Monday, February 19, 2007

Please Vote On Feb. 20


I've been a resident of Oshkosh since 1989, and throughout most of that time I've had some serious disagreements with the Common Council on some core issues. Yet I've never run for a seat on the Council until now. Why?

The answer is simple: Even when in disagreement, in the past I always trusted that the Common Council and City Manager were sincerely working to uphold what they saw as the best interests of the citizens. With very few exceptions, candidates in campaigns spent little money to get elected and instead relied on hard work, reputation, and word of mouth to get their message out.

Today the trust is gone. A garbage tax, dubious closed meetings, two years wasted on a riverfront proposal that never had public support, faith based development, an obvious disconnect between the Manager and the Council; these and many other depressing events demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Council no longer supports the everyday people who pay the bills.

I'm running because I want to see higher standards of performance and accountability from all city officials. What specific policies do I want to see put in place?:
  • I want to ensure that the peoples' business is done in open view, upholding both the letter and spirit of the open meetings law and state statutes. To do this I will sponsor regular forums and workshops which will instruct citizens on how to use the open records and open meetings laws.
  • I want to see the creation of a Budget Committee that would, year round, look for ways to guarantee the delivery of high quality public services at a reasonable cost.
  • I want to see the creation on an Economic Development Commission that would work on strategies to bring family supporting jobs to Oshkosh.
  • I want to see planning in Oshkosh take on the values of the "New Urbanist" movement that is based on developing neighborhoods that are pedestrian friendly and sustainable.
The election this year is about restoring trust to Oshkosh government. Even if we disagree with our elected officials, we ought to be able to trust that they are operating in the public interest as they see it and that they will stand by their votes. I want to restore that kind of trust to local government.

Please get out and vote tomorrow!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pick one -

a.) The artist wishes to remain anonymous.
b.) S/he signed the cartoon in white ink.
c.) You drew this yourself and are blushingly modest.
d.) You've been naughty.

There seems to be no artist credit here. Anyone who draws you surrounded by an admiring throng with up-raised faces seems to have earned a bit of recognition, hmmm?

tony palmeri said...

The artist is Chris Walker, and the cartoon is an early version of a more detailed cartoon that he did for my 1996 campaign for State Assembly. We ended up running 4 cartoons in the local press. I plan on scanning all of them on to the blog when I get the chance.

I'm not sure where Chris is these days, but at the time he would not accept any fee for the cartoons and he told me to use them as I saw fit. He was a great supporter of the assembly campaign in '96, and even wrote a folk song for the campaign. He also was a big fan of R. Crumb, who I had never heard of before Chris and have been fascinated by ever since. There was a great documentary made about him (Crumb) in the 1990s that you can still find in video stores.

Thanks for reminding me to give credit to the artist. Chris is a remarkable talent.

Anonymous said...

Well, chalk up another sign of The End Times -

"Palmeri and Thompson speak"

I will not say "Good Luck", or that I hope you win. I will only say I hope the outcome of the race turns out to be whatever is best for your long-term sanity. The long-term sanity of the greater Oshkosh area I gave up on long ago.

Ron said...

Good luck, Tony!

Jef Hall said...

Interestingly enough... a neat local connection story for those interested in comic books.

You will find that a lot of the R Crumb stuff now comes from a company run by Dennis Kitchen & Kitchen Sink Press.

Through the 80's and 90's, Kitchen Sink Press was run out of Princeton, WI.

Dennis has since moved to Mass, but I graduated from High School with his daughter.

Jef Hall said...

Did you know R Crumb has a local connection?

He was published (and the movie wsas produced by) Kitchen Sink Press.

Kitchen Sink Press was HQ'd in Princeton. They recently moved to Mass, but were in Princeton for a long time.