SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
June 12, 2015
Sullivan’s
Salvos 6/16/15
In this edition:
*Congratulations, RJ!
*Pride Events
*Caitlyn Jenner
*Father’s Day
*Public Opinion
*Did You Know?
*Congratulations, RJ!
RJ
Moore is retiring from Johnson County Planning and Zoning after 20 years of
county employment.
It
may be bad form to say this, but RJ has always been one of my favorites. There
are several reasons for this:
First,
RJ has always been on the front line. As much as any County employee, RJ has
been had to endure the slings and arrows of the public. RJ has often been put
in the position of being the bad guy – forced to tell people “no”. It is not
easy to play that role, especially for 20 years.
Secondly,
I LOVE RJ’s passion! RJ gets excited about good planning, and the excitement is
contagious! It is great to work with people who enjoy what they do. I came into
the job of Supervisor liking P&Z. I now LOVE P&Z, and I thank RJ for
that.
Thirdly,
RJ has a great presentation style. He is really good at explaining our rules, determining
how those rules apply, and laying it out in a way people can understand. Those
are important skills!
Finally,
I give RJ tremendous credit for overcoming obstacles in his personal life. From
growing up in Foster Care to surviving horrors in Viet Nam, RJ has proven
himself to be an honest-to-goodness hero. He could have given up many times.
But he persevered, earned a Master’s Degree, served as an important cog in
local government, and became a great husband and father. He is a fantastic role
model for others that have been dealt a difficult hand.
Congratulations
on your retirement, RJ. You are a great guy, and I’ll miss you!
*Pride Events
The
annual IC Pride events run all throughout the month of June. I love the annual
Pride Festival, and I marvel at how far we have come. I remember Pride in the
early ‘90s, being one of only a few people marching with the Johnson County
Democratic Party, and being videotaped for participating. Things have sure
changed!
Some upcoming Pride
events: Friday night June 19, join us for a laid back evening in Upper City
Park with free food till it's gone (over 200 servings). We will be serving
sandwiches and sides donated by Chik-Fil-A, desserts by Pizza Pit, and free
Frisbees for all from Studio 13. A vegetarian option will also be available.
On Saturday, June 20,
the Pride parade is at noon, followed by Pride Fest events on the Ped Mall.
Everything is free and open to the public.
*Caitlyn Jenner
Worldwide
hero, to joke, to worldwide hero. That is the trip taken by Bruce – now Caitlyn
– Jenner.
I
was a young man when Bruce Jenner won the Olympic Decathlon. The World’s
Greatest Athlete, with Iowa connections to boot! He was a hero to many of us.
Fast
forward to the 2000s. Bruce Jenner had become a joke – a reality television
buffoon. I felt pity for him. I would explain to my kids that he “used to be” a
hero.
Now,
in 2015, Caitlyn Jenner is a hero once again. By going public with her story,
Caitlyn is rapidly becoming the role model young transgendered folks need.
Who
says there are no second acts in life? Good luck, Caitlyn. I respect your
bravery in this situation even more than I respected your athletic achievements
40 years ago.
*Father’s Day
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! Being a dad is the
best thing I have ever done. It is also the most difficult. I imagine that is
the case for most fathers.
It has been several years since I have had the pleasure of
enjoying a living father or grandfather. If you are lucky enough to have a
father or grandfather around, please take a moment to reach out to him this
weekend.
*Public Opinion
Last
week, one of my colleagues made an offhanded remark about the court of public
opinion. I thought it might be worth discussing exactly what role public
opinion plays amongst elected officials.
Let’s
begin with elections. One could call elections big opinion polls. And on some
occasions, that would be correct. Every four years, I am on a general election
ballot that includes the Presidential election. In Johnson County, we get about
85% turnout for a Presidential election. So it is truly a pretty good gauge of
public opinion.
City
Council elections can be a very different matter. In Iowa City, the 2013
Council election had a 22% turnout. 2011 saw 13% turnout. So are those
elections good measures of public opinion? Probably not nearly as good as the
General election results.
Should
elected officials govern according to public opinion? First you would have to
have a good way of measuring it. The guys who have coffee at Hy Vee are happy
to share their opinions, but are they representative of our entire County?
I
have certainly seen Supervisors who attempt to make decisions based upon public
opinion. Some do it all the time. The public probably doesn’t notice this so
much, but you can sometimes get a different result in a Board vote by filing
the Boardroom. That has always bothered me.
Some
may claim that elected officials should ALWAYS vote according to public
opinion. I disagree with this. I believe many of our greatest achievements as a
society (civil rights laws, for example) were never popular enough to win in
the court of public opinion. But it was the right thing to do. I firmly believe
elected officials should have several subjects over which they are willing to
lose an election.
Personally,
I do not make decisions based upon public opinion. That does not mean I do not
care what people think. It just means that I have principals that override
public opinion.
What
do you think? What role should public opinion have in terms of the way elected
officials operate?
*DID YOU KNOW? Although
the Pride Movement did not galvanize until after the Stonewall Riots, there
were a handful of gay rights demonstrations prior to 1969. The most direct link
to the early parades were called Annual Reminders. Every fourth of July,
beginning in 1965, groups would picket Independence Hall in Philadelphia to
inform and remind the American people that LGBT people did not enjoy basic
civil rights protections. After Stonewall, picketing seemed too pacifistic, and
Reminder organizers instead helped plan the first Gay Liberation parades.
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
"Sullivan’s
Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a
brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages
come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the
whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise
mentioned.
If you do NOT
want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type
"unsubscribe" in the subject line.
If you know
anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail
me at rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
As always,
feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to
serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 4:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home