Open Column ; Public Policy No Place for Mayor's Personal Beliefs

Summary

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Editor, the Tribune: Our mayor, Darwin Hindman, uses his office as a podium to advance his personal cause. He appears on the front page of the Tribune at the Columbia City Council meeting with his bike, then spearheads efforts like the "blackout" on Saturday night, all to promote reduced energy consumption. The city Web site reads like an environmentalist handbook and is filled with his environmental initiatives and suggested energy practices. This is unequivocally inappropriate conduct as the mayor. But, for some reason, no one seems to have any problem with personal causes as politics.

If the mayor wishes to promote his cause as a private citizen, he has every right to do so, and although I believe his cause is seriously misguided, I would even applaud his efforts, because the mayor certainly has good intentions. But it is an abuse of his office to use it as a podium to peddle his cause to the rest of us, to preach to us about how we should be living our lives and how we are morally remiss for not adopting his cause. That is not why we entrusted him as our mayor, and that is not his job.

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Open Column ; Public Policy No Place for Mayor's Personal Beliefs

His job is to manage...

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