No Debate
I had planned on reporting on the Kathy Dusenbery / Jeff Jones debate when I walked into the Platte County Pachyderm meeting, honest I did. I even had a notebook and pen.
And then Jeff Jones started talking, and I realized that it was time to take my reporter hat off and doff my columnist’s cap instead. To treat what Mr. Jones said at the debate as “news” would be an insult to the news gathering process, since what Mr. Jones did there was an insult to just about everyone in the room.
Debates at this level are designed to be simple affairs . The always genial Marte Zirschky was the debate moderator and the questions asked were the typical softballs you’d expect to hear at such a forum: Tell us about yourself and your background, tell us why you’re running, tell us what you know about the issues.
Luminary readers are familiar with Mr. Jones. He’s the guy that built the 3-car garage and screwed up the alley-way at 11 W. Fifth Street – all without a permit. In the bizarro universe of Mr. Jones and his supporters (the usual suspects from recently lost elections), he feels he was somehow wronged by Kathy Dusenbery in that deal, and that apparently warrants a run for County Commissioner.
Ah, public service.
I’m not going to comment on Mr. Jones’ private life (which I know nothing about) or his utter lack of experience (which everyone at the debate now knows about), but I am going to say that it would have been nice for him to get some sort of clue about any of the issues facing Southern Platte County before agreeing to participate in the debate. In a nutshell, Mr. Jones wants you to vote for him because a.) He’s from Liberty and knows about the problems around Liberty; b.) He has little formal education and almost no knowledge of the issues, and that’s his strength, because he’d have to ask a lot of questions and listen to lots of advice; and c.) He’s a Christian.
He also said he had “courage” and “heart.” All he needed was the scarecrow and he could have been off to see the wizard.
The candidate from Oz was unable to answer most questions posed to him (he did say he was opposed to raising taxes and against light rail) but he was able to make a couple of erroneous assertions while trying to attack Mrs. Dusenbery’s record. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dusenbery did not take the time to correct Mr. Jones (her largest applause line of the night came at the end of the debate when she said she was not there to attack Mr. Jones as he did her), so allow me.
One assertion Mr. Jones made was that Mrs. Dusenbery raised your taxes “250 percent.” That is completely false and never happened. Also, Mr. Jones said that ambulance service was “free” in Parkville until Mrs. Dusenbery helped form the ambulance district.
Anyone who has ever traveled in an ambulance knows the service is not free. The ambulance that covered Parkville was paid for by Kansas City and Kansas City was not going to pay for it any longer. One way or the other, someone was going to have to pay for it, and voters approved the formation of the district. The ones who raised taxes were guys like Fred Sanchez and Bobby Kincaid who set the rate.
That’s not to say that Mrs. Dusenbery turned in a virtuoso performance. She should have addressed the tax allegations to correct the record. Also, she went on a seemingly pointless and endless riff about a Riverside resident who wanted a Walgreens that played very well with the crickets in the audience.
This matter will be officially settled on August 5. Next election, please.