Gaughan Wins In Orchard Park

The Town of Orchard Park today voted to reduce the size of their government, not a small victory for civic activist Kevin Gaughan who said, “I’m proud to see the voters take control of their future.”

This is the third victory for Gaughan and his organization as previous efforts to reduce town council seats passed earlier this year in West Seneca and Evans.  The vote today was “Yes” to downsize the town council by two seats or “No” to maintain the status quo.  The vote was, of course, controversial in this town of 27,000 people with entrenched Village and Town governments and a very parochial sensibility.

However, Gaughan put together a grassroots canvassing operation in which voters were visited multiple times throughout the summer.  A last minute canvassing by a group called “Concerned Citizens for Responsible Orchard Park” and rumored to be organized by town council member Nan Ackerman, cited a recent study by UB’s Regional Institute which refuted Gaughan’s position that downsizing governments would reap cost savings and increase citizen participation.  From the report:

Any cost savings from downsizing are negligible and must be weighed against disadvantages in representation and responsiveness.

Gaughan responded to the report in an interview with WNED:

“Right now, Orchard Park taxpayers owe $2.3 million dollars to the 27 former Orchard Park councilmembers who have been receiving lifetime benefits. That’s called legacy costs and that’s what’s destroying the state of New York and each of our town’s and village governments,” said Gaughan.

Gaughan believes that reducing the size of town and village boards would also “reduce the decibel level of this turf protection” seen throughout local politics.  UB Researchers also say there’s a greater chance for corruption with fewer people in charge. Gaughan says if that were true there would be no corruption in Albany and Washington where there are hundreds of politicians.

However, it seems to me that arguing about the cost of town government is a canard.  Plain and simple, Gaughan’s effort is intended to get people off their asses and take control of their government.  To give them an opportunity to define their own representation, increase citizen involvement and eventually empower people to have their voice heard.  As a region, we have been disempowered by redundant layers of government and our participation at the voting booth and at government hearings or public meetings reflects that disempowerment.

Also, his efforts to downsize have resulted in a re-ignition of the regionalism debate he began in 1997 with a series of conferences at the Chautauqua Institution.  One of the primary arguments that has emerged in opposition to his efforts to downsize town governments was that it would be more sensible to regionalize.  Probably not a coincidence…

When it seemed as if the flicker of hope for a regionalized Western New York government was extinguished by a county wide economic meltdown in 2005, Gaughan took a step back and recalculated.  His comments at the time,

“Reform efforts failed because creating consensus for change in our community is next to impossible. And the chief reason for that difficulty is our inordinately large number of politicians.  With 439 elected officials throughout Erie County – each with individual purposes, powers, and views – accountable leadership, or just plain leadership, has eluded us.”

That lack of leadership and a surplus of government obstinacy was evident today in Orchard Park.  By selecting a special election date on a Wednesday between the primary and general elections, choosing only one polling place, putting that polling place in the basement of the municipal building, lack of signs or directions to the voting booth, selecting odd voting hours which didn’t allow for people to vote before 11AM and blocking the parking lot this morning with barricades and police to reduce “congestion” in the parking lot.  It was a mess.  Local voter Rich Wilson said, “Honestly, I planned to vote ‘No’ on downsizing until I got down here today and saw all these shenanigans.  If the local council members are so opposed to this and will go to these lengths to block participation, maybe Gaughan’s got it right.”

Maybe Gaughan does have it right, but Councilwoman Ackerman sees it differently, “I think its sad, I think it’s misguided.”  It should be noted that Ackerman’s seat is one of the two to be downsized.

You know what’s misguided?  Citizenry who do nothing while people stream out of the region at an unrelenting pace while private sector jobs evaporate and legacy government costs balloon.  Tonight, Kevin Gaughan gave people a mechanism to have their voice heard.  It’s up to us to take it from here.