TUESDAY, voters will go to the polls and exercise their right to vote. It is predicted that only 20 percent of the community will cast ballots, so your vote can make a difference.
With a slate of good candidates, picking who to vote for can be difficult. As our community changes, we need to respond to those changes by having people on the city commission with the right skills to handle those issues.
One theme we have heard frequently is how our community needs to be better prepared to compete for more and better jobs as well as improving our quality of life. To deal with these economic-development issues, we feel the three strongest city commission candidates are Bob Agler, Jeff Longbine and Kevin Nelson.
As an accountant, Bob Agler brings strong financial experience to the commission. His leadership on the commission has helped bring our community out of debt and has put us on the path of fiscal responsibility.
Jeff Longbine has a strong business background. In addition to being a business owner, Longbine has been actively involved in the community, serving on local boards as well as having leadership positions on state and national boards. His work on the Regional Development Association has helped land Emporia’s current businesses including Menu, Caterpillar and a potential biodiesel plant that was announced recently.
Kevin Nelson has fought to make his trucking business a success. His work on Emporia Main Street helped make it a nationally recognized organization. His work on the school board proved he could ask tough questions and work through tough issues.
Another candidate on the ballot that has served the community well is Tom Myers.
Myers has been a good, stable voice and conscience for the commission. He is a psychologist and his advocacy for social issues has helped many in his years of service. Myers works well with the other commissioners and, as an incumbent, he has been a community favorite.
Compared to the other candidates, Phil Dillon is practically a newcomer to our community, but he has studied the issues and has received some attention.
But we do have concerns about some of Dillon’s statements on cutting the mill levy in half and then giving raises. While this sounds good at election time, we are not sure those measures are really possible in the short term.
In tonight’s Gazette, read our election special section to learn about the candidates’ views — then go vote tomorrow.
Sanford (anonymous) says...
What about Jesse Solis? I find it disrespectful that you fail to even mention him in your editorial. He is a fine member of this community, a wonderful person, and deserves to be recognized.
Thank you.
April 3, 2007 at 10:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
4_Emporia (anonymous) says...
That is pretty disrespectful, Jesse should have the same coverage as everyone else running.
April 3, 2007 at 11:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Media_Critic (anonymous) says...
The article clearly states that the piece was designed to focus on what were considered to be "the three strongest city commission candidates." This is logical since there were only three positions available, so I don't see it as necessarily disrespectful that Solis was not mentioned in the piece. Also, the article referred anyone who was interested in learning more about the candidates' views to read the Gazette's special election section, in which Solis was covered.
Furthermore, the voters clearly agreed that Agler, Longbine, and Nelson were the three strongest candidates, since they were elected by a significant margin. Myers lost despite being a 14-year incumbent, and the others (Dillon and Solis) were fringe candidates who finished next to last and last, respectively, more than 800 votes behind Agler. In fact, Dillon managed to outpoll Solis by 11 votes even though Dillon just moved to Emporia and Solis runs two local businesses (a liquor store and a security company). And, 4_Emporia, since when have fringe candidates had the right to the same media coverage as everyone else running?
April 5, 2007 at 8:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
4_Emporia (anonymous) says...
Yes the article was about 3 canidates, yet they spoke about all of them execpt Jesse. That's all that I am saying.
"Furthermore" (word no one uses just for you), I agree that Longbine and Nelson are the strongest. Also, honestly I just do not like Agler, thats just personally.
The results of the election were after this story. I just think maybe they should have just mentioned him, like they did with everyone else. Not that it would help him to win. It's just the right thing to do.
April 5, 2007 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Phil_Dillon (anonymous) says...
I find this fascinating. I'm sure that some consider men like Jesse Solis and me "fringe candidates." Jesse is Hispanic, Hispanics represent 22% of this city's population and almost fifty percent of the kids in our high school. I represented average folks like Tim and Phoebe Hensely, Velma and James Catron, Mike and Cynthia Torres, and over a thousand people living near the heart of the city. I certainly didn't consider myself a fringe candidate, nor did Jesse. Further, I represented people who have been victimized by slum lords, payday loan operators, and downtown businesses that have been neglected in this city's politics while big business has been getting abatement after abatement. I don't think that' made me a fringe candidate either.
My dream was, and still is, for this city's government to work for all of us. If that's what is meant by fringe, I gladly accept the epithet.
Phil Dillon
April 5, 2007 at 1:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
i_am_the_batman (anonymous) says...
Phil, I like you more and more, you seem to be a pretty level-headed chap. I wish you would have gotten a seat over one of those other guys.
April 5, 2007 at 1:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Media_Critic (anonymous) says...
4_Emporia, I agree with you. While the writer of the opinion piece was certainly under no obligation to mention Mr. Solis and the Gazette published information about his views elsewhere, it would have been better to have done so.
Mr. Dillon, when I referred to you and Mr. Solis as "fringe candidates," I did not mean to imply that I think city government ought not to work for all its citizens, and that I approve of the victimization of people by slum lords, unscrupulous payday loan operators, or other downtown businesses. In fact, I actually thought you were a better alternative than candidates Myers and Solis. In your case, I thought "fringe candidate" was an apt description since you had only recently moved to Emporia and could not establish enough of a viable constituency through your representation of average folks -- and the results of the election bore that out. (Next time, however, the outcome may well be different.) I do, however, strongly disagree with any suggestion that Mr. Solis was worthy of a vote simply because he is Hispanic, because I believe racial/ethnic politics ala New Orleans is bad politics, no matter what the racial/ethnic makeup of the city.
April 5, 2007 at 2:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Media_Critic (anonymous) says...
By the way, it just occurred to me that I didn't fully explain why I thought Mr. Solis was a "fringe candidate" as well. The reason for that is equally plain -- I doubted he could establish a viable constituency either, given your observation that locally, less than 10% of the Hispanics and Latinos, which constitute around 22% of Emporia's population as a whole, actually turn out to vote. (The reasons for this are unclear, but part of the explanation has to be that some unknown proportion of them are ineligible to vote since they are illegal aliens.)
April 5, 2007 at 9:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )