This is three days in a row I have been the obsession of Mr. Noble. A new personal best.
http://scottkennethnoble.blogspot.com/
Once gain, Mr. Noble has nothing new. Over a year ago, when Act 10 was being pushed through on its way to law, there were a lot of vocal supporters and opponents...in case you haven't noticed, there still are!
As I stated in my previous post, I am a Part-time Mayor. It's the form of government we've had in Marshfield for a long time. It allows anyone to become Mayor, not just someone with nothing else to do. It's not a full time job and as such doesn't pay a full time wag, though we compensate the Mayor adequately and have at the same level for about a decade. The bottom line is that a full time employed person can be Mayor, a parent, a business owner...anyone. It's not limited to just those who are looking for a job or are retired.
Back to my point...
When Act 10 was introduced, it upset a lot of people, certainly State employees, and I happen to be a State of Wisconsin employee. I work full time for the university of Wisconsin - Marshfield/Wood County campus as the IT Manager, a position I have had for almost 12 years after having previously worked in the private sector. It's a good job. I enjoy the people I work with. Like most State jobs, the benefits were excellent, which is why, in most cases, a lower salary was often agreed to in contract negotiations in exchange for maintaining the good benefits.
Times changed. The economy collapsed, people lost jobs and as a result State revenues dropped. That meant something had to give. I'm not a pro-union guy. I always disliked the fact that no matter how hard you worked, you got the same raise, usually 1 or 2% in the "good old days" that the person who did the bare minimum...it's called a salary ceiling. Its not right. Good employees should be able to be rewarded and below average employees should be inspired to work harder.
What bothered me about Act 10 was the presumption that everyone was over paid. What upset me more was the process that was used to push Act 10 through. I know many Republicans who also felt that, while it may have been legal, it didn't pass the "gut test". Still, I am happy to be employed with good benefits and a good salary. Everyone is enduring tough times.
At the time, people were raging on both sides of the issues. I struggled to express my personal opinions and keep my opinions as Mayor balanced, because I represent all residents of Marshfield, including those who felt strongly that this was the right thing to do and the right way to do it.
Mr. Noble, through a mutual friend on Facebook, lifted some comments and has posted them over and over again (I guess he can't find anything new) on his blog. It honestly feels a little bit like Junior High..."I heard in study hall that Tommy hates Mikey and I found a note by his locker that said that too!" Time to move on. I guess when the property tax rate is declining, the levy is stable, the city debt is declining and the overall budget is smaller year after year, there isn't much left for him to complain about on substance, so he takes to personal positions and attacks, like calling his neighbors blowhards and such.
I know many of you are reading this because you found a link on his blog. Welcome. Many of you may identify with the Tea Party. I'm here to tell you something that may surprise you. I am not in complete disagreement with you. I do tend to lean more toward the left on many things, especially social issues. I tend to lean center/right on foreign issues and economic issues. I've never voted straight ticket in my life and I never will. I've voted for Republicans in races for President, Governor and Senate and I've voted for Democrats as well. I've even voted for third part candidates in the past. It all depends on the person and how I think they will do representing or leading. I'm not an issue voter and never will be.
Government has gotten too big. At all levels. I hate it when the Federal or State governments tell local units how they will or will not do something. I favor smaller government and reform to social safety nets like welfare. In my opinion, the verdict is out on Health Care Reform. Like Act 10, the individual mandate doesn't pass my "gut check", but I do understand that it is there because without it, the program will fail. I supported Congressman Duffy's stance that he would only vote to repeal it once a replacement plan was in place. In the end, he voted to repeal it before a new plan was in place, but in his defense, he then created his own plan.
What Mr. Noble fails to be able to do when in a position of leadership, such as when he served for 10 months on the common council, is create support for any of his ideas. He takes a "my way or the highway" approach, and it doesn't work. In his time in the council, he got nothing passed. The only thing that he did get passed was funding for signs in the Historic neighborhoods, and only after I helped him do that, hoping that he would see that through consensus building we could accomplish the things that he wanted.
When he lost his election, I appointed him to various boards in the city. I've appointed several people with differing viewpoints from mine to committee's in the city. I'm not a fan of rubber stamp committees and want a real discussion about topics with all viewpoints represented. I've appointed some of Scott's supporters to committees, because they bring a valuable perspective to the table. I value your input and respect your positions.
In the end, I asked Mr. Noble to resign from these committees because he maintained the headstrong approach on everything he did. While on historic preservation, he accused me of "breaking the law" when I approved a permit for a home in a historic neighborhood to install a skylight. There was so much red tape involved when you owned a home in the historic neighborhood that it would often take 4-6 weeks to get the okay to do anything...to your own house! We've changed that by clarifying the laws (which, in the end, showed that I didn't not do anything "illegal"). Shortly after his outburst there, there was another incident in which there was an outburst in front of residents. When I appoint people to committees, I expect them to bring their own views to the table and discuss disagreements in an orderly and respectful fashion. When they blow up in front of residents, they have put a black mark on the reputation of this community. For that, I asked Mr. Noble to resign and had emails from council members asking that an item be put on the agenda to have him removed. He chose to resign because he "could work for a "Mayor" like me any further". That's fine. We all moved on. I've always regretted that Scott couldn't make this work, because he has good ideas, but a very poor approach to building consensus so they can become anything more and ideas.
So yes, I wasn't happy about Act 10. I lived though. I made adjustments just like many of you have had to do to my family budget. We scaled back. I've posted previously that, while Mr. Noble assumes I was in Madison "protesting and caring a sign of Governor Walker with a Hitler mustache", he is wrong. I was in Madison during the protests one day, but did not participate. I did go and watch and took some pictures, no signs, no chanting...just my camera. When the Lassa recall was attempted by Mr. Noble, I spoke in opposition to recalls in general. I did not sign Governor Walkers recall either. I firmly believe that a person elected by the people should be allowed to serve out their term...Republican or Democrat.
I guess the point here is that I have moved on from that issue. Mr. Noble can not. If he finds one fault, and we all have them, he bangs that drum over and over again. I think the best approach here is to simply do what the previous Mayor wrote about yesterday on his website, and that is to just ignore him. He's only looking for a reaction, and so, this will be my last post directly about Mr. Noble. I wish him well on future elections and endeavors, but we have a community to continue to move forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment