WHY I AM SUPPORTING RODNEY DIAL FOR BOROUGH MAYORBy Byron Whitesides
September 30, 2022
He worked tirelessly for this community in protecting health, our economy, and our individual rights and freedoms. Worked to keep our businesses open and did this without mandates and division they bring. I really appreciated how we were able in Ketchikan, to not have lockdowns and job losses to the detriment of the workers and our economy. In my opinion there are NO “non-essential” jobs or business, and we in Ketchikan weathered this pandemic much better than some other communities. In his own words, he never could have been involved in but a fraction of what he worked on, if he had another full time job. And because we in this community were able to keep our businesses open, many of our friends and neighbors were able to survive these very trying times, and keep food on the table and their businesses out of bankruptcy. I know and trust Mayor Dial’s views on our constitutional rights, imposed mandates by government and private businesses, the 2nd amendment and other issues important to many of the residents here. On the other hand, I don’t know much about Mrs. Parrott and her views on these important issues. She didn’t post a Candidates Statement on the online Sitnews site until a few days back and less than two weeks from Election Day, not giving much time to find out her views on these issues, as early voting has already started. What do I know about Mrs. Parrott? I don’t know her so most of it has come from others who do. She has a full time “day job” for the borough [school district]. She has no elected experience, she views the mayor position as mostly ceremonial, and she is a self proclaimed “progressive”. Wow! Look around at the cities across this country ran by progressives, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland just to mention a few. The last thing this community needs is the radical ideas and policies that are ruining these once great cities here! I used to love visiting Seattle and Portland. Not so much these days! Now I drive through as quickly as possible as the progressive leadership has ruined these cities! What this community needs, in these very difficult times for this country and the world, is PROVEN leadership and experience, and that is what Rodney Dial has. We don’t need a “ceremonial” mayor who only runs meetings and attend functions. There is a reason the mayor has the veto power, and it’s not for ceremonial purpose. We need an experienced leader who participates on the issues, willing to put in the time and effort for this community, just as Rodney has been doing, and LEADS. The position of the borough mayor is a LEADERSHIP position. Thank you Rodney, for doing such a good job. I also would recommend to all, that we reject all the current incumbent assemblymen as they come up for re-election, because of a declaration they unanimously made, that no matter what the voters of the borough voted on the proposition #2 upcoming vote, they were going to defy the will of the voters they claim to represent and find a way to fund the library. As Dan Brockhorst said in his Sitnews letter dated Sept. 26, “What contempt for the voters. What arrogance. What abuse of power”. What I think they should have said would be something like this, “We will continue to work to resolve this conflict and find and acceptable way to continue to fund the library”! A resolution worded like this would convey a willingness to listen, negotiate, and use persuasion to settle matters rather than the authoritarian attitude expressed by those elected to REPRESENT! I feel that these assembly members are not representing the borough residents, have “misplaced priorities”, making them unfit for the job and need to be voted out and replaced. I urge you all to vote for Rodney Dial for borough mayor, as he is a proven experienced leader that represents the values and concerns of most of the citizens of the borough. I also support Glen Thompson for assemblyman; he is also a proven former assemblyman, Josh Titus as new blood and views on the assembly, Robb Arnold for school board,( I don’t personally know Robb, but have been told by many respected friends he is a great guy and choice for school board). And please vote NO on proposition #1 and YES on proposition #2. Should be obvious that we need to reform our borough government to a more representative and democratic government by going back to the form of borough government we had agreed to when the borough was formed and instituted. Where we have districts and representatives from those districts elected by the residents of these districts, who will they represent the issues, concerns and values of these districts, actually a much more fair and desirable system than we presently have. We all need to turn out and vote. Would really like to see a good turnout and not let 25% of the registered voters decide these issues that are so important to ALL of us. Respectfully Byron Whitesides
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Received September 29, 2022 - Published September 30, 2022 Related Viewpoint:
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