Winning or transforming?

“North Korea Threatens to Resume Calling Trump a ‘Dotard’ ” — headline in Time newsfeed

We have hit a new low when name-calling and bullying pass as leadership. Seeing this headline on the heels of having listened to the impeachment hearings over the past couple of weeks underscores our need for a different form of leadership.

Our decline in leadership didn’t happen overnight. Politics has long tainted good decision-making. While comprise is necessary to move a divided board forward, the distressing trend is that an obsession with winning has filtered down from the national and international realm to state, county and local governance.

I had a scales-fall-from-my-eyes moment a couple of years ago when another council member was lobbying me before an upcoming vote. I heard her out but wouldn’t commit to how I would vote until I went to the council meeting that night and heard what others on council had to say and, most importantly, heard from the public. In frustration, the council member lashed out: “Do you want [name of another council member] to win?”

We need to focus instead on good decision-making, what moves all of our constituents forward, not just those with deep pockets who fund our election campaigns.

I recall a comment made by another council member that he considered those of us on council to be Chapel Hill’s elite because only nine people in town sit on the board. That council member’s votes reflected his priority of catering to the well-heeled, not the entire electorate.

We need leadership focused on transforming what doesn’t work for our entire constituency. This week is the final week to file to run for a seat on the board of Orange County commissioners. If you have the drive to serve residents of all income levels, to restore balance to our community, and to make good decisions a priority over personal winning, please step forward and file. We need your leadership.

— Nancy Oates