RICHARD BOEHNER 86
A TRUSTEE TO TRUST
ONE AMIBITION, FOUR PROMISES
“I want this town to live up to its great past, tend to the issues of the current, and foresee a great future ahead.” ashington politics simply won’t break it here. Since the founding of our Republic, party politics have done more harm to small towns like Jamesville, siphoning money from your hands to line the pockets of fat cats and Washington insiders. As such, past administrations in townhall have toed the line — taking a slice out of our wages and returning us a sliver. It is then no surprise that our beloved town is now a husk of itself, with townhall refusing to expand and heed the people’s needs while towns like South Haven, Paw Paw, and Mattawan outcompete us economically, socially, and politically. s a Jamesville farmer through-and-through, I am all too familiar with this sort of incompetency. When I was a young child, I had to endure through the Great Depression when the people had to bear the foolishness of the big industrialists down in New York; only to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps to welcome new folks who were recently laid off. Similarly, during these recent years, I have had grubby investors try to buy out my land and slither through every legal avenue to turn my land over during these difficult times; only to be saved by a handful of local activists and neighbors. These moments taught me one thing: our town only endures when ordinary people look out for each other, not when they shake the limp hands of city slickers. y campaign rests on this principle in transferring the power away from bloated townhall into the hands of the people. To be a trustee worthy of the people’s trust, I make four solemn promises to end the era of stagnancy and reinvigorate vibrancy amongst our townspeople.
irst, I will cut waste within townhall’s ranks and transfer all funding towards essential utilities (roads, water, electricity, trash, etcetera). Excessive paperwork, administrative overhead, and extravagant projects are all part of the waste within our government. As trustee, I promise to slash all of these (even my own wage and benefits, which I will cut 50%) and reduce millage rates. Public sector jobs won’t grow our economy! It is the free
market — steeped within our country’s very way of life — that drives growth in towns like ours. It is plain common sense that a portion of your hard-earned labor should be spent on the upkeep of our town, while the clear majority stays right inside your pocket for you to spend it wisely on. econd, I vow to establish fairer zoning laws that protect our fellow farmers and local businesses away from the grubby hands of out-of-town land speculators. While growth is key to our campaign, we must achieve so through the resources we have. Over at South Haven, they have understood how to capitalize local talents into their tourist campaign. Look at the National Blueberry Festival! It has caught the eyes of the nation, bringing an endless flow of money into their pockets without uprooting their heritage. We need to learn from this and immediately consult existing businesses on how we can promote our talents on the county, regional, and national level to rake in money from a growing lucrative tourism industry. hird, being most accountable to the people, I will host regular meet-ups with everyday people. Being elected is not an entitlement. It is something sacred within our republican system, being the manifestation of the people’s mandate. And to live up to this motto, I will make myself as available as possible on the streets. If you want to flag me down on a street, I am always open; if you want to ring up my home number, I am always open; and if you want to buy me a beer, I’m always down to chug. Being a trustee doesn’t mean you strip yourself down to some dull accountant; it means you must be one with the people.
astly, it is important for other bodies of government to uphold their end. This would entail auditing existing contracts with police departments and contractors to guarantee our money is spent on things on the streets. I believe this is the core of our campaign as it is true to the most sacred principle of our country: that nobody is above the law, and that the watchful eyes of the people will always keep them in check. ltimately, this movement is not Democratic or Republican — it is a common sense movement that matters to me most as a farmer that’s lived here since childhood. Also: this is not a battle against one and another, neither is it a smear job against the existing administration, but rather this is a battle of the town’s soul. I want this town to live up to its great past, tend to the issues of the current, and foresee a great future ahead. For that is what matters most in my view of politics: that we forge a partnership between those who have laid their lives for us, those who take care of us today, and those who will pave a path ahead.
RICHARD BOEHNER
FOR TRUSTEE