|
|
The
Glenview Watch |
|
Glenview Trustee Larry Carlson who said he would not run for election to the Village Board after his appointment by President Nancy Frifer has announced his intention to run for the presidency. Carlson broke the news to a meeting of the Glenview Booster's Club arranged by Village United Chairman Jim Smirles. A transcript of Carlson's speech follows:
"Hi -- I think most of you know me already. I'm Larry Carlson. I've never run for public office. I've served in appointive offices – 4 years on the Appearance Commission and 14 years on the Plan Commission and I was appointed as a Village Trustee.
"I've lived in Glenview since 1959. In all those years, I've never seen such divisiveness in this town as exists now. Unfortunately, much of this is deliberately induced. I've seen people play on the fears of others and distort the facts rather than engage in honest debate and try to do what is best for all the citizens of Glenview. The time has come to change this.
"I've always been an Independent. In all the years I have served our Village, I have always prided myself on voting my conscience and doing the right thing for Glenview. When I was asked to serve as a Village Trustee, I was asked by members of both parties to step in as a peacemaker between the two sides. I think I have been somewhat successful at this. But the job is far from done. We need to unite and work for the good of all Glenview.
"To this end, to bring us all back together again, I have decided to run for Village President. And I intend to win. I will not see this Village, our home, turned over to the forces of negativity, divisiveness, and power politics.
"I am asking all who are interested in the future of this town to join me in the formation of a new political party, Unite Glenview. This party will stand for inclusiveness, not exclusiveness, for positivism, not negativism, for service, not ego and political power grabbing. I would hope that you members of the Glenview Boosters with your history of concern for our Village will support me on this crusade. I hope that the members of the Glenview United Party will also join me to continue their tradition of service to Glenview. And I invite those members of the Glenview First Party who have become disillusioned with what they have seen happen to join with me also. For this new party will be a big tent, with room for all who have Glenview in their heart. That is the only qualification to be in this big tent – to love Glenview. If I asked all the Democrats in this room to move to that side of the room and all the Republicans to move to the other side, I suspect that the room would be split 50-50. That is what I mean by a big tent – political affiliation is not important – your concern for Glenview is what is important. We're a great big middle of the road group composed of many, many different people, all of whom are invited in. The only people who not invited are those who are the extremists, those who put Glenview down, those who lie about what is going on around here, those who are willing to do damage to this Village for their own political ends. For them, there is the Sandy Hausman Party, whatever they're calling it now.
"Our party is going to be the party that listens to the people of this Village. We are going to address the concerns that people have in a straight and honest manner, the way they deserve. We are not the party of elitists, who think government is there to tell you what to do and how to live your life. We recognize that the purpose of government is to serve, not to rule.
"To give you an idea of what we stand for, one of the things we are going to be doing, before we even get this campaign off the ground, is to get the schools more involved in the planning process of Glenview's future. As you may know, I am head of the new Comprehensive Plan Commission. When we formed that Commission, we tried to make sure that the members represented a wide range of interests and views from all sectors of the community. One sector that we did not include, frankly, was the schools. When the Board of Trustees meets this coming Tuesday night, I intend to ask President Firfer and the other Trustees to expand the Commission to include members from each of the school districts. We recognize how important the schools are to our community and we intend to work hand in hand with our schools to plan the future. We want to be sure that our schools have a seat at the table.
"Unite Glenview is going to be looking for some candidates to fill the open Trustee seats and we hope that anyone who is interested in serving this Village will step up. Unite Glenview really wants to hear from you.
"Tim Doran (sic) has volunteered to be the Campaign Chairman of the United Glenview and Kevin Morris of Morris Communications will be handling the communications end of our effort. We need more top-quality people to help in this campaign and I see a lot of them right here in this audience. We really need your help in this effort. This is not going to be an easy fight. We are going to face serious, determined opposition and I do not exaggerate when I say that the future of this town is going to be determined in this upcoming election. We need your help. We need your votes. Will you come with us and fight the good fight?"
Editor's note: Larry Carlson says he has never seen such divisiveness in Glenview and vows to end dissent, but we think it's healthy that people are speaking out and getting involved in local affairs. Democracy works best when people participate, and with the village facing the most difficult and important decisions in its history, it's essential that our democracy work well.
We are surprised to hear Carlson describing himself as an "Independent." He was appointed by Village President Firfer and with very few exceptions has voted with her and the members of her party.
We also wonder why Carlson feels it necessary to promise that, in future, his party will listen and address the concerns that people have. Over the years, he and his political pals have not listened and failed to act in the best interest of most residents. They allowed builders to develop The Glen without paying impact fees. They ignored the needs of our downtown and put the village into enormous debt without the permission of its people. They lent faint support to the acquisition of Wagner Farm and have shown no enthusiasm for preserving Hangar One.
It is the conduct of Carlson and his allies that has given rise to opposition. It is telling that Carlson's "big tent" has no room for critics and disturbing that he thinks people who want change do not have Glenview in their hearts.
Carlson's limited, happy-talk approach to government cannot solve the complex problems we face. His "new" party is just a reincarnation of the old Village United group which collapsed under public scrutiny. President Firfer, Trustees Kent Fuller and John Patton, Jr. have now said they will not seek re-election, so the job of upholding the banner of an elite, secretive clique now falls to Carlson and his campaign manager, former Plan Commission chief Tim Doron.
The acronym for their new party name – Unite Glenview – sums it up. UG!