I wish I could say that I’m the type of person who makes the most out of every opportunity. But, like many of you I’m sure, I let more than my fair share of opportunities slide by without seizing the chance to maximize the moment.
I guess that dynamic is what leads me to turn on CVTV during the far too many late nights when I’m unable to sleep. In my position as editor of The Reflector, I can say with a clear conscience that I seek to be as informed as possible on the news relevant to our readers. I’m one man at one community newspaper and we have a small staff, so there are only so many hours and opportunities in the day.
As a result, I don’t make it to as many events and public meetings as I would like. So, on those nights when counting sheep doesn’t do the trick, I turn on CVTV and I feel like the lack of slumber is at least going to a good cause – I’m becoming informed on what’s going on in our community.
This past week, I caught a late night replay of the Board of County Councilors May 12 meeting. It was a rather uneventful meeting as they muddled through some procedural consent items on the agenda, but it was a more productive use of my time than watching Sportscenter for the fifth time.
At one point, councilors David Madore and Tom Mielke got into a discussion about the use of overtime hours by a department to complete a project. The councilors expressed concerns about the concept of burdening employees with forced overtime and whether or not it was the most efficient way for the county to get a project completed.
After this discussion went on for a while too long – I say too long because it appeared everyone was already in agreement and procedures were already properly in place – Councilor Jeanne Stewart took to the microphone and said to Madore and Mielke, something to the effect of, “are you boys done? I thought you forgot I was sitting over here.’’ (I don’t recall if those was her exact words, but I‘m confident I captured the spirit of her comment.)
It was one of those golden nickles that I love. A throw-away moment to many, but a revealing moment to me, and not the first by the way gifted to us by Stewart.
On Friday morning, Stewart threw her hat in the ring in the race for the newly created county chair position. At the time of this writing, with a few hours remaining until the filing deadline, Stewart’s filing means all three sitting councilors are now running for the chair along with former county commissioner Marc Boldt.
I’ll be darn if Stewart is going to sit back and remain silent to anybody. I really admire that. Maybe it’s a reflection that I didn’t give her enough credit heading into her current term, and if that’s the case, I will own it. But, Mielke and Madore are obviously strong personalities with a purposeful political gait and that could be a challenge to work with, but apparently not for Stewart.
I don’t have a horse in this race and I have no intention at this point in publicly choosing one. I don’t hold the disdain for Madore and Mielke that some in this county do so as a conservative I view this field more favorably than many, and that includes my view of Boldt as a candidate.
Because of our production schedule here at The Reflector, I can’t wait until the filing deadline to finish this editorial. We are told the Democrats will provide a candidate before the day is over and if that is indeed the case, you will read about it in another space in this same newspaper.
I’m all for a Dem throwing his or her hat in the ring, the more the merrier. Let’s have a fair fight, one in which we take the gloves off and have an honest discussion about the current political culture in Clark County. After all, I need CVTV to have some compelling content to keep me occupied on those nights when Mr. Sandman is nowhere to be found.
Ken Vance
Editor
