Bad Government

The following is a guest commentary, by Shauna Dunford, Bluff Ridge Elementary PTA president, published in the Standard Examiner Feb. 2, 2007.

The Standard-Examiner’s Jan. 26 editorial, “Stifle your anger, Syracuse,” took a position in favor of closed and unresponsive government. The Standard-Examiner’s editorial is supportive of an elected government body ramming through a decision that is in opposition to the position of the community whom they serve, without first giving public consideration to and comparison of the concerns and recommendation of the governed.

In addition, the Standard-Examiner’s view is that after a government body has taken such a position, that it is not important that the governed request and demand accountability of the government body in substantiating the government’s position and decision. In other words, be quiet and just get along. This position is insulting and dangerous. It destroys the confidence of the people in the government that the process actually works. Were the tables turned on the Standard-Examiner, it would most certainly take action opposite of its stated opinion.

More than 1,300 citizens made thoughtful and specific written comments addressing four areas of concern and providing a specific recommendation for consideration. The submission of comments by the residents of Syracuse occurred in a professional fashion, avoiding slurs, anger, stereotyping and the demeaning characterization of others, unlike the approach engaged by the Standard-Examiner and some toward the good residents of Syracuse.

The facts are that after the recent vote of the school board, members of the school board and administration were asked if the concerns clearly articulated by governed residents were considered, and if a scenario was prepared and considered based upon their recommendation. The responses were negative. They could not articulate the concerns or the recommendation. No comparison of scenarios, nor references to the concerns of more than 1,300 residents, were addressed by the board in the public meeting.
Board member Tamara Lowe, resident of West Point, and Cheryl Werven, resident of Clearfield, were elected by residents of Syracuse to represent their interests and concerns. Neither Lowe nor Werven stood up and asked the tough questions of the board and the consultant that were submitted to them by more than 1,300 of their constituents. There was no specific recognition of and response to the detailed concerns of Syracuse residents by Lowe, Werven or the board. An opportunity was not provided by the school board to receive public comment in the public meeting. The board, the Standard and its editorial cartoonist Calvin Grondahl seek to silence the reasonable requests of good people in a professional and reasonable fashion by labeling them as “squawkers” who are “angry.”

Normally the Standard-Examiner stands up for the rights of the public to be heard and to understand the basis for the decisions of government. Every citizen, regardless of their personal position on the issues at hand, should be deeply concerned by the actions of the Davis School Board. A government body that communicates by its actions and responses that its members are more enlightened than the population they serve is a danger to our way of governance. A government body that has ignored or refused to respond in a public setting to the specific recommendation and expressed concerns of 50 percent of the total respondents received throughout all of Davis County does not deserve the confidence of the public or the press. Any government body that reflects by its actions that it considers as insignificant the comments of the citizens whom it taxes, when the citizen responses were 477 percent higher than the next-closest category of response, has lost the confidence of the people. The people have every right to expect, even demand, that a government body that taxes them, that has an impact upon their city and upon the lives of their neighborhood and families, conduct the business of the people in an open and responsive manner.

A government body that conducts its affairs contrary to these values and principles does not deserve, and will not receive, the confidence and goodwill of the people. The Standard-Examiner should never discourage or undermine reasonable, intelligent and thoughtful requests and positions of the governed. Doing so encourages bad government, closed government and abuse of the governed.

Dunford is Bluff Ridge Elementary PTA president She lives in Syracuse.
(Editor’s note: The Standard-Examiner advocated for an open and public boundary-revision process in editorials published Oct. 15, Nov. 16