TERRY WERNER | Posted: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 7:00 pm
On Wednesday, May 4, the day following the election, my daughter played hooky from school because she was afraid to face a certain teacher and classmates. She was concerned about what they would now say. She was embarrassed, after all that was said about her dad and did not want to be pitied. I am not interested in pity either, but I do want to reflect upon my service and the electoral process.
It has been an honor for me to serve this community over the past four years as an at-large representative on the City Council. I will continue to serve Lincoln, not as an elected official, but as a citizen of this great city.
I have had the privilege to directly impact the future of our city. Every vote that I cast was for what I believed to be for the good of the entire community.
In the past four years I have been a proactive council member. I have sought to protect the rights of working men and women. I have worked to bring good jobs to our community. I have stood for those often not represented in government. I have not been afraid to differ from my colleagues on issues important to our community. Some have said this is uncivil, but I disagree. This is what elected officials are charged to do.
I have worked for "liberty and justice for all." Some have said this is unpatriotic. Again I disagree. I have stood up for the rights that are guaranteed to all citizens under the Constitution of the United States.
As chairman of the council I brought order and decorum back to our procedures. I reached across party lines on a regular basis to build consensus and bring more ideas and points of view to the table. This is what I call bipartisan leadership.
I have worked to protect families from being forced into floodplains. I worked for neighborhoods, parks, libraries, public safety and senior citizens. I have worked for the right of every citizen to be heard on a variety of issues, including issues that may be misconstrued to not affect people at the local level. My vision is not one of "going along to get along," but doing what is right and bringing everyone to the decision-making table. And that is what I believe I have done in my four years on the City Council.
I worked very hard to promote alternative solutions to complex problems such as jobs, infrastructure and transit in our community. I have worked especially hard to keep taxes low and not allow bureaucrats to do an end run with rate increases and fees. It has been a priority of mine to make our downtown vibrant, 24-7 and pedestrian friendly. With the help of many, many people, I believe that we have accomplished much in the past four years, but to some it is less about the good of the community and more about winning elections.
I was the target of a hateful campaign. A campaign unlike any that we have witnessed in Lincoln. I am sorry to say that I will not likely be the last to be targeted by these smear tactics because from their point of view it worked. Their lies and misrepresentations of me raised doubt in the minds of voters and that is just what they were after.
This mean-spirited campaign was financed by a few wealthy people and the Republican Party to the tune of nearly $100,000. Some will say the Democrats did it as well. They should not have. I asked them not to spend anything on negative campaigning as early as December 2004. Had I known they were going to, as a leader in the party, I would have stopped it immediately. I must ask though, how does the four or five thousand they spent compare with the overall Republican expenditures?
Instead of discussing issues, the Republicans sought to assassinate my character. They even hired a private detective to follow me and my family. Only last week I received an e-mail from the Lancaster County Republican Party chairman in which he said, "having a private eye follow you was a joy." Is a victory all that matters in the end, no matter what the means?
They questioned my patriotism by claiming I did not say the Pledge of Allegiance. I have always, and proudly continue to say the Pledge of Allegiance, but they wanted voters to believe that I was not patriotic.
When one party spends this much money not to advance their candidate; not to talk about their vision; not to talk about their accomplishments; but to lie, distort and call another candidate names, they clearly do not have a message of their own. Their objective was to defeat me no matter what the cost, no matter what the effect on our community.
Perhaps even more concerning was the support their attacks received from the media. The newspaper seemed hesitant to condemn these attacks against me, but eventually did. To some the attacks on me were not as "egregious" as those on others, even though they spent 10 times the money attacking only me. AM radio allowed the very people in the ads to rebut candidate forums and provide "expert" commentary on the election. Television did not question or seek the truth but opted only for sound bites. None of them researched the money or the accusations, instead they went only for the sensational.
I am concerned for the future of Lincoln. If they can attack me in this manner they will do it again and again against someone else that they disagree with. How does this serve Lincoln? How does this build community? How does this promote thoughtful discussion of issues?
A year ago my family was subjected to the hate of the national alliance because I stood up to their cowardly acts of distributing racist hate literature in the middle of the night. Once again my family has been subjected to hate and distortion. This time by the Republican party, fellow council members and moneyed interests.
To them I quote Dr. Martin Luther King from his sermon called American Dream. He said: " noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good use your propaganda agents to make it appear that we are not fit culturally, morally, or otherwise and we will still love you. I've seen hate. Hate distorts the personality. Hate does something to the soul that causes one to lose his objectivity. The man who hates can't think straight; the man who hates can't reason right; the man who hates can't see right; the man who hates can't walk right."
I will add, that those who hate and promote untruths, or have stood idly by have lost far more than I. The city of Lincoln has lost far more than I. After all is said and done, I still have my dignity.
Thank you to the citizens of our great city for allowing me to serve.
Terry Werner served in an at-large seat on the Lincoln City Council from 2001 to May 2005.