants to debate Mrs. Dusenbery to discuss issues and has belligerently called her out in advertisements and in comments made to the press. Mr. Quitmeier has had ample opportunities to get his message across. He doesn’t need to meet Mrs. Dusenbery at the flagpole after school for a fight in order to win an election.
Last week I listened to a local attorney tell me that he understood the new city hall cost $20 million dollars. Guess where he got that information from? As we reported last week, the new city hall will cost $4 million over 20 years. Citing census numbers, he claims Parkville’s 4000 residents owe about $1000 each for the place. By his own admission, the old city hall cost about $1 million dollars and the city used it for 10 years. The city hall was not adequate and required about $1 million of improvements. The city had a population of 2000 in 1990, the census numbers for his time in office. So, 10 years, $2 million dollars, 2000 people. Same thing. The only difference? The new place doesn’t have a plaque with his name on it.
The other day – after the radio show had aired — I asked him if he ever called Kevin Green, the nationally known homebuilder who often appears on “Extreme Home Makeover” a “rapist.” Mr. Quitmeier admitted he did, but in the kindest sense of the word. In context, he meant that Mr. Green was trying to “rape the city of Parkville” by building an office complex near Pine Crest. His heart was in the right place – he was fighting what he thought was excessive development – but his mouth was way over the line. The next day he sent me the definition of the word “rape.” Maybe he should have looked up “junket,” too.
I asked Mr. Quitmeier if he ever went on a junket during his time as mayor – specifically during the Parkville gambling era. He said no, he never went on a junket, but he did attend a “thank you” party in Las Vegas that was paid for by the Sahara corporation – both his ticket and his hotel room. He didn’t drink or gamble, so he didn’t see why that was a problem.
There is little doubt that Mr. Quitmeier did great things as mayor of Parkville. The parks and nature sanctuary, the Riss Lake and Parkville Commons deals, the leadership in times of crisis – all good things. Many folks living outside the city limits admire him for taking up their fight to save the rural character of their communities. Win or lose the election, the issues he brought to light will stay on the front pages of the local press.
Mrs. Dusenbery has always been open and honest with The Luminary. As her opponents delight in pointing out, she is not the most polished public servant you’ll ever meet. But I know that she will work as hard as she can for Southern Platte County and she’ll be responsive to her constituents. She has taken the high road in this campaign, enduring a smear campaign unlike any other I have seen at this level of politics. She’ll be the better because of it, and so will Platte County.