Reforming Salisbury government has been an ongoing process. Despite the exit of former mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman, Salisbury has continued to be governed through the action (and inaction) of a City Council majority who kowtows to the whim of certain special interests. Over the past eight years we have seen tax increases, a skyrocketing city debt level, taxpayer handouts to developers, furloughs of police officers, and a crime rate that has only recently seen decline. Salisbury voters have a chance tomorrow to change the direction of the city. They can implement that change by voting to re-elect councilwoman Terry Cohen and elect Tim Spies and Muir Boda to the Salisbury city council.
Terry Cohen
Cohen’s supporters and critics can all agree on one thing – Cohen can be a pain in the ass. She is the kind of pain that taxpayers need. Cohen asks questions … lots of questions. Her critics claim that she is being combative. Supporters argue that she is being thorough. Taxpayers should be grateful that Cohen is willing to put in the time to fully study a proposal and possesses the intellect to ask the tough questions which would yield significant savings to the city’s taxpayers IF a majority of council members were as engaged as Cohen has been.
While Cohen has a good working relationship with Mayor Jim Ireton, Cohen has shown that she is not a rubber stamp for her friend. She agrees with our philosophy of city government – the Mayor’s proposals deserve a full, open, and CRITICAL hearing. Unlike the Tilghman years, proposals shouldn’t be approved without a full review. Unlike the first two years of Ireton’s administration, neither the mayor nor the council majority should not horse trade with taxpayer dollars in order to get things done.
Have we agreed with every proposal Cohen has put forward during the last four years? No. Have we agreed with every one of her votes? Of course not! That said, Cohen’s drive to provide a more efficient, and taxpayer friendly, city government is what the city needs right now. Her work to help reduce the city’s crippling crime rate has yielded results despite withering criticism from SAPOA-led naysayers. Her willingness to seek out the opinions of a broad cross section of her community and then decide contrasts mightily with the close minded attitudes of many recent council members. If the city government is able to overcome the years of bad administration under Tilghman, we fully expect that Cohen will be able to devote more energy and thought to help move Salisbury forward and improve. However, for this to be accomplished we need thoughtful and critical council members like Terry Cohen.
Tim Spies
Tim Spies personifies the type of individual local governments want, and need, to serve. A retired Navy Master Chief and nurse, Spies made Salisbury his home. He became actively involved in his community, serving the Red Cross and as president of his neighborhood association (along with many other volunteer activities). For nearly twenty years Spies has chosen to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Tim Spies should be a slam dunk almost anywhere else.
Like Cohen, we expect that Spies would serve the city well by being fiscally conservative and an effective champion in the on-going battle to reduce Salisbury’s crime rate. Spies has proven himself to be thoughtful and willing to listen to all sides before making a decision. While we do not expect Spies to be an automatic vote for Jim Ireton’s proposals, we are confident that he will support their receiving a full hearing. This is precisely what we should expect in the relationship between a mayor and council.
Muir Boda
Some readers will attack Boda by claiming that he is the “SAPOA candidate”. If by that you mean that he has SAPOA’s backing, you would be correct. However, we do no believe that a Councilman Boda will be a rubber stamp for SAPOA any more than we expect Cohen or Spies to blindly follow the directives of Mayor Ireton.
Muir Boda is, again, the type of candidate local governments need, and voters deserve. Boda chose to make Salisbury his home. He is active in his church and community. While his libertarian leanings may appeal to SAPOA, developers, and their supporters on the surface, they may be shocked when coming to him requesting special consideration like developer re-imbursements.
Boda’s approach to the city’s crime problem is thoughtful and his ideas should add to, rather than detract from, the approaches championed by Cohen and Spies. We fully expect that he will take a fiscally prudent attitude to city spending and borrowing as well. While not a political ally of Ireton’s, we also expect that Boda will give any of the Mayor’s proposals a fair, thoughtful, and critical hearing. Again, Boda’s approach is what we should expect from a councilman.
What About the Others?
Does it seem that we gave the other candidates short shrift? For that we apologize. Here is a brief take on the candidates we did not endorse:
Bruce Ford is a likable guy who needs to be more actively involved in city affairs before we (or the voters) should seriously consider him for elected office. To quote a member of our editorial board, “Ford is a candidate in search of a cause”. Not all of us may agree with that assessment. However, Ford does need (at a minimum) a little “seasoning” in addition to the aforementioned involvement in city affairs.
We can’t say anything bad about Orville Dryden – personally. That said, there is no question that Dryden IS the “SAPOA candidate”. Bereft of real ideas or a stance on an actionable agenda, Dryden would simply serve as a second secure vote for SAPOA’s interests on council. While all citizens and groups should be listened to, NO special interest group, not even one as large as SAPOA, deserves their own members of the city council. SAPOA has Shanie Shields – at least until the next election. They don’t deserve more.
Laura Mitchell is the intriguing wild card in this race. Charming and seemingly intelligent, Mitchell has all the appearance of a first rate council member. Why didn’t we endorse her?
To quote another member of the editorial board, “There’s still too much mystery about Laura Mitchell.” Mitchell tends to be a little too vague for us on too many issues. While we are not claiming that she is deceitful (like Smith), we are often reminded of CANDIDATE Louise Smith. We all know where that landed us.
While Mitchell claims that she will not be a rubber stamp for Ireton’s agenda, there is no question that she shares the same liberal politics and continues to be a political ally of Ireton’s. We want to take Mitchell at her word; however, as noted above, Ireton’s proposals deserve a hearing but need to rise or fall on their merits.
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!
