OPED: Attwood knows the issue and the answer
Submitted by: Sheila and David Lucas, Ward 4 voters
What Should We Expect From the Candidates in the Ward 4 Race for Lakewood City Council?
We have been observing the campaign efforts of Amy Attwood and her opponent in the Ward 4 race for Lakewood City Council for five months, and we wish to share some of our first-hand observations, as well as what we believe may be some vital questions about these candidates’ qualifications, overall integrity and ability to serve the citizens of Lakewood.
Wiechman’s recent campaign flier forces us to ask compelling questions about Mr. Wiechman’s values. The flier states, “This candidate for Lakewood city council can’t be bought.”
The obvious intent is to persuade us to believe that Mr. Wiechman’s opponent is taking “Lobbyist’s and Developers’” money, and will therefore not be as ‘free’ as Mr. Wiechman to represent the citizens’ interests in the Council.
One is encouraged also to visit the Wiechman website to see the details of his campaign finances. However, the Finance ‘position’ piece begs off on disclosing actual Wiechman financial details (and a spreadsheet attached only details Mr. Wiechman’s 2007 campaign contributors).
Our most recent opportunity to observe each candidate in action was the Green Mountain Civic Association’s candidate forum. During the candidate forum the question was asked: “Looking at the most recent City Council session, what would you have done different?” David Wiechman responded first, and asked the questioner: “What meeting… you mean the most recent one?”
When the questioner said, yes, Mr. Wiechman answered that he did not notice anything special at that week’s meeting and he would have “voted with the Council” on all budget topics dealt with at that session.
Amy Attwood took the microphone and stated decisively and without hesitation that the city of Lakewood currently has $24,000,000.00 in surplus set aside as a rainy day fund. Amy expressed her feelings that the city needed to tap into those funds as Lakewood has been caught in the nationwide downturn. She pointed out that this reserve was designed to safeguard against cutting services in times just like this and that we needed to make use of them.
The difference between the candidates’ ability to respond to an unanticipated question like this one was illuminating. Amy Attwood was comfortable and competent in a situation which required her to ‘think on her feet’.
In view of David Wiechman’s claims about his own background, one would expect him to be capable of providing a thoughtful, detailed answer to this kind of question.
The essential questions we propose for our friends’ and neighbors’ consideration is: Which candidate has demonstrated that he/she is genuinely committed to serving the public good? And, which one brings the most knowledge, relevant experience and shared sense of commitment to forwarding the interests of Lakewood?
Perhaps the Lucas’s haven’t been to Dave website recently. Here’s a link to his latest 2009 report. It was released the same day as the financial reports at the city of Lakewood. And in reference to comments about the Candidates Forum which you also posted in yourhub.com I provide my comments which I also posted there.
Well that’s an interesting observation however the action to utilize funds for an economic downtown is already built into this years budget as presented by Larry Dorr and it was discussed at a recent city council meeting in which the council approved the budget. So it’s anything but a fresh perspective. The cash reserve was also used recently to repair the Belmar Pool. So agreeing with the cities actions is the same as approving the use of these reserve funds. You can say it in a lot of words or you can use brevity and make the same point.