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From the Radical Middle... Chaos or democracy? This is a test
People on the extremes of the political juggernauts see this position as anathema to their own. Many feel, if you not with us, you're against us. Many in Hopkinton who are aligned with parties, toe the party line, rather than vote on the issues. But others, even though they vote the party line, do so because they deeply share the core values of their peers. Combined, the parties only number about 75 participants at their primary elections.
Wednesday, a writer in another news organization likened the Hopkinton Board of Selectmen to Richard Nixon, and questioned why any Town Manager applicant would want to have Hopkinton on his list, paraphrasing a popular put down of that era, “Would you buy a used car from this town?” The curious part of the lambasting that the Selectmen got from the writer is that while three Selectmen got skewered, Selectman Ron Clark got finessed and fitted for a halo. It isn't that Ron — and I am going to use the familiar here, because I have gotten to know the Selectmen like friends after covering them for three years — isn't brilliant and hard working. But I wouldn't nominate him for pax Hopkintana. He has been right on target with the hard questions about the Whitehall land purchase, but got stung grilling Fred Hoskins and Mike Neece over the Town Manager Search Committee at a recent Selectmen's meeting. In fact, after coming out of the scrap with their integrity intact and moving on to the next subject, a smiling Mike Neece looked at Ron and turned his palms upward. Curling his fingers like a schoolyard brawler, he challenged Ron Clark, taunting, "Bring it on." Ron declined with a good-natured laugh. Leading the current political mischief around town is the phrase, "Look at the Selectmen. Nothing's changed," referring to the change of guard at the last election when the town rose en masse and placed Mike Shepard at the Selectmen’s table. He ran after receiving countless solicitations from people in both parties, in a spontaneous action, who knew he would run as an unaligned candidate. Oh yes, the Board of Selectmen has changed. -----> The power has shifted from a majority pushing an unabashed pro-business core value, to a group without a clear majority; but five truly excellent people with the interests of the Town in mind. The divide and conquer approach — only the divide part has worked — may still be practiced by some in politics, but the divide part will no longer be as effective. We know Lenny votes with Ron on almost every issue in my memory; and Mary and Muriel vote as a block. The former are Republicans, and the latter, Democrats. Mike Shepard is the independent member of the Board, a former member of the Republican Town Committee. Mike Shepard has made a difference. He has brought an unaligned perspective, core values not withstanding, to the table. While he is on the Board, his integrity will bring him to side with either group, depending upon the issue, and trumping any party line that may divide the Board. The writer claimed that Mike Shepard's election has brought chaos to the Board. Just because there is more back and forth, it doesn't mean that the shift in power as resulted in more chaos, as the writer says. It has resulted in less one-sidedness and more democratic dialogue, and that is not something to stifle or ridicule. One monumental difference in town government since the election, is that people who apply for appointment get on the board or committee they apply for, rather than the previous practice of waiting for a political bedfellow to come along or solicit, before moving forward with the nominating process. This Board of Selectmen has talent oozing out of its pores, and genius galore. It is a reflection of the reasons people move to Hopkinton: Hard working people who have been here for generations, and a land that is beautiful, with a spine of windy roads, and acres of lakes and woods lined with stones from when the fields were cleared for farming over 200 years ago. They curve past some houses made of that same stone, and cut a path through the woods that surround the parks. Resident wildlife is abundant in Hopkinton as well as the animals who come to summer, and can be seen at either of the two massive State Parks in Town, as well as locations all over town. “There’s a fox in my yard,” is a common complaint that the police department gets from some former city dwellers. The foxes live here, folks. One favorite is, “There’s a dead possum in our yard.” Of course, as soon as the homeowner turns the corner, the animal scurries off, having outwitted another human with its ancient programming. The schools can brag about their successes and their projected triumphs, and have had majority support from the residents for their projects for years. During the Sunday Concerts, the Town Common turns into an intergenerational gathering place, bringing families together, and creating for children, indelible memories of a joyful Hopkinton that they will pass down to their own children. Why would a Town Manager prospect come to Hopkinton? Because it has all of the qualities of a great town, as well as quality schools and town services; and a great location for commuters. And of course there are those indefinable qualities of the land itself, and of the fine people who choose to inhabit this small part of the Earth, making the essence of the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps a Town Manager prospect will look at the Board of Selectmen and see chaos like that writer does. And that would be a good Rorschach (Inkblot) Test to use; the test that is used to supposedly draw out a person’s inner viewpoint on things. The Town Manager Search Committee should ask the applicants to attend a few Selectmen’s meetings. If they see chaos, thank them for their honest efforts and show them the door. If they see a town in need of a complete overhaul, from top to bottom, thank them for their time and pick up the tab for the coffee. If they want a fight, send them on their way. But if they see in the Board of Selectmen a group of fiercely devoted people, with all of their human flaws, practicing democracy like it was practiced in those first meetings around that wide table after the country was freed from despotism, then hopefully, the Search committee will keep listening. And if the applicant sees a challenge that beckons to their sense of principle, good nature, and need to succeed, then there is no other choice the Town Manager Search Committee has, but to say: “Bring it on!” |
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August
24, 2006 — It has been HopNews policy to stay out of politics. We
choose to be a voice for the residents, a resource for all things
Hopkinton, and a breaking news source. We do not do politics, but have
made friends on both sides of the "aisle." But that doesn’t mean that a
person has to deny his observations.