Barry,

So the criteria is that the candidate be “ordinary”? What makes Rordan Hart ordinary? Is it that oh so common first name? Or the fact that he makes his money gambling the stocks in NYC- like most “ordinary” trumansburg residents?

and what exactly about Filliberto or Thomas for that matter that is not ordinary? Don’t they need to ” be in government then go back to live with their results.” Don’t they live here too? Doesn’t Thomas own an insulation company? Isn’t that more “local” than wall street? Seems reasonably ordinary to me.

Or for that matter – are you against extraordinary people being involved in your government?

I agree with “Village” that a pure referendum system can actually be a bit too quick. There’s an important balance between speed and consideration to be had. One of the problems people have had with Doug Austic’s effort to ram through Water District 5 is that he didn’t allow all voices to be heard, and urged everybody to just go along with what he wanted because we had to rush, rush, rush to get it done by Austic’s contrived deadline for funding… as if that sort of money won’t be available again.

It always calls for suspicion when politicians urge for something to take place quickly – as George W. Bush did with the invasion of Iraq.

The comprehensive plan that David Filiberto and Chris Thomas have been working on, with a huge amount of openness, community involvement, and slow and steady progress, shows that they have some idea about a more measured approach to government – not gone out of control. Rordan Hart doesn’t seem to have given these issues much thought.

Thank you, Mary, for sharing your thoughts on this subject here.

I usually find that Democrats meet my criteria better than Republicans, although I’m very often very disappointed with the Democratic candidates that I’m stuck with. That was not the case last Thursday. I think Filberto and Thomas will be excellent trustees. I was pleased that David said he would consider a petition for impeachment of Bush/Cheney. I was disappointed with Chris Thomas’s answer on that, but I think there is hope that he will come around. I doubt there is any hope for the Republican.

I know that I am very skeptical of those who advocate referendums, like Mike Gravel does on the presidential level, because they’re vulnerable to manipulation through money. On the village level, that’s less of a problem, but often referenda are dishonestly worded.

I agree that Rordan Hart is unacceptably vague.

He promises not to promote any agenda at all, but just to do whatever people tell him to do.

Well, which people is he talking about? Over and over again, Rordan Hart talks about representing people who “have roots” in the area.

Rordan Hart’s agenda is to represent natives to the detriment of everyone else.

Chris Thomas and David Filiberto have my votes.