It's a Beautiful Day to Exercise Your Vote For Nobody

Some and John Deeth are predicting a miserable voter turnout for the elections in Johnson County. I don't much care what people plan to do, the right to vote or not vote is "democratic" in the literal sense. My hope is that after the dust clears, folks will figure out how their vote woulda, coulda, shoulda mattered, had they informed themselves about the consequences of their inaction.

Generally when people don't vote, it is because they don't see much difference between the leading candidates (sorry Susan and Terry, but blue and white or white and blue signs are not much of a difference maker) or they are so burnt out on all things political that they leave it to the habitual voter to make the decision for them.

Frankly the races in Coralville and University Heights have more riding on them than the Iowa City race because there are clear demarcations of differences on community growth in the UH race and Coralville now has the issue of what happens if Mayor Jim Fausett has to step down because of his health. Iowa City has so little at stake to the average lethargic voter that it is possible that Sara Baird could actually edge out one or both of the students running as a write-in candidate.

The game changer in IC could be if voters accidentally stumble into a voting booth and decide to exercise their privilege by turning in a blank slate. Sometimes a recorded vote for nobody is the best vote of all. It would be extremely amusing to learn that nobody won the IC at-large race. But that isn't likely to happen. Tomorrow's headline-- "A Victory for Apathy."

Meet City and County Officials at FAIR! Budget Teach In 2/7/09

In my capacity of FAIR! Chair, I sometimes neglect to use my blog to remind people of events in Johnson County that they can take action and participate in. A week from today, Saturday Feb. 7th, FAIR! is sponsoring our 4th annual Budget Teach In: “Making the Hard Choices: Providing Services During an Economic Downturn” at the Coralville City Hall from 10 am to 12 pm.

Speakers will include Johnson County Board of Supervisor, Rod Sullivan; North Liberty City Administrator, Ryan Heiar; Iowa City Council Member, Michael Wright, Coralville City Council Member, Mitch Gross; and Coralville City Administrator, Kelly Hayworth.

With the economic downturn and effects of the flooding of last year FAIR! thought it would be educational to discuss how budget decisions are made in light of these uncertainties (e.g., will services be affected, are taxes likely to increase, etc.). Additionally, we thought it would be important for county residents to hear how you view the move at the state level to shift some additional taxing authority to local government. If time permits, we'd also like to hear how communities are cooperating with each other on plans or services.

As in the past, we like to give attendees ample opportunity to address these decision makers about their concerns. For those of you who need extra incentive, there will be a casual coffee hour from 9 am to the beginning of the forum (which, just in case you can't make it, will be recorded for later playback) where you will be able to chat with the speakers informally.

Shameless FAIR! Event Promotion

In my leadership capacity with Johnson County's FAIR! group (FAIR! is a progressive voice on local issues of importance to Johnson County residents. We work to build a sustainable, livable, and humane community. We value fairness, justice, equity, and open government. FAIR! seeks to mobilize the community through education, public policy debate, and local electoral politics by focusing on issues such as: Equitable use of tax increment financing (TIF), Affordable housing, A living wage, Expanded public transit), we are having a public education session about how tax monies are used within our county. The announcement is below.


FAIR! Sponsors Third Annual Budget Teach In: Where Does Your Property Tax Money Go?

FAIR!, a progressive voice on local issues of importance to Johnson County residents, will sponsor a countywide budget teach-in with representatives from North Liberty and Iowa City’s City Councils, and Johnson County’s Board of Supervisors. The teach-in will be held in Iowa City’s Emma J. Harvat Hall on Saturday, February 2nd from 9:30 to 11:30 am.

Speakers will include County Board of Supervisor chair, Rod Sullivan; North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm; Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey and Iowa City council member Amy Correia; and Coralville City Manager Kelly Hayworth. Former Iowa City councilor Karen Kubby will moderate the event.

The teach-in is open to the general public. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to attend. Audience questions will be accepted.

City Channel 4 will record the program for later playback.

Iowa City Council Connections Forum - No Surprises

I was ringside at Iowa City's Connections City Council Kickoff Forum moderated by Carlton Blackburn held last evening at the spectacular urban renewed Hotel Vetro. As expected, three incumbents and one uncontested at-large candidate appeared. Seasoned veterans Mayor Ross Wilburn, Mayor Pro-Tem Regenia Bailey, and three-term council member Dee VanderHoef took the podium with relative political neophyte and hero of the keep electricity a private utility coalition, Terry Smith. Each waxed philosophical (Dee waxing a bit more than the others) about such issues as:

- Opening statements with praise for the GLBT community (we love them, some of our best friends are GLBT...)

- TIF (Tax Incremental Financing = good, with judicious use)

- Affordable Housing (policy wonk VanderHoef enjoyed this one and mesmerized folks with thorough explanations about deed trusts--not)

- The 21 Ordinance ("we'll do what the people decide" was the popular favorite, though Wilburn and VanderHoef said they personally support the ordinance.)

- Health of Downtown ("mixed" answers, extolling the virtues of the "mix" and awaiting the results of a study about how to mix things better. Given the swanky digs we were in, I thought at least one would have gone with "shaken, not stirred". In a shocker, the word "vibrancy" was only used once by Bailey)

- The strangest question was about Wilburn and his former spouse and current councilor Amy Correia's relationship and whether it affected Wilburn's judgment. He gave a great Joe Biden-esque answer-- "no".

Other than a young African-American Obama local organizer being mistaken for the "hired help" at the cash bar, there was no hint of excitement. I left at 8:30.

Amenities: Great pastries and beverages--poor sound engineering

Forum Grade: C -

Winner: The pastries. No candidate hit it out of the park.

Non-winners: Dee VanderHoef - shorter answers are okay, save your policy details for the League of Cities (Moderator Carlton Blackburn - its your show, its okay to cut off a ten minute answer). Mayor Wilburn, for a guy who likes remind citizens that he doesn't address issues (like the anti-war resolution in 2002)that aren't local in nature, its probably not a good idea to sport the Obama button at a city council forum.

Rumor mill: Two other shadow candidates are theoretically hovering out there--if you are one of them, please get in the race, these folks deserve good, clean opposition. Where is Gary Sanders when you need him?

Press-Citizen said

The Gazette said

The Daily Iowan said

Gross to Run for Coralville City Council

From today's Press-Citizen

"Campaigning on a lack of representation for Coralville's young families on the City Council, resident Mitch Gross announced Monday in a news release that he would run for a seat on the council in the 2007 election.

Gross, 31, is a teacher at West High. Before he became a teacher, he worked for three years as the chief adviser to then-Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge.

"I want to bring new leadership and a new perspective to the City Council. The council serving today is basically the same council that was serving in 1995," Gross said in the release. "I want to be the voice for Coralville's young families. That is a voice that has been missing. When I look at the council, it doesn't look like the Coralville that I live in."

Gross said one of his top priorities as councilor would be to secure federal funding to replace the U.S. post office on Fifth Street. Other priorities include a city human rights ordinance, environmental protection measures and responsible and profitable development."