Volume 101, Number 22 www.kcjc.com June 3, 2021 23 Sivan 5781
jewish chronicle The KANSAS
CITY
‘Repairing the world’
Flora draws on Judaic teaching of tikkun olam for public service, run for Mission mayor By Jerry LaMartina Contributing Writer Sollie Flora draws on her legal training to work through complicated issues as a city council member in Mission, Kansas. But as a Jew, her inspiration for public service also comes from the spirit of tikkun olam. “There is an influence of Judaism in the work that I’m doing,” she said, “that social justice tradition that I feel very strongly about and making sure that we really are welcoming and inclusive of everyone that wants to be part of our community.” And now, Flora is hoping to apply those ideals as the mayor of Mission, as a candidate in the Nov. 2 election. Flora is a Ward 4 member of the city council, elected in November 2017. Her mayoral opponent is Arcie Rothrock, who represents Ward 2 on the council. Flora said her motivation to run for the Mission council, her first elected office, came from the “overwhelming and pretty discouraging” national and state political climate at the time and her belief that she could help her community. She is the council’s only lawyer, and along with working through issues, Flora uses her professional skills to communicate with stakeholders and resolve disputes. She is running for mayor “to cement our city’s forward progress,” she said. She thinks the city’s government is on the right path but needs “strong leadership.” Her priorities, if elected as mayor, would include executing the council’s parks and master plans; catching up on deferred maintenance of streets; increasing connections between city government, residents and businesses;
Sollie Flora, pictured here in the Mission, Kansas, downtown business district, with her fiance, Dave Leigh, and their dog Wags. (Courtesy Sollie Flora) and pushing efforts for environmental sustainability and equity — all aimed at making Mission the “very best place to live and work.” As a Mission councilmember, Flora updates her constituents on social media and holds quarterly ward meetings to field their questions and concerns. She is considering expanding that by holding themed, citywide town hall meetings if elected as mayor. “I am dedicated to transparency and community participation,” she said on her mayoral candidacy website. “I work hard to ensure that my neighbors and Mission residents understand my positions, and am always willing to explain the ‘why’ behind my votes.” Heather Ousley knows why Flora has “a strong shot” at becoming Mission’s mayor. Ousley is the Shawnee Mission School District’s board president. Like Flora, she is Jewish and a lawyer. They met when Flora ran for Mission’s council. “She’s a genuinely good person,” Ous-
Flora and her supporters gather for a group shot on May 23 during the kick-off of her mayoral campaign for the city of Mission, Kansas. (Courtesy Sollie Flora) ley said. “I think she’s one of the hardestworking people I know.” Flora recognizes that some problems have policy solutions, Ousley said. For example, soon after joining the Mission City Council, Flora helped develop an LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinance and helped other cities’ councils do the same. “She recognized that there was a potential problem in that our LGBTQ friends and family could be at risk because there were no specific ordinances that recognized them as a protected class,” Ousley said. “So, she set out to correct that and was successful.” Hillary Thomas, who represents Ward 1 on Mission’s council, met Flora when they were both running for the council and they became friends. They learned they had gone to the same high school a few years apart and had grown up near each other. Asked what made Flora tick, Thomas said it was “when things move too slow.” “She very much has an entrepreneurial spirit,” Thomas said. “She’s always ready to move things forward as quickly as we can. … She’s going to be a
fantastic mayor.” Flora lived in Chicago for three years and returned to this area in 2015, when she bought a house in Mission. She likes living there because of its people, the Johnson Drive corridor with its independent businesses and walkability, the city’s old neighborhoods with mature trees and its central location, she said. “I think it’s a lot of those intangibles that make a difference,” she said. “The people when you’re out and about. We have an ethos of looking out for one another in Mission.” Flora is 35. She is an in-house lawyer for Corbion, a Dutch company with U.S. headquarters in Lenexa. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Overland Park, where her parents, David and Elaine Flora, still live. She became a bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Torah. She doesn’t currently belong to a congregation. She graduated from Blue Valley Northwest High School. She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Grinnell College and a law degree from the University of Michigan.
Israeli Supreme Court president blasts critics for ‘undermining’ rule of law (JNS) Israeli Supreme Court President Esther Hayut blasted critics of the court at the annual Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat on Monday. “The undermining of the legitimacy of the courts and their judgements in effect undermines the principle of the rule of law, and from here to anarchy and chaos the distance is short,” Hayut said, according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster. “The judiciary is an island of stability in this time of great upheaval, although unfortunately there are those who have
set themselves the goal of harming and weakening it,” Hayut said. “This trend is reflected, among other things, in blatant and unbridled attacks that sometimes border on actual incitement and are directed personally at judges in all courts, due to decisions that are not to the liking of those parties,” she said. “These attacks are not just the domain of private individuals and tweeters of various social networks. They are also heard, regretfully, from elected of-
ficials,” Hayut said. Hayut was reportedly referring to remarks made last week by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, who had attacked the court over a ruling in which it warned against passing future Basic Laws of the kind that extended the state budget by 11 billion shekels. In a subsequent Facebook post on Monday, Levin wrote: “The silencing choir of the leaders of the judicial system worked overtime today, trying to guide the new legal revolution, which means the final transfer of the legislative powers from the Knesset to the Supreme Court. The attempt to delegitimize and threaten those who stand up with determination to protect the Knesset and democracy will fail.”
Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on May 27, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
NEW GOVERNMENT IN ISRAEL As The Chronicle went to press, Israel was poised to have a new government, which would oust Benjamin Netanyahu from power after a record 12 years as prime minister. If the agreement held until Wednesday, the new coalition was to include right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties. Please see next week’s Chronicle for more coverage of the situation.