Uncivil Rights
A BLOG rife with wit, sarcasm, and the endless joy which comes from taunting the socialistic and unpatriotic liberal left. Logical thoughts and musings ONLY need reply...unless you're really, really funny. You have the Uncivil Right to be an IDIOT.
"Give me LIBERTY, or give me DEATH!"
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Aurora Mayoral Race
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 hosted a forum for the mayoral candidates of Aurora last night. AFSCME has roughly 650 members that reside in Aurora and can vote in the upcoming mayoral election. An endorsement by this panel will give the edge to that candidate in the election.
The candidates were given questions prior to the forum and then required to submit them to the Council.
At the forum, the candidates, one by one, were given a total of 15 minutes each, 3 of which were to introduce themselves. They were then asked questions by a panel of union presidents, PEOPLE chairs, and Council 31 staff representatives.
My impressions:
Bill Wyatt: clearly for privatization. He kept making references equate City government to business methods and applications (which is good-to a point). He is for residency requirements that make no applicable sense. He would like to "privatize for profit", meaning he wants to make a profit from someof the privatized services. He has no problem putting a tax levy (for the library which has not been increased since 1996) on the ballot or the people to decide. He's never belonged to a union.
Give him credit for his stance on privatiziation in front of a bunch of union members and leaders. Will this earn him anything other than scorn from union members? probably not.
Tom Weisner: former union leader. He was instrumental in the implementation of Employee Involvement Committees with Local 3298. He talked about mutual respect between management and employees. He discussed growing the workforce as the City grows. Operationally, he was quite knowledgable, and very in-depth with his responses. As far as privatization, he is against it. However, there are times when some outside help is needed. He said he would only hire out to complement the workforce (excellent answer). Library employees need to be fairly compensated, though it may be completes in phases.
Richard Irvin: Heal-Strengthen-Build, he went into his campaign talking points. In fact, he came in with campaign literature and passed it out as he was speaking. He came across as preaching. He said employees were the backbone of the City. His management style is Total Quality Management. He said he will always be fair and understanding. He was told by City management that there was no hiring freeze (there is, only union hiring freeze). he claimed the City was top heavy. He said his mom is a telecom operator, which makes me wonder, with all the problems they've had for years, why hasn't he advocated changes for the operators before now? One union president said that if he broke the rules he would be punished, however, when his boss breaks the rules nothing happens, how would Irvin address this? Irvin said, "I won't look the other way just because he's a buddy." He then realized what he said and countered he would hire the most qualified people to be managers. Nice try Richard.
Angel Hernandez: rambled.
Jack Cunningham: most humorous. Talked mainly about when he was a "young lad". He said employees were the greatest asset, good wages for good work. He said Aurora was top heavy. He was not versed in the 911 issue. he is against resdiency requirement (obviously for the position of mayor as well since he doesn't live here.) That was very funny.
Overall: I would say Tom Weisner was obviouslyt the most knowledgable of the internal operations of the City and what was needed to make appropriate changes. Richard Irvin was the most comfortable speaker but had mainly campaign rhetoric to say and did not have a firm grasp of the actual operational issues. Bill Wyatt was almost arrogant, almost. I think he was a bit out of his element. I don't think he has faced an employee as an equal before. Jack Cunningham had some insight, however, he seemed out of touch with Aurora today. Angel Hernandez seems like a very nice man who should just go home.
As of this writing, I heard that Tom Weisner will get the endorsement of AFSCME, much deserved. My congratulations to him.
The candidates were given questions prior to the forum and then required to submit them to the Council.
At the forum, the candidates, one by one, were given a total of 15 minutes each, 3 of which were to introduce themselves. They were then asked questions by a panel of union presidents, PEOPLE chairs, and Council 31 staff representatives.
My impressions:
Bill Wyatt: clearly for privatization. He kept making references equate City government to business methods and applications (which is good-to a point). He is for residency requirements that make no applicable sense. He would like to "privatize for profit", meaning he wants to make a profit from someof the privatized services. He has no problem putting a tax levy (for the library which has not been increased since 1996) on the ballot or the people to decide. He's never belonged to a union.
Give him credit for his stance on privatiziation in front of a bunch of union members and leaders. Will this earn him anything other than scorn from union members? probably not.
Tom Weisner: former union leader. He was instrumental in the implementation of Employee Involvement Committees with Local 3298. He talked about mutual respect between management and employees. He discussed growing the workforce as the City grows. Operationally, he was quite knowledgable, and very in-depth with his responses. As far as privatization, he is against it. However, there are times when some outside help is needed. He said he would only hire out to complement the workforce (excellent answer). Library employees need to be fairly compensated, though it may be completes in phases.
Richard Irvin: Heal-Strengthen-Build, he went into his campaign talking points. In fact, he came in with campaign literature and passed it out as he was speaking. He came across as preaching. He said employees were the backbone of the City. His management style is Total Quality Management. He said he will always be fair and understanding. He was told by City management that there was no hiring freeze (there is, only union hiring freeze). he claimed the City was top heavy. He said his mom is a telecom operator, which makes me wonder, with all the problems they've had for years, why hasn't he advocated changes for the operators before now? One union president said that if he broke the rules he would be punished, however, when his boss breaks the rules nothing happens, how would Irvin address this? Irvin said, "I won't look the other way just because he's a buddy." He then realized what he said and countered he would hire the most qualified people to be managers. Nice try Richard.
Angel Hernandez: rambled.
Jack Cunningham: most humorous. Talked mainly about when he was a "young lad". He said employees were the greatest asset, good wages for good work. He said Aurora was top heavy. He was not versed in the 911 issue. he is against resdiency requirement (obviously for the position of mayor as well since he doesn't live here.) That was very funny.
Overall: I would say Tom Weisner was obviouslyt the most knowledgable of the internal operations of the City and what was needed to make appropriate changes. Richard Irvin was the most comfortable speaker but had mainly campaign rhetoric to say and did not have a firm grasp of the actual operational issues. Bill Wyatt was almost arrogant, almost. I think he was a bit out of his element. I don't think he has faced an employee as an equal before. Jack Cunningham had some insight, however, he seemed out of touch with Aurora today. Angel Hernandez seems like a very nice man who should just go home.
As of this writing, I heard that Tom Weisner will get the endorsement of AFSCME, much deserved. My congratulations to him.
totalkaosdave, 8:37 AM
|
