A Big Thanks to Everyone Either Serving or Running for Office in 2009
I would like to thank everyone currently serving on the Town Council and the School Board, as well as those running for office. The positions are largely thankless and require a huge amount of effort and patience, and I'm sure everyone has what's best for Chapel Hill at heart. So, regardless of wether I voted for you or not, thanks for your efforts, I appreciate it.
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Comments
I second that!
Yes, thank you one and all.
Let's not get carried away.
An election is a competition to get to see who gets to exercise political power. I'm also sure all the candidates have what is best for CH at heart but their opinions on what that is varies, which is why we have an election. The winners exercise the power as they see fit rather than as the losers see fit. Yes, it can be a lot of work and hassle, but there are more people that want to do it than are allowed to do it and so I conclude it can't be that bad. At least you didn't call it "service." "Service" is cleaning up roadside garbage in your spare time, not holding political office.
Nice example, Jose
Jose wrote: "'Service' is cleaning up roadside garbage in your spare time, not holding political office."Nice example, Jose, of what czei was talking about when he wrote: "The positions are largely thankless and require a huge amount of effort and patience." Emphasis added.
Oh please, Mark! You
Oh please, Mark! You either greatly enjoy holding public office or else you're a masochist. You're at what, about a dozen years in local public office at about age 40 with no sign of stopping anytime soon? In the campaign you talked of long term goals and when the DTH ran profiles of all local candidates and asked for occuapation, everyone else put their profession or "Retired" but you just put "Mayor." You're in for the long term because you want to be. By the time you're done you'll probably have held elected office longer than anyone in CH/C history. I'm sure you noticed that there were two other people that were able and willing to be Carrboro Mayor this time around. If you really think it's so bad you could let one of them do it. But of course in that case they'd be the one wielding the political power instead of you and they'd pursue the policies they wanted instead of the ones you wanted. But why is anyone even wielding power as Mayor of Carrboro to begin with? Becuase by a historical accident CH and C are two different towns instead of one, even though it'd be more efficient to have just one town gov't for an area of this size, especially considering there is a giant, immovable university involved. If you really want to make things better then do what you can to consolidate CH and C. Except that even someone with as much power as you couldn't make much headway on that issue because history has shown repeatedly that entites with political power don't give it up voluntarily.
Another good example
I do enjoy being Mayor, despite those few people who seem to take such pleasure in making it as unpleasant as possible.
It is very easy to be rude...
...when you are hiding behind a pseudonym.
Jose not hiding
Jose is NOT hiding behind a pseudonym. Like many other posters who use a pen name, just click on his name. Give him a break.
I apologize
Last time I clicked on his name (a couple of weeks ago) it said "Jose Canyousee." I stand corrected. Sorry Jose. (and thanks for clearing that up for me, Mr. Cohen)
Yup, that's exactly what I'm
Yup, that's exactly what I'm talking about :-)
Misplaced hostility
Have you ever run for office or volunteered on a local political campaign, Joe? Most folks have no idea how much work it really is, but that's not to say it doesn't have its rewards. You might not like what they do in office, but every elected official works their tushy off and there is little reward for it - especially at the local level. Of course they also get to wield some power - that's why we try to chose the leaders with values we like and skills we need. You'll also notice that of the two opponents Mark had this time around, neither of them mounted a serious campaign. Campaigning is very demanding, but actually serving is at least as hard (but stretched over slightly more time). If they don't have the ability to run a campaign, I doubt they actually have the ability to govern very effectively. Are you mad at Mark because you believe Chapel Hill and Carrboro should be merged? That's hardly his fault.(By the way, thanks so much for adding your real name to your profile! I think your contributions will be taken much more seriously now.)
No, I've never run for
No, I've never run for elected office nor do I intend to. I don't have the right personality type. I'm not a schmoozer or a BSer and it's just not me. But there are plenty of people like that so it's not like there's a shortage.And I've never volunteered in a local political campaign (national one, yes) and after observing the latest local election I don't want to. I don't want to do some of the things it leads people to do. I naively thought that people on here were detached obsevers just giving their objective opinions but eventually I realized how many people are actual acquaintances if not outright friends of candidates. I don't know the candidates and I don't want to know them. I want to be able to give my opinon at any given time, or change my opinoin if I deem it appropriate, without feeling beholden or feeling like a shill for someone, especially a politician. The original point of my post was to note that if someone was serving, aka exercising power and it was was such a hardship then they'd have to ask for volunteers instead of having a competition to see who gets to do it. The guy that runs against Mark in every Carrboro election would likely gladly take office if elected but he knows he has no chance to win so he just puts his name on the ballot to register a protest. And merging CH and C is a whole other topic that'd take a long time to get into, so I'll skip it.
energizer bunny
I synthesize Jose's criticism of Mark Chilton as that Mark is simply the Energizer bunny.
"Yes, it can be a lot of
"Yes, it can be a lot of work and hassle, but there are more people that want to do it than are allowed to do it and so I conclude it can't be that bad."Yes, that's true. Its also true that the vast majority of people don't ever do anything but complain and never get involved in local government. I have much more respect for people I disagree with who take the time to get involved than those who simply complain and what for someone else to do something about it.