The Mayor Reminds Us Why This Website Is Necessary

It’s good to see Mayor Cass is paying close attention to our blog. We hope some of our other colleagues in government are also finding our ideas interesting, and our information and documentation useful. We feel we are making a positive contribution to the civic life of Geneva by introducing a sustained, fact-based point of view into our local public dialogue.

Of course it wouldn’t be necessary for two councilors to break off and start a blog if the current administration wasn’t reluctant of leading an open and honest public discussion about the many pressing issues we face in Geneva. The primary responsibility of elected officials is to gather and share information about important issues so that constituents can express informed opinions, elected officials can make informed decisions, and everyone knows where their representative stands. Call it accountability, call it transparency, call it truth-telling. Whatever you call it, it’s what good government is all about.

Perhaps we should be happy that the Mayor submitted a comment in response to our post about the lakefront visioning, but it’s hard to be happy when the comment just reinforces our fears about the way things are being done in Geneva. The Mayor had the perfect opportunity to defend his committee selections by providing some rationale for them. He could have explained the criteria he used in selecting members and what the anticipated contribution of the group would be. But he didn’t.

Instead, he chastised us for having this blog, telling us “to get the facts straight” and not to say anything that’s “not based on facts.” But he doesn’t identify any factual errors.

He says that some of the very people we mentioned as having been passed over for appointments to his new lakefront committee are, in fact, people whose opinions he values. But when he had the opportunity to appoint those very people to the committee, he didn't. That is a fact.

He goes on to say that people with different opinions should come forward to public meetings where they’ll be heard. That's nice, but he had a chance to involve them in the process from the start and he didn't. That is a fact.

Just because something is uncomfortable to see in print doesn’t make it untrue.

But this is, unfortunately, indicative of the political climate that has taken over our City in recent years. If you question the status quo, you’re considered a troublemaker. If you aren’t willing to ‘go along just to get along’ then they say you’re not a ‘team player.’

We want to break that cycle, and this blog is our way of bringing some rationality, professionalism, and accountability back to city government. There are plenty of websites for unsubstantiated opinions, promises lacking in credibility, and rants. Ours isn’t one of them. We know that our readers won’t always agree with our opinions, but whether you agree or not, it is our responsibility to explain how we reached that opinion, what factual basis there is for it, and what factors, if any, might change our minds. That’s the level of candor that elected officials should be required to maintain at all times.

In his comment, the Mayor calls our readers “the uninformed,” but we’re not sure where that comes from. We know the people of Geneva want to know what's going on. Many seek out information about important issues, but it’s tough when it’s a closed shop. So if he’s saying that Geneva's residents have been left in the dark by the majority on Council, then he found something we can agree on.