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GEORGE HARRISON GILLIAM February 17, 2000 My fellow Democrats: I have heard that a few people plan in the Democratic mass meeting to cast their vote for or against a particular City Council candidate based on such candidate's stand on a single issue (the Meadowcreek Parkway). As a former member of City Council and as a long-time Democratic Party office-holder and activist I ask you to caution your friends against making decisions of such wide importance on such a myopic basis. When I served on City Council (back before the earth's crust had cooled) we were faced with the complex and contentious issue of what to do about our central city. We had tackled problems like school buses (there were no free school buses when our group was elected), recreation centers in areas of town which had been neglected (we built the pools near the middle schools), a facility for artists (we created the McGuffy Arts Center) and parkland (we acquired the land for Pen Park and upgraded several neighborhood parks). Though "blue chip" citizens groups recommended making substantial public investment in the downtown, many of the merchants vigorously opposed any change! Once the decision to build the pedestrian mall was made, the city (and its electorate) was bitterly divided. We found that some voters who had been the most vocal supporters of our other initiatives, voted against the Democrats in the ensuing elections because of the downtown mall. The same thing has happened on the national level. Democratic Presidents from Harry Truman to John F. Kennedy tried, without success, to enact meaningful civil rights legislation. Lyndon Johnson took the most aggressive stance on civil rights and poverty of any President (including Lincoln) and remade the social, political, and economic landscape. Despite the tremendous benefits which he achieved through his efforts "liberal" Democrats sank LBJ's ship over the issue of Vietnam. As much as most Democrats opposed Vietnam, our exclusive focus on that single issue lost us LBJ and delivered the country up to Richard Milhous Nixon--and didn't bring an early end to the War! Reasonable people can and do differ on many of the issues which City Council faces. I urge you to counsel your friends to take a holistic view and not decide this election on the basis of a single issue. There are some mighty good people who have served with distinction and voted in favor of Meadowcreek Parkway. Regardless of our personal position on that issue we should judge our candidates by their whole record. Don't let our friends cause us to end up with a Richard Milhous Nixon! Sincerely, George Gilliam (electronic mail, February 17, 2000)
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