Today's Register-Star reports on interviews with the two candidates for First Ward Supervisor: Sarah Sterling and John Musall. In her interview, Sarah Sterling, who is the challenger in this race, expresses a fairly predictable goal: to make the city's voice heard at the county level. Musall, on the other hand, who was elected to the office as a Democrat and is now running for reelection on the Republican line, proposes a fairly unorthodox notion: Hudson should no longer be the county seat. Musall claims that, if Hudson weren't the county seat, the city would "'no longer need a $3 million police force' and could include county buildings in the city on its tax roles [sic]." Expressing a position that is completely opposite from Sterling's, Musall says that in his tenure as supervisor for the First Ward he has "tried to instill the idea that Hudson is ready to listen to the county rather than the county listen to it.”
There are three people running unopposed for supervisor positions in Hudson, and the Register-Star has interviews with two of them: Bill Hughes, Fourth Ward, and Rick Scalera, Fifth Ward. Ed Cross, who has been the supervisor representing the Second Ward for as long as anyone can remember, did not, the Register-Star notes, complete the candidate questionnaire or respond to phone calls.
Hudson not the County Seat? I like the notion of putting all these county buildings in Hudson on the tax roll and the County could then set up shop in more affordable quarters.... WalMart? Skate Factory?
ReplyDelete"Vote Musall: he won't listen to you, he'll listen to the other guy who lives far away." That's some campaign slogan he's got there. Makes you wonder what he views his role as -- representing his constituents or selling them to the highest bidder?
ReplyDeleteI'm no Musall supporter, not by a longshot. He has shown himself to be one resentful and confused person, and a poor public servant. It does not take a crystal ball to divine that he will not win re-election in November.
ReplyDeleteBut speaking of representing constituents, let's not forget that Sterling voted (A) in favor of another round of underhanded, unnecessary bar stings, and (B) in favor of the deeply-flawed GEIS, without allowing any members of the public to speak before she cast her vote.
I daresay that on those two issues, the majority of the 1st Ward's sentiments are pretty clear, moreso than most any other Ward. Is that representative?
There is a very real divide in Hudson, but it's not the one people think. The true division is between those who believe that insider conversations among a handful of players in City Hall and party committee meetings are all that matter, and those who actually live and work here. The lack of real choices for so many offices makes this disconnect harder to remedy, and reveals both the laziness and the deal-making propensity of the political players. Voters deserve better.
--S.