>>Valley Patriot>> |
First, he demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what a public official’s job is all about. As an at-large city councilor for the last six years in Lawrence, my constituents are every resident in this great city. I have spent six years building bridges of understanding between all groups in our city - Anglo and Latino alike. During the controversy with the businessmen, I have striven at all times to seek out the facts. Not once have I engaged in finger pointing to prematurely assess blame. As part of my job, I receive phone calls from people complaining about or questioning something going on in our city. I attend hundreds of meetings each year throughout our neighborhoods and amongst various citizens’ groups helping to improve our city. Often these meetings are used to resolve various problems that have arisen between our residents and the municipal government they pay the taxes to fund. In every instance, I listen fully to what people have to say and assess whether there is a legitimate issue to be addressed. Sometimes there has been a lack of proper communication from this administration, leaving residents with many misunderstandings. As an elected city councilor in this city, the most important function I have is to communicate with my constituents and figure out how to address their concerns. After all, they are paying the bills. It is unfortunate that the mayor views talking with constituents to determine the facts as something that is “politically motivated”, rather than seeing it as what it really is - good due diligence. Secondly, the mayor’s recent actions, leaving the meeting with these businessmen last week without saying a word to address their concerns, shows a complete lack of respect and common courtesy for those businessmen. One of my jobs as a councilor is to listen to people and have a dialogue with them. Sometimes I may not agree with them, but I also respect their opinion and, more importantly, their right to express that opinion. The mayor apparently has a different take on public service. And thirdly, with his actions he demonstrates his own incompetence as mayor. As I have stated before, the mayor needed to show his desire and commitment to listen to complaints by the businessmen and formulate corrective measures to solve the controversy or, since he left, having one of his city department heads to present a solution in his absence. A competent mayor would seek to match the services of department heads with the citizens who have questions about what government is doing. If the mayor wants to
engage in a policy of “see no evil and hear no
evil,” then that is his prerogative. To me, that is
a policy of failure. As for his self-proclaimed
“record to be proud of,” his policies have done
nothing but exacerbate a sensitive situation due to his
lack of respect for his constituents, his lack of
understanding about our jobs as elected officials, and
his lack of competency in his abilities to run this city.
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comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
On
Friday, April 22, 2005, Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan
issued a press release, entitled, “A Record to be
Proud Of,” in which he accused me of being
politically motivated in my attempts, along with others,
to assist a group of Lawrence businessmen who are in the
middle of a code enforcement dispute with the Sullivan
administration. The mayor’s press release is yet
another example of a sign that the mayor does not know
what he is talking about. Under the guise of detailing
his proud record on human rights in our city, he could
not cite one substantive accomplishment.