George:

I am distressed over the split among good Democrats that has made the Meadowcreek Parkway the litmus test for City Council. I am distressed both philosophically and practically. My philosophical distress comes from the notion of the political party -- a group of folks who will support each other, and each other's candidates, even though we may not agree on everything. I have supported those more conservative than I, and I have supported those more liberal than I. What has united Democrats has not been a position on a road; it has been a whole constellation of positions -- and, at base, a sense that we all shared what Christopher Reeve, in his speech to the 1996 National Convention, defined as "family values -- we are all family, and we all have value." I can think of no better expression of an underlying philosophy for the party. Meredith, Kevin and Maurice share that philosophy. John Pfaltz may too; after all, he is basically a Democrat running on the Republican ticket because they were desperate. But the notion of the "family" implies that we stick together.

My practical distress is that I took Democrats For Change members at their word when we planned a joint campaign. There was discussion early on of running a separate campaign, or separate campaigns. I argued strenuously against that, and I heard Kevin, Maurice, David RePass and others assure me and the party that this was to be a united campaign. Democrats of both sides of the Meadowcreek Parkway would unite to support the ticket as a whole, so Meredith would not run her own campaign.

Now I am wondering whether Meredith has been betrayed. It certainly is beginning to look like it.

The Meadowcreek Parkway is an issue about which reasonable people can and do differ. I have supported the building of the road for almost 20 years, and I think that talk of light rail and bicycles as the cure for traffic on neighborhood streets in Greenbrier and Park Street is a pipe dream. But I do not regard those who oppose the Parkway as morally reprehensible, or stupid, or willfully wrong-headed.

I intend to vote for Maurice and Kevin, even though I disagree with them on the Parkway. I do so because I am a Democrat, and they are Democrats who are intelligent, hard-working, honorable people who agree with me on most things.

I challenge those Democrats who agree with Maurice and Kevin on the
Parkway to vote for Meredith as well, because she too is a Democrat -- an intelligent, hard-working, honorable person who, they will find, agrees with them on most things.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, April 17, 2000).