For Scott County supervisor: Minard, Adamson and Gallin
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By The Quad-City Times | Saturday, November 04, 2006 |
Hard to believe the Scott County Board of Supervisors governs in the same town as the Davenport City Council. The five candidates seeking three positions expressed admiration for and trust in each other, differentiating themselves by experience and philosophy, not attacks and fears.
That experience made it easy to support incumbents Larry Minard and Greg Adamson for two of the positions. Minard is particularly suited to his chairmanship role because of his deep experience in municipal and education leadership. Under his leadership, the supervisors got out of the board room and attended town meetings in each of the 13 communities. He’s continued the county’s fiscally responsible reputation even as a new jail goes up and the courthouse undergoes more renovation.
Adamson has jumped in his first term by taking leadership roles in emergency management and the community corrections board. Adamson’s successful first term, along with his experience as a Bettendorf police officer and long-time city parks board member should serve the county well in a second term.
Republican challenger Rich Golinghorst is a sixth-generation farmer with deep respect for the county’s farming tradition. Beyond farming, Golinghorst didn’t exhibit the knowledge or much interest, really, in the thornier issues of county governance.
The choice gets tougher between Democrats Chris Gallin and Roxanna Moritz.
Gallin won appointment to the board to fill a vacancy and seems to have stepped up to the position. She participated in the group studying consolidated dispatching and seems to share the incumbents’ desire for continued careful consolidation of services duplicated by county and cities. She impressed us by bringing up something we’d not heard in years of candidate interviews: Succession planning. She hoped her next term would see carefully managed steps to see the county through the impending retirement of baby boomers now running departments.
We see lots of leadership potential in challenger Roxanna Moritz, who brings a history of public service in elected office. Moritz easily allayed our chief concern: that her two terms on the Davenport City Council would invite some of that useless City Hall drama into the productive County Board room. Indeed, Moritz distinguished herself and the city by reaching over partisan and ward boundaries to work well with other Davenport Council members. As a supervisor candidate, she wisely suggested improving access to county business with hearings and meetings at times more convenient than the standing 8:30 a.m. meeting. And, she advised sharing the meeting video on cable and over the Internet. Good ideas.
We admittedly were grasping for nuance in deciding between these two candidates. Here’s the best we could muster: Despite Moritz’ extensive experience, we were surprised to learn she’s yet to attend a single supervisor meeting. Not a big ding, but a surprising one given her studied approach to this job and her last one.
It’s a very close call, but we believe Chris Gallin as a better fit for the board of supervisors.
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