BURKEonBOARD

(Sept. 11, 2008) – Earlier this week I got a couple of emails from folks concerned about the tone I’ve taken during the campaign so far–one from a person who wanted off the Burke4Board Update email list, another from a supporter who was, nonetheless, wishing for a kinder, gentler tone and more attention to issues.

Here’s what I wrote back to them:

Thank you for your thoughtful criticism. I can assure you that it is not the first time I have heard such comments. I can tell you that the tone I have taken has been done with some care.

The sad truth is that nothing changes in this town unless issues are made public and those responsible for making bad decisions are held accountable.

I understand that my style is abrasive and confrontational. I do this for a reason–it gets people to pay attention. It causes people to talk about the issues. It even causes some people to take action. It caused you to write an email to get off an email list. So, I don’t apologize for my tactics and I understand if some people find it offensive. More people are offended by the how this school district and city are run. But I don’t seek to offend for no good reason. It’s people’s livelihoods I’m messing with, but its people’s kids and taxes they mess with.

I certainly do intend to focus on issues and have talked about them extensively, but the fact is that a school board acts through its superintendent who maintains day-to-day control of the district. The superintendent must be held accountable for the successes and failures of the district. When we have a superintendent, as we do now, who acts unilaterally and who is not held accountable by the board, we get the problems we have now like a new high school project that’s $25 million over budget, bad spending decisions, the highest school property taxes around and some of the lousiest state MCA test scores in the county, especially in the upper grades.

The city and school district have lived in a comfort zone for too long knowing that the constituency was, for the most part, too unsure and unorganized, and too “Minnesota Nice” to challenge anything publicly. We need some shaking up.

Shaking up only works for so long, though, then it gets old. It is a style that passes from favor quickly because people tire of the tension. But, in the short term, I hope it serves its purpose to awaken the community to the real challenges we face and causes a few more genteel folks to become participants in the solution rather than passive consumers of what ever is served up to them.

Government is a full-contact, participation sport.

So, why is this Burke guy so nasty? Sometimes I wonder why more people aren’t?