SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
May 30, 2019
Sullivan’s Salvos 6/4/19
In this edition:
*Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
*My Top Eleven Local Elections
*Did You Know?
*Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
Rain! Will it ever stop? God, I hope so! Meanwhile, you can rest assured that the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) is on the case!
When the sirens go off? That is EMA. When you hear about us urging the US Army Corps of Engineers to increase the flow from the Reservoir? That is EMA. When you get updates on tornados, floods, and other weather-related emergencies? That is EMA.
Whether it is disaster planning, disaster response, or disaster recovery, EMA is prepared to serve the people of Johnson County. We really do have outstanding leadership in EMA Director Dave Wilson and Assistant Director Travis Beckman, as well as lots of well-trained professionals and volunteers.
To learn more about EMA, visit the website at: https://www.johnson-county.com/dept_emergency_home.aspx?id=737
*My Top Eleven Local Elections
I was thinking recently about all the many elections in which I have been involved. I started getting active in the late 1980s. Over that 30+year period, there have been many memorable races and many memorable faces.
I have been a part of huge wins and devastating losses. I have seen people I worked against end up being excellent elected officials, and I have seen people I worked for end up being terrible elected officials. I have offered really good advice and really bad advice. So yeah, I’ve been wrong! I have also experienced several wonderful moments that I think were really good for Johnson County.
Some of the elections seem as though they mattered more than others. So I began trying to rank them in order of importance. Then I decided that “importance” may not be the correct word. I decided to stick to local elections; I am extremely proud of being a very early supporter of President Obama, but it seems wrong to try to conflate the importance of a city council race with a Presidential one. I also decided to focus on how “meaningful” the election was to local voters as opposed to how happy it made me.
In some of these campaigns, I was a key decision maker. In others, I simply knocked doors. But they are all elections in which I participated meaningfully. And try as I might, I couldn’t narrow it to just 10. So you get eleven. Like a Letterman List - here are my Top Eleven Most Meaningful Local Elections of the Past 30 Years:
11. November 2014 – Amy Nielsen elected Mayor of North Liberty. A few of the people in power in North Liberty had literally said that a young mother like Nielsen shouldn’t run for Mayor. Not a smart move in a city full of young mothers! Nielsen went on to break up the good old boy network in town, and usher in a new era of North Liberty as a real political force. She also went on to represent the area in the Iowa Legislature.
10. June 1992 – Joe Bolkcom wins Democratic Party Supervisor Primary. Like the election we just mentioned, this was the election that broke up the good old boy network. Bolkcom ushered in an era of transparency and professionalism. For the first time, the County began considering environmentalism, civil rights, and economic justice. Bolkcom, too, went on to serve in the Iowa Legislature.
9. November 2015 – Core Four elected to Iowa City Council. Despite its liberal reputation, Iowa City has only managed a progressive majority on council for about eight of the past fifty years. That changed in a big way in 2015. The Core Four addressed affordable housing through both funding and zoning, which other councils had avoided for 30+ years. They put money into things that help poor people, and stopped handing it to developers. They adopted a Climate Change Plan. Remember the fears that job growth and development would dry up? Iowa City has NEVER experienced higher growth than in the past four years. NEVER. So, yes, it matters who you elect to council!
8. September 1998 - Nick Johnson and Matt Goodlaxson elected to ICCSD Board of Directors. I think this might be the most underappreciated election on my list. Prior to this group, the ICCSD was simply an extension of the Chamber of Commerce. Banks and law firms treated Board seats as though they owned them. Johnson was the Liberal Golden Boy – a local boy candidate for school board whose incredible resume was better suited to the US Senate. The powers that be knew they couldn’t beat Nick. Goodlaxson was the real revelation here. The father of two children with special needs who managed a local Quick Trip, he was simply not who voters had been electing. But Matt was smart and earnest, and his personal story touched a nerve. This dynamic duo served the ICCSD very well, and opened doors for future candidates.
7. November 2018 - Royceann Porter wins Special Nominating Convention for Supervisor. This is the only election that was not a public election (run by the Auditor’s Office). Instead, this election was held at the Democratic Party Special Nominating Convention. Royceann defeated former Supervisor Pat Harney to become the Democratic Party nominee. She went on, of course, to become the first African American ever elected to countywide office.
6. June 1998 - Kim Painter wins Democratic Party Primary Election for County Recorder. It seems like a long time ago, but back in 1998, the question of whether or not voters were “ready” for a Lesbian Elected Official was very much in play. 21 years ago, Painter was an outsider and a radical. Now she is an institution.
5. November 2017 - Mazahir Salih elected to Iowa City Council. A black, female, Muslim refugee who wears a head covering and whose first language is Arabic was elected to the IC Council. The American Dream really is available in Iowa City! Mazahir is also the first Sudanese American to hold office in the whole US! Unfortunately, Mazahir continues to face bigotry on a daily basis.
4. January 1989 - Karen Kubby wins Special Election for Iowa City Council. This is the longest ago election of any on my list, and in many ways, it made all the others possible. Kubby defeated conservative GOP activist and developer Mary Jo Streb by just 100 votes. How different might our community be today had those 100 votes gone the other direction? People who did not live here pre-Kubby have no idea the stranglehold that a few powerful families held on City government. 30 years later, Kubby remains the gold standard of elected officials. She proved that progressive politics could win, and proved they could govern.
3. November 2008 - Voters pass Conservation Bond. $20 million for conservation was a bit of a pipe dream when we started. But by Thanksgiving of 2007, polling data showed 80% approval. Suddenly, the economy cratered. In the teeth of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression, 60.1% of the voters saw fit to spend $20 million on conservation properties and projects. We have the Ciha Fen, Cedar River Crossing, Clear Creek Trail, Solon to Ely (Hoover) Trail, Pechman Creek Delta, Schwab-Burford Property, and several other projects as a result. That 2008 vote will still be impacting the people of Johnson County 100 years from now.
2. February 2003 - Voters pass ICCSD Bond. This built Tate High School, North Central Junior High, Van Allen Elementary, and did additions at several more schools. In a test of just how strongly our community was going to support education, ICCSD voters responded positively.
And at #1 - September 2017 - Voters pass ICCSD Bond. This bond was literally the biggest in state history at $192 million. It was also a referendum on what values the voters in the ICCSD would choose to support. Voters chose to update several long-ignored schools (Mann, Longfellow, Lincoln, Coralville Central, Twain, Shimek), add a few more elementary schools, and build Liberty High. Again, voters in the ICCSD stepped up and made investments that will serve our children for many decades.
I find it interesting that the top 3 on my list were not elections about individual candidates, but elections about ideas and values. And 5/11 elections occurred in the past 5 years. Apparently things have been looking up! I hope the momentum keeps up! I enjoyed this trip down memory lane. So – what are your thoughts?
*DID YOU KNOW? This fall marks the first year that city and school elections will be on the same ballot.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 3:56 PM
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