This is the first in what will be a long series of posts reprising my weekly columns about local government for the Republican newspaper, which has been published in Danville, Indiana since 1847 — seven years before the political party of the same name existed. Enjoy and learn!
Why would anyone write a column about something as dull as local government? First, it isn’t always dull. Trust me. But most important, most people don’t understand it. Through 23 years as an elected official, I’ve been floored at how few people understand local government, its responsibilities, its realities, and its limits. These well-meaning folks keep voting for people they don’t know while having no clue what those people do, or why they do it.
Take a spin through your favorite Facebook chatter group and you’ll see post after post bashing local officials for issues they don’t control. “The county assessor deliberately overvalued our home so our property taxes would go up!” Nope, the assessor used the state-mandated formula that’s based on recent home sales. “Avon needs to fix the stoplight timing on U.S. 36!” Avon can’t do that, no matter how much its Town Council might like to, because the state assigns that responsibility to the Indiana Department of Transportation. “Plainfield’s leaders need to stop building tire stores and Mexican restaurants!” Town leaders don’t decide which businesses come to town. The businesses themselves make those choices through something we used to call the free enterprise system.
My goal is to improve your understanding of what local government is supposed to do so you’ll become more thoughtful in choosing the people you entrust to run it. I’m not here to tell you which candidate or party deserves your vote. (I don’t trust either of our major political parties to act in your best interests. Parties are less interested in truly addressing problems than in making sure the other guys get fewer opportunities to try.)
Politics won’t be my focus, but it can’t be avoided. Local government is heavily influenced by the political process. Explaining local government sometimes means having to address political facts, and sharing those facts often has a way of making people uncomfortable or angry.
Why is it so important for you to grasp how local government works? It’s simple: it has a profound effect upon so many aspects of your daily life. Not the philosophical aspects, but the practical ones. Your children’s education. Whether you’re safe in your home. Whether you’ll catch cholera at the town’s pool. Why it takes forever to get from Danville to Brownsburg. How quickly your home will sell. Why Avon got a Costco and your town didn’t. I’ll do my best to make it all entertaining and worth your time. Let me know if I fall short of either objective.