The Observer Newspapers | Need Non-Ideological Leaders

April 10, 2008

Need Non-Ideological Leaders

To the editor:

The people of Herndon are facing an extremely important election this May. While often my fellow Herndon residents don't come out to vote, I want to urge everyone to exercise their voice this May. We have had a Town Council and mayor whose major impetus has been ideological. They were largely supported by outside groups like the Minutemen and even right-wing talk show hosts as far away as California who are on an anti-immigrant tirade.

Outsiders created a Herndon newspaper to push their election-the newspaper disappeared after they were elected. In my view, their narrow victory did not represent the welcoming and good people of Herndon but was more a testimony to the low turnout amongst the "silent majority."

Since then, their decisions have reflected their ideology over what is good for the town. Case in point, our streets are lined again with men looking for work-a phenomena that had all but disappeared with the day labor site. Should construction work pick up again, our streets will swell even more with laborers.

Our tax dollars pay for the Town of Herndon Web site, but through its links, we are also indirectly paying for the vice mayor's Cyber Advisory site which subjects you to ideologically driven "push" polls. At taxpayers expense, our town police are being turned into federal immigration agents-a job that should rest with the federal government. Our tax dollars were wasted on a lawsuit that was ideologically driven and not a decision based on what was best for the taxpayers of Herndon. They are spending their time as elected officials of Herndon in an anti-immigrant ideological coalition that have not been voted on by Herndon and that many Herndon residents vehemently disagree with.

I want my local officials figuring out what is best for Herndon. Issues like progress on the arts center and the nature center, the promised skate park, the new infrastructure, the Oak-Pearl street improvements, traffic, day laborers, foreclosures and senior housing.

We need leaders whose ideology does not trump the needs of our town. We need people who seek reasoned solutions to our problems and who don't try to impose their national political agenda at the expense of our town. We need leaders like Harlon Reece, Richard Downer, Sheila Olem, Arthur NachmanÊand Penny Halpern.

Let's bring hope, tolerance, fiscal responsibility and a non-ideological focus back to local government. If there was any election critical to vote in, this is it.

Leila McDowell

Herndon