The actions of a single person often make a difference – but for the actions of that person, history could been much different. I’ve watched elections decided by a single vote, I’ve seen what a single, fired up person can accomplish when they see that their foundational principles are being violated – and refuse to sit still.
I have oft blogged here that I am an elected official in my hamlet – Budget Committee, and often, the discussions have become, well, heated. As opposed to the current crap about "civility" (yeah, just watching the Dems and Unions in WI showed that THAT was nothing but a play for political points), those defending those principles should get passionate about defending them – and do something about.
I blogged a bit ago about Operation Payback; here’s the next step and the announcement I sent last night to the local papers:
The reason I first became interested in Gilford politics was that I was tired of opening up the twice annual white envelope that said “pay up” – along with the double digit increases it heralded. I tired of seeing Government valuing its spending habits more than it did seeing those dollars remaining where they belonged – in taxpayers’ wallets. Much of that growing taxation was a direct result of the School Board spending beyond our means – $10,892,633 in 1998 and now doubled without a proportional increase in results – a very tiresome truth.
Tired of the profligate spending, I ran for the Budget Committee with but one agenda: Government should not grow faster than the average family’s income. Since then, I’ve helped to slow down those increases; last year, both the Town and the School Board budgets were essentially flat. Taxpayers, too, grew tired of the School Board increases: twice in three years, they agreed with the Budget Committee and voted down the School Board’s budgets.
John Goodhue’s Letter in the Laconia Sun has it right: the School Board is arrogant and that is unacceptable! Karen Thurston’s Letter remembered the School Board’s refusal to implement the will of the people when Gilford left Laconia to form its own District. We saw it again over the football program. The ‘tude reared its head again this year when the School Board members decided to pay themselves their stipends (even as the Selectmen abstained as tokens of shared sacrifice).
I grew even more tired of the aloofness of the School Board as they refused to accede to any cuts in their budget – always maintaining that they deserved the financial growth of over three times the rate of inflation and their recalcitrance in considering a different management structure that could save the Joe and Jane Sixpack a buck or few.
Aren’t you growing tired off these haughty demonstrations by the Board, as shown again during the “presentation” of the three Superintendent candidates to the general public (as Sue Allen decided NOT to allow audience questions after her softball ones were hit out of the park)? Or the “We know what is best” demeanor by dismissing the voters’ leadership again this year by hiring the new Superintendent – the day before the vote to reject such? Are you, too, tired of this lack of basic respect?
Terry Stewart’s Letter rightfully castigated Chairman Kurt “Let them eat cake” Webber’s for his gaffe of “we make the rules here”. Mix in that famous line from “The Longest Yard: “…we have a failure to communicate…”; aren’t you tired that we are to simply to shut up and do what we are told?
I am – and it is time for change. I am announcing that I will be running for the Gilford School Board next year to replace either Kurt Webber or Sue Allen (if they choose to run for re-election). The choice? An expensive status quo, or a change to demanding excellence for the money and basic frugality (taxpayers come first, Big Government second).
And make no mistake, the School Board in its current incarnation is Big Government in outlook – after all, at $19K / student / year and standardized scores scarcely better than the state average, one cannot say that it is exceptionally small nor provides exceptional results for that cost.
It’s been an interesting and fun run on the Budget Committee but all things come to an end. I had told myself – hey, serve for a while and then move on – it should not be a permanent gig (wish more of the chuckleheads in DC would adopt that mantra). I also want to be able to tell my grandkids that I did more than just sitting around watching the boob tube and swilling Mt. Dew:
No, guys, Grandpa did all that he could – I just didn’t retire to the couch…don’t believe me, go ask your Grammy….
Big things? Probably not. But somebody has to be willing to do the smaller things, too. Hey, what are YOU going to tell your grandkids when they ask "When did we lose our freedoms?"
