RICHLAND, LEARN FROM HISTORY ABOUT JUDGING A CANDIDATE
The Free Press, September 25, 2003

In the 1990’s there was a Richland supervisor named Tom Glackin. He was a Democrat, from Ohio, who became a Republican to run here. He was elected without ever stating what he stood for, because there was no opposition, and no campaign. We all paid the price for our indifference.

Glackin was a tyrant of a man, an embarrassment to the township. He berated citizens at meetings. He was arbitrary in his decisions, and used the township inspectors like gestapo, sending them on missions to find something wrong. In fact, Pat Keller was elected when she ran against Glackin using the slogan “Restoring Civility”. Glackin never made it to re-election, suffering a heart attack one week before. Few people mourned his passing from the political scene.

It doesn’t take any special talent to be negative. We can all complain. So when you evaluate a candidate for political office, consider what he (or she) stands FOR, not what he is AGAINST. Has the candidate given careful thought, thorough research, and real understanding to presenting a complete program that deals with ALL the township matters?

Richland’s supervisors serve six-year terms, and decide on dozens, perhaps hundreds, of issues that affect our lives. We need elected officials who we can trust to demonstrate good judgment, maturity, and civility in considering ALL matters of government. One-trick ponies, who only complain, rarely make it all the way around the track.

Every city, every township, every municipality has issues that displease some portion of the citizenry. So it is not unusual to find candidates who run for office solely by taking a stand AGAINST something. Sometimes they even win. But a win for a candidate is not necessarily a win for the people who elected him. They must live with that candidate’s judgment and personality, for better or worse, long after the matter he ran against is resolved. If he runs a negative campaign, expect a negative rule.

Keller, a Republican, is just finishing her first term. She has established a record. She is a known quantity, who is running on her own achievements. Her opponent, Mike Zowniriw, is a self-described Democrat who is running on the Green Party ticket because, as he said, he woke up one day and knew that someone had to run against Keller. He has voiced opposition to the new YMCA. He has voiced opposition to the current township open space plan. He has voiced opposition to development in Richland. And he has charged the entire current board with being unethical.

Clearly there is a pattern here, and it is not a good one for citizens who are looking for positive leadership. Zowniriw made a quick splash by denouncing his opponent, and the views of the supervisors. We have learned what he is AGAINST. But after months as an announced candidate, we really have no clue what he is FOR. With no record of local community service, one has to wonder if he even understands the issues. He has chosen merely to substitute complaints for ideas.

He has told us nothing about his recommendations for the township budget, the planned growth of the police department, obtaining grant money, controlling development within the law, managing the nine citizen boards, and continuing conservation work along the township waterways and swamps. He has not told us how he will deal with county bond money, and Richland’s new bond issue, to acquire open space. He has not shared his vision of the blossoming trail system, or how he would implement Richland’s new $350,000 CMAQ grant to install a state-of-the-art traffic control system on Route 309. He has not told us how he will keep from increasing taxes, as the current board has done.

We don’t have to ask Keller how she feels about these things. They are issues she has studied, and shaped, for six years. She is a former college professor who never raises her voice, and does not criticize her opponent. On the other hand, Zowniriw highlighted his negative campaign by charging that Keller was morally and ethically wrong to sit on township boards while being supervisor. Again, he is just uninformed. Keller was honored in Washington, D.C. by the National Association of Towns and Townships for her efforts in organizing those boards, including her personal partcipation. Richland received a $5000 grant for her work.

Zowniriw also shows his political naiveté by criticizing supervisors Rick Orloff and Steve Tamburri for having been on the board of the YMCA 20 years ago. Who would we have as supervisors if we eliminated anyone who has served on a local board? (Answer: Mike Zowniriw). Service like that is called community involvement, an important and necessary experience which we should DEMAND of anyone who hopes to become a leader. Orloff is an accountant, Tamburri a Wharton Business School graduate. They brought important skills to both boards. In our small community, dedicated people who give their time to charitable institutions like the Y are valuable assets. Good ones are few and far between. We should not even consider electing someone who has not shown this type of commitment. Zowniriw’s own failure to serve this community in any meaningful way is a negative, not a positive.

And it certainly evoked memories of Glackin when Zowniriw was screaming at a township meeting, demanding the resignation of a supervisor who didn’t vote his way. Antics like that are childish publicity stunts for the benefit of the media, not worthy of a serious candidate. Partisan politics aside, respect - and your vote - are earned. If a candidate has done nothing, he has earned nothing.

The YMCA issue is now totally in the hands of the courts, so it almost doesn’t matter what either candidate believes. Large development in Richland is declining, with most tracts either built, preserved in open space, or protected by zoning. Voters should decide this race based on who they trust to deal with issues we haven’t yet encountered. ALL of the issues. You can best predict the future by looking to the past. Keller’s record is out there for all to see. I’d like the opportunity to present Zowniriw’s record, or his plans, but he’s given us none, except for what he opposes. We’ve already lived through that, in our bad old days. If we remember our history, we can avoid repeating it.