Chris Rodriguez is the current councilperson for Ward 1 here in Whitehall. I, Gerald Dixon, am running against him for that council seat he occupies. In the interest of winning the seat, besides offering up why I’m running and what my intentions are for the position, I also offer up this ‘by the numbers’ glimpse of your sitting councilperson as a means of understanding who exactly you’ve elected time and again and why that is not necessarily the best choice.

I will present Councilman Rodriguez’ record in three categories: His time in holding office and what seats he’s held. His record as a legislator for the citizens he represents and in attendance of those meetings. I will also offer up my thoughts on all three of these categories and an overall analysis at the end, both as a candidate seeking the office he holds and as an observant citizen. As a note, the numbers offered are what was available to me as of June 2017 and reflect 15 1/2 years. Sometimes I speak of his time in office though given that by the time he finishes his current term it will have been a full 16 years.

The numbers you’ll see here were culled from the official records kept by the Council office of the City of Whitehall. I spent about 20 hours of beautiful Spring days in the office this past June combing through 16 years of paper records (legislation, minutes, attendance records) to compile the entire history of Mr. Rodriguez’ time on council. Mary Freimark and the custodial gentleman who brought up dollies of boxes for me were a great help and I thank them. 

A dissemination of the information you’ll see here:

There are four meetings a month with an occasional emergency meeting. Two are in the room behind council chambers where various standing committees meet to discuss various business of the city, i.e. ‘Community Standards and Enforcement’ and ‘Economic Development’, etc.. This is where any discussion of these issues as well as presentations and the introduction of legislation by council and others are done. There is no ability for the public to weigh in on these meetings although they’re welcome to attend them.             The other two are in the council chambers, where legislation is voted on, entities make public presentations, public hearings are held and the Mayor, Auditor and the like report to council with their ‘officials reports’. This is also where council gives anyone who wishes to speak before them two 3-minute opportunities called ‘poll public’.                         That which is brought before them for a vote are generally two things: ordinances and resolutions. While ordinances are generally local law enacted and enforced by the proper authorities, resolutions are less permanent than ordinances and generally cover acknowledgements of people or events and not really anything which affects the general public, certainly not an enforceable law per se. So, ordinances are obviously something which would have greater impact on the citizens, resolutions, not so much.                          When Mr. Rodriguez first entered into office the salary was $4000 per year, about $83 per meeting. Between 2014 and 2016 the salary was $4600 a year, about $96 a meeting. In 2017 the pay went up to $5200 per year or about $108 per meeting.

HOLDING OFFICE:

*Announced his first run for the Ward 1 council seat prior to the events of 9/11.

*Total years on council:   16 years.

*As at-Large councilman:   4 years

*As Ward 1 councilman:   12 years

*Elections ran in:   4 opposed, 1 unopposed

*Longest-serving elected officials currently at Whitehall City Hall with no breaks in service (by the end of 2017)+:  

#1 Councilman Chris Rodriguez– 16 years (Longer than Franklin Delano Roosevelt!)             #2 Auditor/Mayor Kim Maggard– 15 years                                                                                         #3 Councilman/President of Council Jim Graham– 14 years                                                            #4 Councilmen Bob Bailey and Wes Kantor– 10 years                                                                      #5 Councilman/Auditor Dan Miller– 8 years                                                                                       + This despite term limits being affirmed and mandated three times by the voters.

Mr. Rodriguez’ movements are as follows:

• First elected to Ward 1 in Nov. 2001                                                                                                  
• Re-elected to Ward 1 in 2005                                                                                                              
• Abandoned Ward 1 seat in 2007 in order to run for at-Large (as it’s staggered from Ward elections**.) Won at-Large, Bob Bailey appointed to Mr. Rodriguez’ empty seat.                       
• Decided not to run again for his at-Large seat and instead ran for Auditor in 2011 and lost. Bob Bailey had abandoned his Ward 1 seat to run for at-Large (which he won) and so his empty Ward 1 seat needed an appointee. Guess who was appointed? None other than Chris Rodriguez.                                                                                                                          
• Mr. Rodriguez ran for Ward 1 councilman (again) in 2013, unopposed by the way, where he of course won, and currently sits.

** I maintain that the spirit of staggered elections between Wards and at-Larges are to give a ‘breather’ to elected officials so that they take a break from service as they are supposed to do per the city charter, i.e.- finish no more than two terms and not run again for two to four years. This allows the offices to open wide to receive applicants instead of one person, by way of the power and dominance of incumbency, to keep a lock on a seat. It also keeps the power more distributed amongst the citizenry than all in the hands of just a few. People like Chris Rodriguez and Bob Bailey and Wes Kantor circumvent this rule by abandoning the position they just ran for two years prior (that the voters entrusted them to serve the entire term) in order to hop on a new position and therefore never lose a seat, never lose power and make it imbalanced and unfair for any other out there who wants a chance to serve their civic duty. As well it is a thumbing of their noses to citizens who have, three times, said they want term limits for elected officials. Apparently, these guys think the spirit of that voter mandate doesn’t apply to them.  

LEGISLATION:

Ordinances labeled as ‘requested by’ Chris Rodriguez in 16 years*:  6                               (Of these six, three of them had up to 5 other people request it, meaning Chris Rodriguez only requested three ordinances in his 16 years as the citizen’s legislator.                           One of his sole requests was for the ‘adopt a basket’ program for the flower baskets on Yearling and one other was to institute no parking on Beechwood Rd. between Etna and Virginia Circle.                                                                                                                                         Average time for Chris Rodriguez to solely introduce an ordinance on Council:  Once every five years.

Resolutions labeled as ‘requested by’ Chris Rodriguez in 16 years:  4                                  ( Of these, one was honoring ‘Beechwood Ambassadors’, another recognized heroes and neighbors, another recognized the Shell station at Broad and Hamilton. While nice things to recognize and honor, this is not anything that couldn’t be accomplished by anyone else occupying the seat)                                                                                                                                 Average time for Chris Rodriguez to introduce a Resolution on Council:  Once every four years.                                                                                                                                                *Any ordinance or resolution requested by the entirety of council I never counted. It is only Mr. Rodriguez’ record, solely motivated and pursued, that I’m interested in focusing on here.

‘Yes’ votes by Chris Rodriguez:  1,502

‘No’ votes by Chris Rodriguez:  18                                                                                                    (Mr. Rodriguez dissented only 1% of his entire time on Council, a mere fraction of the time. A third of that fraction was in agreement with everyone else (five times). He only stood away from the pack 0.50% or half of one percent of his entire time on council.)

This is important information because I maintain (after watching Mr. Rodriguez for 6 or more years) that he is more a seat-filler and ‘yes man’ with a pack mentality than anything else. Not every piece of legislation that has been passed has been worthy of a ‘yes’. 18 of over 1500 things is a very low number. It suggests that Mr. Rodriguez is not an individual but rather part of a collective and yet, he is an individual who represents a specific Ward and is their voice, first and foremost. One has to question whether this disparity is an indicator of someone that simply ‘goes along’ as opposed to someone who stands alone, if necessary, and does what he has to do to buck others in order to properly represent and fight for his constituents. I claim it shows him as the former and not the latter.

ATTENDANCE:

Being that there are only 48 official meetings for council members to attend to in a calendar year it can be easy to start racking up too many absences. In doing my research there were so many levels of absence; how many absences were too many and what was an acceptable number? People get sick, people have schedules and such, all of which are understandable. The average time off, per the record, is five times a year or less. I estimated then that a fair number to excuse representatives absences was six, outside of illness, before it became a rightful issue for those they’re representing, those of whom they should have to answer to. So then, here is the record:

Number of times Chris Rodriguez missed an entire meeting:   138                                      (remember, there are only 48 meetings a year)

Number of years Chris Rodriguez went beyond six absences in a year:   8

The number one title holder of worst attendance by a councilperson in the last 16 years (out of 21 councilpersons):   Chris Rodriguez

Number of spots Chris Rodriguez holds in the top ten worst attendance records in a single year by councilpersons:   6

#1    Chris Rodriguez                                             25 absences                                                         

#2    Chris Rodriguez and Mike Shannon          22 absences                                                       

#3    Zach Woodruff                                                 21 absences                                                       

#4    Chris Rodriguez and Mike Shannon          16 absences                                                       

#5    Mike Shannon                                                  15 absences                                                       

#6    Mike Shannon                                                  13 absences                                                       

#7    Chris Rodriguez and Bob Bailey                 12 absences                                                       

#8    Bob Bailey and Wes Kantor                           11 absences                                                       

#9    Chris Rodriguez and Mike Shannon          10 absences                                                       

#10  Chris Rodriguez, Jim Graham                       9 absences                                                        Best attendance*: Leo Knoblauch   Only 6 meetings missed in his entire time on Council

Amount his absences averaged over 15 years (over 6 times a year) have cost the taxpayers:   $4,296.00

Amount of meetings Chris Rodriguez has missed due to absences beyond a six-meeting norm:  46 meetings or nearly one full year.

Critical Summary:

Let me say first to those supporters of Mr. Rodriguez: I have always found Mr. Rodriguez polite and affable. By face value, he seems a nice enough man, but, this is not a ‘nice man’ contest. It is about claiming a seat as the citizen’s representative on council that will act as a watchdog and proponent of the people they serve. To independently serve the interests of the citizens he represents within the offices of Whitehall City Council, that  branch which is separate in our government from the other two, for a reason. As a human being and my Mother’s son, I take no enjoyment or satisfaction from having to write this post. It is one of those things which are part of the process in elections; I am running and need to make my case to you. Not only why I’m the better candidate but, alternately, why he is not. If his record had been better, he wouldn’t have provided me himself with the ammunition he has, but that’s not the case. That is on him. The question remains then: who can/will do a better job in that capacity? In that, and being that Mr. Rodriguez has a record to analyze, it is only fitting that it be scrutinized and, like Mr. Rodriguez back in 2001, I also come to you without a record, making my case as to how and why I would do a better job as your representative in your local government than he.

That being said then, it is my claim that Mr. Rodriguez, from the public record and from observing him for several years, has been a seat filler rather than a leader all these years (since the first year of the first term of the George W. Bush administration). It is evident in his disregard for the principle that you should show up and work for what you’re being paid for. That which he ignored for his own benefit and the rest of council who excused all his absences, ignored for various reasons. Never did it seem the time that he, or them, considered that Mr. Rodriguez should resign, with no judgements, if he’s unable (for whatever reason) to carry out the responsibilities, fully, that the citizens entrusted him to, nor consider the citizens at all in that regard. What was more important to him was his own standing; keeping his weak leadership on the handle of power and keeping that steady income flowing. That is wrong. Let me state that again…that is wrong. Morally and financially wrong to the taxpayers/citizens he represents, and yet, what else is one to think of the moral failings of a person who would ask you to continue supporting him in light of that behavior?

It is evident in his lackluster leadership. Where are the programs or ideas or innovation for the neighborhoods he’s represented? I’ve seen none. Where was his voice for the citizens he represents when I shouted out that the city was abusing their power in regard to citizens civil rights (specifically the 4th and 14th amendment)? The only voice I heard was mine, not his. I stood up (and showed up!) for the people and I wasn’t even being paid to do so. He who was, did not. He has had an inordinate amount of time to prove his leadership outside of occupying a chair and collecting a check and yet, per the record, his most spectacular achievement to date has been to show up the least of any councilperson in the last 16 years. This is followed by his unending agreement to everything everyone else comes up with and the sad showing of his time as the people’s legislator introducing little to nothing on his own. Period.

Finally, it is evident in his disregard for the public he represents by disrespecting their overwhelming support of term limits, three times. Because Mr. Rodriguez and his ilk’s obsession remains compelled to always have their hands on the throttle of power here in Whitehall, while disregarding (and thus disrespecting) voters wishes in favor of term limits, they’re able to injudiciously hop from office to office circumventing those citizen’s mandate. They don’t really care what you want, they’re not really in it for you and so, the evident ones, keep doing what they must in order to stay in power. (Including, quite frankly, those who ignore what’s right for the citizens in favor of continuously supporting such behavior and actions.) There is much to show in regard for Mr. Rodriguez’ contempt for the people he claims to ‘serve’ (and continue to) but this particular one is vital to see the unadorned truth of the matter. Here, again, is his remark to a reporter after term limits were (again) reinforced by the voters in 2013;

“This is the third time it’s gone down. The people want them kept in place, and we have to respect that,” said Councilman Chris Rodriguez, who was re-elected to his fourth term. “We had three races go unopposed, mine being one of them.”

A few additional arguments to make my case that he should not be re-elected to yet another term:

He claims in the paper that ‘now is not the time’ to change councilpersons. I would agree if his time on council had actually been spent pursuing and exhibiting strong, independent leadership with critical thinking skills and pro-actively pursuing projects with creativity and innovation to shape those neighborhoods he represented with something more tangible and effective to show for, instead of just merely nodding his head ‘yes’ all the time. But, per the record, he didn’t. He merely filled the seat, collected a paycheck he too often didn’t earn with his heavy absences and said ‘yes’ to most everything that was set in front of him (good and bad), no doubt due to a lack of imagination, interest, creativity and/or depth of deeper knowledge of things like sociology and city planning. Others, who perhaps understood these things better, presented their cases to him and the others and that was good enough for him. It really though, is not good enough for a council representative who should use critical thinking skills, in particular, for the best outcomes for his constituents.

As well, if Mr. Rodriguez is so invaluable to the workings of outcomes at City Hall as his comment implies, then he must lay claim to the worst this city has seen as well. If he is supposedly indispensable to the workings of council and city governance in Whitehall and therefore partly responsible for any current success its enjoying, then its wretched dive into trouble and despair must also be his to claim. He was on council seven years by the time the worst dip of the economic crisis hit in January of 2009 and so must also claim all the wretched, sagging blight and crime that had entrenched itself in Whitehall during his first two terms as Ward 1 councilman. He’s been in there long enough that if he can lay claim to successes then we must blame him too for its failings. However, this is all nonsense. Mr. Rodriguez has no more claim to Whitehall’s successes and failures than Donald Trump has to class or nuance. To claim so is to ignore the truth of his record; that successes and failures have little relationship to non-leaders like Chris Rodriguez and more to both socio-economic waves and people who are more present and engaged than Councilman Rodriguez was, is or ever will be. Plain and simply.

As well, I believe the reason he has been kept in so long was that he made no stinks or ripples. He is the classic job filler who merely keeps any opinion or dynamism under the radar so that he gives nothing for anyone in authority (the voters) to find fault with nor cause uproar over, done so to merely keep his job. While that satisfies his self interests and the citizens who don’t like anything to interrupt the stillness of the waters, it is not a proactive or dynamic leadership which they, and everyone else, deserve and which can lead to better things for the ultimate higher benefit of the community, that greater community which actual leadership should be bringing for everyone.

Finally, I also believe he has his supporters in his ‘style’ of representation but ultimately it is a fairly low number in comparison to the amount of voters that actually exist. Apparently Chris Rodriguez does well with the low percentage of voters who actually show up at the polls. That is not a mandate but a shrugging ‘why not’. I feel absolutely no passion from the population in regard to Chris Rodriguez as their representative. I’ve even found, in going door to door speaking to some citizens, that even some longtime citizens didn’t know who their representative was or even his name (after 16 years!). That is an indictment on Councilman Rodriguez for failing to even show up at doors and introduce himself and chat with residents through the course of three U.S. Presidents!

Its time to elect a leader who will actually be there for you, show up and show some spirit and care to do the job well.

DIXON FOR WARD 1

*  Just for fun, here are the councilpersons with the best attendance records, per year, in the last 16 years:                                                                                                                                                         #1  Leslie LaCorte, Jim Graham, Cindy Stewart, Wes Kantor, Leo Knoblauch and Dan Miller:  0 absences                                                                                                                                  #2  Leslie LaCorte, Leo Knoblauch, Karen Conison, Larry Morrison, Jim Graham and Dan Miller: 1 absence                                                                                                                                    #3  Leslie LaCorte, Wes Kantor, Leo Knoblauch, Karen Conison:   2 absences                          #4  Leslie LaCorte, Leo Knoblauch, Jim Graham, Larry Gilmore:   3 absences                          #5  Councilpersons Gilmore and Potter:   5 absences