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May 22, 2005Voters, taxpayers merit a lobbyist of their ownIn her nearly four years on the Traverse City Commission, Anne Melichar has sometimes, at least as far as some of her fellow commissioners are concerned, been a pain in the behind.She asks pointed, difficult questions, and lots of them. She often votes against the majority. She questions facts and figures. She wants details. She does not go along to get along. Melichar, who recently announced she would not seek re-election in November, can sometimes even be a bit "divisive," as commissioner Ralph Soffredine put it. Even a bit abrasive. And she can be wrong. She fought tooth and nail to preserve a portion of the former city power plant on West Bay even though a great majority of city residents (and this paper's editorial page) longed for the day the plant was finally gone. But Melichar has never stopped prying, probing and questioning on behalf of the folks paying the bills. Every voter and taxpayer in northern Michigan should be lucky enough to have an Anne Melichar representing their interests on every city, county and township board or commission. Melichar did not invent the role of crusty curmudgeon, of course. Traverse City's original version was one Jasper Weese, better known in some circles as "Mr. No." Weese still shows up at commission meetings from time to time and is running for election in November, mostly to fight city plans to enact a 1 percent tax surcharge fee. He was - and likely still is - an out-and-out skinflint with city money. He questioned the expenditure of every dime as if it were his own. He drove some folks batty, but others loved him for it. Melichar's gift, and the attribute the other "antis" out there bring to public service, is to interrupt the lockstep march to unanimity that is considered a virtue by so many local boards. Think what the Grand Traverse County Board, the Traverse City Area Public Schools board and the Northwestern Michigan College board would be with an Anne Melichar of their own. Maybe those boards would have been browbeaten by now into televising their meetings, for instance, so taxpayers could see for themselves. This isn't to question the motives of the great majority of local commissioners and trustees, but rather their commitment to think for themselves, question the status quo and bring some critical thinking to the work of government. When the question is "Who's lobbying for you?" the answer, too often, is nobody. With the Anne Melichars of the world, there's never a doubt.
End the conflict conflict
Newly minted Traverse City Commissioner Jack Boynton has rightly shown his willingness to consider whether he should vote on issues concerning his law partner and a West Front Street redevelopment plan. |
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