So what does the Gazette do? They write two-day front page multi-faceted articles scrutinizing of all things the age of the members and the size of the board. The average age of the Rock County board members is 59 years, which by today’s standards is closer to 49 than it is to 69, if you know what I mean.
The fact of the matter is, regardless of their politics, this ripe old age of the board members is by far more an asset than a liability. But the newspaper takes the opposite view, and paints the board as a group of stodgy old cigar chomping stubborn men, when in truth, they are simply old enough to know better and not easily swayed. As a resident, I have not always agreed with the board, but by and large they have made decisions withstanding the test of time and have not caved in to the will of the few at the expense of the many. For this they deserve applause, not criticism or plots to undermine the process or their determination.
County Board Chairman Richard Ott responded to the suggestion that seven people might be easier to deal with than 29 with this.
JG Excerpt:Gulp! Took the words right out of my mouth.
Ott responded that a resident with a sound proposal should be able to convince 29 people just as easily as seven. “If John Smith is right,” Ott said, “he should be able to sell his righteousness to a lot of people.”
The article titled, County Boards show their Age acknowledges the diverse composition of the county board but questions whether county supervisors are representative of their constituents based only on the narrow criteria of age, and here’s why. One of the county board members, Adam Peer is 29 years old and has consistently voted more to the liking of the newspaper. So it only figures that without dragging politics into their presentation, the paper may feel the only chance to change public sentiment toward the board is to make them appear antiquated and cumbersome.
The paper takes it a step further in the second day of their change-the-county-board campaign running three articles in the February 5th front section of the newspaper. On the back page (8A), a reader only has to scan the three titles in a row to collect enough information to see where the Gazette wants to take you. The first title is a question the newspaper feels the need to ask, Boards/Is bigger better? which the paper then replies back with the next title, Rock County Board isn’t looking to downsize soon which is followed by the papers suggestion in the third and final headline, Residents can call for change. Why one may ask, is the Gazette doing this? Well, it is their newspaper, they can do as they please. We just have to not let them take away our county board.
Because of the recent Democratic victories including the display of an efficient county board unwilling to be compromised, the Gazette has experienced an unprecedented loss of political clout and will do whatever it takes to restore some influential leverage within local government.
This episode really brings out what lies at the center of the core. Which is that the Gazette enjoys a huge advantage over the residents of Rock County and Janesville because the Gazette can exert influence through their endorsements and promote a political agenda largely on an unsuspecting population. Both the Janesville City Council and the County Boards are non-partisan, but the Gazette is not. This is important to realize when you consider the political demographics of Rock County, and reasons why their endorsements lost. Something is getting old here, but it’s not the county board.
11 comments:
The Gazette showed that each board member attends two regular meetings plus as many as three or four committee meetings per month. They never explained how that workload would be split among 7 board members.
If the board is reduced that far the Janesville and Beloit will become the governance of the County. Evansville and Edgerton will be out in the cold and the rural townships would be SOL in that case.
Is the Gazette calling for a fulltime board? I hope not. We don't need that CRG foolishness in Rock County
one thing that was never examined in the gazette (or mentioned in this blog) is that board member jennifer bishop is the youngest member (26, i believe) and although the board is nonpartisan (ha! right ...), i can be fairly certain she is not a conservative, as she is employed as an aide to a democratic state senator at the capitol. when a source close to me pointed this out to gazette reporter stacey vogel, her response was something to the effect of "i didn't even know she was that young." way to go, gazette!
I know it seems obvious, but I think the Gazette wants the average Joe to open up the newspaper and read their articles about the county board and say “Wow, I didn’t know that we have more people on our county board than New York City has on theirs” or “ the people on our county board are getting old, we need to encourage young people to run” or “others counties have 7 or 9 board members, why can’t we?” Again this is not directed at you and I or any others that are looking everywhere to find what others are saying. The Gazette takes on this activist role not for the good of the community, but for what they see as an obstacle to their own control and prosperity.
It would be naïve to think politics doesn’t play a major role in both the Janesville City Council and the Rock County Board. Partisanship is undeniable, but many businesses including the Gazette still want to maintain the appearance of non-partisan community government, because it usually works in their favor – most of the time. Until recently. Those county board articles are not meant to give the current board any support but to foment public opposition. The Gazette’s ideal Rock county board would probably consist of 11 to 15 people, with half under the age of 35.
The Gazette needs to zip up, their Peer is showing. These articles scream of Adam Peer.
Adam Peer is a strong conservative something the county board needed. He's a black conservatibe and that just irks the left.
County boards and city councils do not need conservative nor liberal members. They do not need young nor old members. They do not need many nor few members. They do not need union members nor business owners. What county boards and city councils need are people dedicated to their elected office and people who have the best long term interests of the community in mind.
Well said, 8:37. I believe our Rock County Board is an example for other boards to follow. Aside from politics and personalities, it is a good mix of dedicated people who want to make the community better. The thicker and higher the wall of separation is from business or union influence, the better. That is why I ask? What is the motivation behind the Gazette county board articles. It's not a public service message.
To bad it doesn't work that way. In a perfect world yes but, we don't live in a perfect world. Political influence and pressures from outside tend to mold a persons beliefs.
I hate to tell the 7:52am poster but Adam Peer is about as conservative as he is black. Which is to say he is neither.
Not many Republicans are conservative.
a lot of democrats are liberls. What's your point?
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