SULLIVAN'S SALVOS

October 29, 2024

Sullivan’s Salvos 10/31/24

In this edition:

*RIP Tom Cook

*Happy Halloween!

*VOTE!

*Election Night = Election Week

*Working for Johnson County

*Trust

*Disco Ball!

*Remembering November 1, 1991

*Did You Know?

*RIP Tom Cook

I was very sad to hear of the passing of Tom Cook of Iowa City. Tom was a very smart and kind gentleman, and a hardworking Democratic activist. My condolences to all his friends and family. RIP Tom!

*Happy Halloween!

Halloween is Thursday the 31^st. I have been amazed in recent years by the amount of effort (and money) that goes into decorating homes for the season. When I was young, few homes displayed anything other than carved pumpkins. Now, there are huge blow-up characters, lights, and much more.

As a matter of fact, according to the National Retail Federation for 2024, 72% plan to celebrate Halloween. The planned spending per person is $104. And the total planned spending is $11.6 billion!

Regardless of how you view Halloween, we need to remember a few key things: First, be careful! One thing that has not changed is an abundance of young children in dark costumes excitedly crossing streets. Secondly, you may want to temporarily take down your campaign yard signs. Despite annual accusations to the contrary, I still think most signs that disappear are teen pranks. Finally, have fun! Halloween offers all of us an opportunity to be young again.

*VOTE!

Election Day is upon us! Vote, and make certain everyone you know votes! There is a lot at stake here!

If you still have a ballot, do NOT mail it in! Please take it to the Auditor’s Office unless it is actually Election Day. Then take it to your polling place! But you must have it with you! If you have other voting questions, call the Auditor’s Office at 319-354-6004.

I will admit; I am scared. I have never been more worried for my country. All I can do is try my damndest to get as many people as possible to get out and vote!

*Election Night = Election Week

I hope you are preparing yourself and everyone you know for Election Week. That’s right; the notion of Election Day does not serve us well.

First, the counting process takes time. We may not get even our very first counts until hours after polls close. But that isn’t all. There will be ballots that are still trickling in, having been postmarked in time.

We already know how this is going to go. Millions of mailed ballots in Pennsylvania will be coming in Election Day and a few days after. They cannot even open them until 9pm our time. It is highly unlikely we will know the outcome in PA on Tuesday night.

We also know that precisely because of this, Trump is going to go on TV Tuesday night and call the PA election fraudulent. He is going to lawyer up and sue. We already know it. Just don’t let it weaken your resolve.

If the election night margin is large enough, it may not matter. But if a race is close, we need to demand that election officials take the time to count all legal votes. Don’t allow the process to be driven by the media. Have patience, and request the same from everyone you know. This is Election Week, not Election Night!

*Working for Johnson County

I like to think of Johnson County as a pretty good place to work. When compared to peer institutions, our pay and benefits stack up very well. And the retirement is fantastic! On top of that, serving the public and improving your community feels really good.

So what is required to work for Johnson County? I can tell you a few things that are important to me:

1. Don’t be an asshole. If over 80% of your peers think you are an ass? You are going to need to find a different place to work.

2. Treat people with respect. Especially people with whom you disagree.

3. Recognize that we succeed or fail as a team. Not you and your two friends – that is a team of three. Johnson County is 600 employees, hundreds of volunteers, and 160,000 residents. We succeed or fail as a single team.

Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? It actually is. Literally 99% of all employees manage to live up to these simple benchmarks. Unfortunately, there are always people who cannot meet these three standards. Those people simply cannot work for Johnson County for very long.

*Trust

I wrote a couple weeks ago about trust. I want to talk a bit today about a group that I am proud to say I trust.

Ruthina Malone, Charlie Eastham, Molly Abraham, Jayne Finch, Shawn Eyestone, Lisa Williams, and Mitch Lingo are the seven members of the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) Board. And I trust them.

I’ve been a taxpayer in the ICCSD for over 40 years now. I have had dozens of kids at about a dozen different schools, primarily old Hoover, SEJH, and City High. I put 5 kids through City High. I have been a sports parent, a show choir parent, and more. I’ve had kids do some exceptional things, both positively and negatively. I was a part of the steering committees of the two biggest bond referenda in ICCSD history. I typically get very involved in ICCSD elections. And now I am the grandparent of a second grader, and the foster grandparent of three kids who will be starting in the ICCSD very soon. Needless to say, I feel as though I have been around the block with the ICCSD.

So it makes me proud to say that I trust the current ICCSD Board of Directors. We will not agree on everything. I know that. But these are good people. Each one of them cares deeply. Each one of them is honest, caring, compassionate, smart, and thoughtful. I trust them.

They have been forced to make some awful decisions. I feel for them. But they have done what they felt they needed to do. It is not easy!

I trust the ICCSD. I hope at least a few people feel the same way about the Board of Supervisors. Whatever the case, the job is to just keep pushing forward, and hope folks feel their trust is warranted.

Meanwhile, thank you ICCSD Board!

*Disco Ball!

Summer of the Arts (SOTA) is celebrating their 20th year as a nonprofit organization, and they want you to join in the celebration!

And this is a fun one! They are throwing a Disco Ball on Saturday, November 9th from 7-10 pm at the First Avenue Club. Tickets are $20 and you must RSVP. Buy your tickets at: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E231418&id=8

This is a fundraiser for Summer of the Arts, but more than that, it's a party! Put on your dancing shoes, bell bottoms or disco attire and come have some fun.

*Remembering November 1^st, 1991

Thirty-three years ago, a UI post-graduate student named Gang Liu killed four faculty members, a student, and himself.

Faculty members Christoph Goertz, Dwight Nicholson, Robert Smith, T. Anne Cleary, and Linhua Shan were all slain. Student Miya Rodolfo-Sioson was shot and survived but was left paralyzed from the neck down.

If you ask longtime residents of Johnson County, most can tell you where they were that fateful day. (I was working my second job - a Friday night shift in a Systems Unlimited group home.)

I wish I could say that in the decades that passed, something good had come from this horror. Frankly, I simply do not see it. Even bigger mass killings have occurred on other campuses across the nation. Our mental health system is no better, and our gun laws are even worse. The killings make no more sense today than they did twenty years ago.

If you want to learn more about that awful day in Iowa City history, here are a couple of remembrances: https://littlevillagemag.com/cowboy-justice-a-first-hand-account-of-the-deadly-1991-ui-campus-shooting-30-years-later/

https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/2021/10/31/former-iowa-city-police-officer-revisits-mass-shooting-university-of-iowa-30-years-later/6133791001/

I hope you will take a moment to reflect upon one of the saddest days in Johnson County history, and pray for the many survivors whose lives were touched by the people we lost that day.

*DID YOU KNOW? Did you know Dingleberry Road in Johnson County is more than just a unique name for a road?!

Back during Prohibition (1920-1934), this road had quite a history. It was home to moonshiners Pete and George Dingleberry, famous for their "Dingleberry Dew" whiskey.

On June 17, 1927, Sheriff Frank Smith and deputies raided their farm, confiscating 21 gallons of "hooch." George faced trial, was fined $300, and given a six-month suspended sentence in the Johnson County Jail.

Now, every time you drive down Dingleberry Road, you're following in the footsteps of a legendary moonshining duo!

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov.

"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.

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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

October 22, 2024

I was sad to hear of the passing of Anita Sehr of Sharon Center. Anita is a member of the Johnson County Democratic Party Hall of Fame, and though we often differed on political issues, she always treated me with kindness and respect. RIP, Anita.

The UI celebrates Homecoming the weekend of October 25 & 26. Happy Homecoming to all the Hawkeyes out there! I love the traditions of Homecoming; the parade, the pomp and circumstance, alumni returning from afar. Homecoming is one of the real benefits of living in a university town. Be bold in your black and gold… but be safe, too! Go Hawks!

The Johnson County Democratic Party began knocking doors for the 2024 election in the fall of 2023. I took several shifts; all we did was ask folks, “What is important to you?”

We kept door knocking in the spring of 2024. These doors were folks who were not regular voters. I did several of those, too. And though it has shifted, the door knocking really has not stopped since July. I think I am over 30 shifts in the past 12 months. And you know what? It is making a difference! We may not win come November 5^th – but if so, it will not be for a lack of effort!

We are in the home stretch. Please join me! It is not hard! And if you really cannot door knock, please find another way to help! It is crunch time, folks!

A huge congratulations to Johnson County Social Services Director Lynette Jacoby, who was honored by the City of Iowa City with a Human Rights Award for 2024!

The Johnson County Social Services Director position is a tough one. Most of the really big challenges that face us in this country are addressed by her department. Poverty, health insurance, affordable housing, food insecurity, childcare, transportation, caring for seniors, and on and on. All of these issues fall in the lap of Johnson County Social Services.

And I cannot imagine a person being better at taking on this challenge. Lynette is smart, hardworking, compassionate, kind, and willing to try new things. We are SO lucky to have her! Congratulations, Lynette!

One of my proudest moments as a County Supervisor came on November 4, 2008. On that date, almost 40,000 Johnson County residents voted to approve the $20 million Conservation Bond to protect water, air, and soil quality, to protect animal habitat, and to purchase land for parks and trails.

This was the first such effort in the State of Iowa, and looking back over the past 16 years, it was even more successful than we could have hoped! The 2008 bond has been utilized, successfully, for 16 different projects. It has leveraged an additional $17 million in grants, donations and revenues; acquired 1,177 acres of land, and built 9.2 miles of hard surface trails throughout the County. This has all contributed tremendously to the quality of life in Johnson County.

These include the Clear Creek, Solon to Ely (aka Hoover), and Mehaffey Bridge trails; Ciha Fen and Cedar River Crossing near Sutliff; Pechman Creek Delta near River Junction; Cangleska Waukon and Two Horse Farm near the Reservoir; Melinda Reiff Reilly Prairie near Solon; and improvements to the lake at Kent Park near Oxford.

Despite all this good work, there is more work left to do. We still have air, water, and soil quality issues. We still need to protect animal habitat. And we still need more parks and trails. That is why we want to do it again!

The Board of Supervisors has voted to put a $30 million Conservation Bond on the ballot this November. I fully expect it to be just as successful as the last bond in contributing to the quality of life in Johnson County.

I hope you will support this effort. Please feel free to contact me with questions, or visit https://www.ourlandwaterfuture.org for more information. It is not a done deal! There will be moneyed interests fighting against this effort! We can only win if you help to spread the word!

You can be pro-labor and not be progressive. We know this. There are lots of Republican union members. Some of them are anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ+, and more. They would NEVER consent to being described as “progressive.” Yet they appreciate the economic benefits that come from their status as a union member.

We hear about union members who are not progressive all the time. But we almost never ask the opposite question. What about the inverse? Can a person be progressive without being pro-labor?

We talk a lot about social justice, and we should. America has a history of intolerance based upon gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and more. We need to recognize this, remember it, and strive to do better. Social justice deserves the attention it receives.

At the same time, we do not talk enough about economic justice. America has, for about 202 out of our 247 years, catered almost exclusively to the rich and powerful. Virtually all economic benefits flow to the top 1%, with most of those benefits flowing to the top 1/100^th of a percent, or just a few thousand people.

Americans have fought back before. Just after the Civil War it was women who got the labor movement going. They were joined by recent immigrants. Many workers died throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, and some gains were realized. But mainly, it is the Golden Age of 1935-1980 that saw workers finally achieve some semblance of economic justice. And not only did it help lower-wage workers; it helped everyone!

Consider a few of the economic justice initiatives that were instituted: child labor laws, 40-hour weeks, weekends, overtime, vacations, the minimum wage, sick leave, parental leave, OSHA, employment nondiscrimination, pensions, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits (food stamps), health insurance, and so much more.

Progressives definitionally want progress; an improvement in the human condition. There was no period in American history where the human condition improved more than between 1935 and 1980. What made this progress happen? Organized labor fighting for economic justice.

But fast forward to today, and some folks seem to think they can be progressive without fighting for economic justice. Our greatest activists knew better. No one fought harder for economic justice than MLK. He was murdered the evening before a rally for striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN.

Too many people who want to wear the “progressive” label support Uber over cabs, buy stuff from Wal-Mart and Amazon, buy shoes made in sweatshops, and fail to join unions when they are available. They feel unions have a place; just not at the place they work/own/manage.

In the Democratic Party of the 90s, Bill Clinton catered to a certain wealthier, white group. We called them “limousine liberals.” They wanted things to be better for minorities; they just didn’t want to live near them. They wanted to help the poor, but not at their own expense. They blamed the poor for making choices that were economically necessary but environmental harmful. They simply couldn’t understand “those people” who smoked, dropped f-bombs, listened to rap (or country), and had to shower after work rather than before work. Needless to say, it was a much smaller coalition.

I am also reminded of the ill-fated attempt by my friends at SEIU to unionize the Professional and Scientific (P&S) workers at the UI in the mid ‘00s. The UI workers voted the union down. Many laughed at the organizers, saying, “You don’t understand – I have a Ph.D.!” Unions were for “uneducated” people. Fast forward 20 years and that Ph.D. hasn’t gotten them jack shit. P&S missed the boat when they failed to unionize. It has been a difficult 15 years for them as a result.

Following an Iowa City Federation of Labor Candidate Academy a few years ago, an Iowa City Councilor (who always made a point of noting their registration as a Democrat) actually told Pauline Taylor and I, “People here were smarter than I expected.” How much more condescending can a politician get?

This attitude affects local politics, too. Do “progressives” care if municipal workers are underpaid? Do “progressives” overpay bosses at the expense of front-line workers? Do “progressives” care if municipalities rely upon temporary workers where permanent workers should be used? Do “progressives” care if municipal projects get built by union labor? Do “progressives” oppose sales taxes when property taxes are available? Do “progressives” oppose outsourcing? Do “progressives” support efforts to end wage theft?

Why is it that people who would draw a line at a candidate being anti-gay are so willing to look the other way when the candidate is anti-labor? Is it just an issue of social class?

We have a handful of immigrant rights activists in Johnson County who undoubtedly consider themselves progressive, but have tried to undermine local unions and the Center For Worker Justice at every turn. I don’t find these folks very progressive. I find them to be egotistical, hypocritical assholes.

To answer my own question, no, I do not believe one can be truly progressive without a commitment to economic justice. Economic justice is at the root of being a true progressive.

“The poor man is called a socialist if he believes that the wealth of the rich should be divided among the poor, but the rich man is called a financier if he devises a plan by which the pittance of the poor can be converted to his use.”
―William Jennings Bryan

*DID YOU KNOW? The first University of Iowa Homecoming was celebrated on November 23, 1912.