Analysis and Opinion by Dean Silver

carpetbag

There’s a new guy in town running for city council, Bob Kaplan.  By all accounts he’s smart and likeable.  He’s got a great resume, a winning smile, and a real gift for gab.  He involved himself in local civic and political action groups when he moved here three years ago, and now he’s thinks he’s ready for city council.  The question is: is he the right choice for that position this year?

He’s running against Jill Franko, school board member.  By all accounts she’s smart and likeable.  She’s got a great resume, a winning smile, and a real gift for gab.  She’s been involved in city issues since she moved to Ashland as well.  Recognizing the challenges facing the city, she stepped up to run for city council this year.

It seems that almost everyone in Ashland agrees that these are two well qualified, likeable candidates.  Both have a lot to offer.  The unfortunate fact is that they are opposing each other for position #4 on council, and only one can prevail.  Most people seem to think it’s a shame that we have to choose between them.

This is the perfect example of why Ashland needs to move to a ranked voting system for filling council seats.  But that will require a change in the city charter.  Perhaps a new council will see the benefits of ranked voting, and put it before the voters as a referendum in the near future.  But that remains a discussion for a future date.

Faced with the Choice

Given these two well qualified candidates, who will be the best choice to serve on council from 2023 to 2027?  Ashland is facing some very difficult decisions in the next few years, from finances to housing to sustainability to responding to climate change and everything in between.

Both are endorsed by a variety of local favorites, Jill by people who are generally recognized as more progressive, while Bob is notably endorsed by State Representative Pam Marsh.  He has emphasized that endorsement at every opportunity.  That endorsement is clearly extremely valuable to him, as would be expected.

One of the defining differences between the two is age.  I don’t know their exact ages, but Jill has two young children, while Bob has two grown children.  That puts them roughly a generation apart.

Bob is retired, and is fortunate enough to be able to devote as much of his time as he wishes to his interests.  To his credit, he has devoted much of his time in town so far to giving back to the community.

Bob is a relatively well to do, relatively old, retired white guy, very much like myself.  Jill has taken time out of her career, like so many working moms, to focus on the work of raising her children in Ashland, but being the mother of two young children can hardly be called “retired”.   Both are fortunate enough to have the time and resources to devote to what by all accounts is a very time demanding and often contentious job as councilor.

Seems like a tossup so far, although I personally would give the nod to Jill for being more familiar with Ashland and its needs.  She also would seem to have more at stake personally in the future of Ashland, being the mother of two young children she is raising here.

The Supporters and “Staff”

Jill’s campaign treasurer is Alana Valencia from Phoenix.  She lists a variety of neighbors on her campaign website as supporters.

Bob’s campaign treasurer is Ron Adams from Ashland.  Ron Adams is or was also the campaign treasurer for Tonya Graham, Paula Hyatt, Jeff Golden, Pam Marsh, Julian Bell and Linda Adams.

Bob proudly includes Steffani Seffinger and Jackie Bachman, current and ex council members and ex parks commissioners as supporters.

So although all of our candidates are unaffiliated with any political party, and although many people object to the idea that Ashland politics have “slates”, it’s easy to see who Bob Kaplan is closely associated with and surmise where his true sympathies lie.

Big Time Politics Comes to Ashland

But there’s something new in this election.  It’s that endorsement of Bob by Pam Marsh.

When Gina DuQuenne– Ashland’s first black, female, self-described queer councilor– was running for council two years ago, she solicited Pam’s endorsement.  She was rebuffed.  Pam’s stated rationale was that since she would have to work closely with Ashland city councilors, it would not be appropriate for her to endorse any of the candidates.  That sounds to me like a reasonable, wise policy.

Yet this year, Pam endorsed Bob Kaplan.  When asked about the change of heart, she has stated how impressed she is with him and how she feels he would make a great councilor.  That sounds reasonable, but how can she reconcile that with her previous position regarding council candidates?

One factor might be what we must call “politics as usual”.  Running for office takes money, and plenty of it.  All politicians need financial support, and they all ask for it.  They all get it, too, sometimes from individuals who support them altruistically, some from individuals who want the candidate to be ingratiated to them, and some from corporations who virtually always want something from those politicians.

Pam Marsh has gotten plenty of support over the years for her campaigns for representative.  As of October 12, 2022, Orestar reports that she has received a staggering $121,435 in contributions since election day 2020.  It’s clear that she has plenty of financial support.

But what most people don’t realize is that $1,000 of that total was contributed by Bob Kaplan on May 2, 2022.  That may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but to many in Ashland, it’s an unthinkable amount to contribute to a politician.  It is more in line with Pam’s corporate donations.

So we have two disturbing coincidental occurrences in this year’s election for council: Bob’s donation to Pam, and Pam’s subsequent endorsement of Bob.

Separately, both of these occurrences are perfectly legal, and in fact perfectly normal.  But taken together, they might raise questions in some people’s minds.  I will leave that for each individual voter to decide.

The Carpetbagger

Bob retired and came to Ashland, eager to get involved in civic affairs.  He has done that with great energy.  He has made valuable contributions to our city.

But he also brought with him the sensibilities and actions of a professional politician.  Is this what we want to see in Ashland politics?  Do we want to see money play a new role in our local elections?

The city is in the midst of a critical period as we navigate our new form of government, our financial difficulties, and all of the other issues and problems.  We are trying to complete the transition to the city manager form, and it has been, and remains, a real struggle.  There is and has been an enormous amount of pushback from the establishment.  Change is often difficult, much more so when so many of the people involved resist it.

The one thing that is certain is that we must move forward to solve our problems.  After watching city council flounder and stall and accomplish nothing in the past 22 months, we know that council cannot go on as it has.   We cannot look back, and we cannot afford to delay.  Change is here. 

Bob Kaplan has made statements indicating that he is in favor of a separate Parks district, which would inevitably lead to new regressive taxes, and more dysfunction in City Hall.  He proclaims that the city general fund budget is not in a crisis when it clearly is.

Is Bob Kaplan the best agent for the change that we need, or is Jill Franko?  Who will embrace the change, and who will resist it?

I will leave that for each individual voter to decide.