As originally published in Key West the Newspaper on August 26, 2011
I’m not a fan of milk toast leadership. You know, the kind of politician that always has the smile, wants to tell you what you want to hear, rides the fence, and whose primary consideration is their own political preservation and aspirations. In boom times, these types only gag me like a nice glass of oily bilge water, but when we are in a crisis, these ineffective, self-absorbed, do nothing, offend no one type of politicians serve as nothing more than lead ballast in a sinking boat.
While it is true that I am consumed with highlighting when these types are deficient in their service as our elected or hired officials, I would be remiss if I did not draw attention to a few of the true leaders throughout our community that make a positive difference. Yes, believe it or not, among us are individuals with the characteristics of honesty, truth, practicality and whom put their community before their own self interest. Admittedly I may not always agree with them on every issue, but I do know where they stand, and to me that is more important than a smiling jackal who will tell me what I want to hear and then either do nothing, or worse do the opposite of what they promised.
So who are some of our local heroes? Let’s start with John Dick, Chairman of the Monroe County School Board. John has been serving since 2006 and has consistently been a vigilant fiscal watch dog, conducting his own research, and aggressively challenging the school administration for better service. John will look you in the eye and tell you the stark reality of any given situation, and more importantly let you know where he stands. I know there are people that vehemently dislike John. More than likely this is because John will discuss and make the hard choices that are needed, regardless of how popular such positions or rhetoric are. John’s been trying to save a sinking ship while other less useful School Board members vilify him.
For instance, in a recent email exchange, Vice-Chair Andy Griffiths tells me “At least when I retire from the school board John Dick will have to one day accept some responsibility for the way things are in the school system. He's the chairman for God's sake. And he has been there going on six years. At some point you have to own it.” This is coming from a guy who has been on the board nineteen years, and had been Chair previously for 6 years, while Dick has been Chair for less than a year. Seriously? See the contrast, one guy here is a politician, the other is a leader. While Griffiths doesn’t want to Monday morning quarterback his decision to buy a seven million dollar nursing home at the behest of Randy Acevedo, he is more than willing to lay his nineteen years of driving the school system to the abyss on Dick, while Dick is trying to fix the system. Under Dick’s leadership, Monroe County Schools moved up to #8 out of 67 Florida districts, while the budget has been reduced over the last few years from $90.2 million to $74.8 million. That’s what John Dick owns, Griffiths owns the nursing home. Correction, we own the nursing home, thanks to Smiling Andy.
Hero Number Two. Kay Thacker. Now some of you Key West folks might be scratching your heads and wondering who Kay Thacker is or what office she holds, but she does more to serve the Keys than the vast majority of our elected officials. While Kay is the president of the Key Largo Federation of Homeowners Associations, she also is an avid watch dog of local politics. She maintains an enormous email list that shares vital news and discussion with members of the public. She is quick to dig through the superficial discussion frequently offered by our agency administrators and elected officials and poses challenging, thoughtful questions to them, then shares those insights with her readers. She attends countless meetings, coordinates candidate debates and keeps everyone informed of decisions and actions of our elected officials almost on a minute to minute basis. She also understands that we are in a crisis, and has a keen eye on government finances.
Kay gives her time and energy because she is a leader, and cares about her community and our future.
And finally, I can say without any doubt that Demetrios Efstratiou is my hero. Demetrios recently ran for Judge against Judge Ptomey who has been on the bench since shortly after the fall of Rome. Demetrios had the courage to take on a sitting Judge. Despite the illogical ascertation Judge Ptomey repeatedly proffered during the campaign that voters always had a choice because no one ever “chose” to run against him in the past, Demetrios offered voters a true choice on the ballot. This compared to the usual cowardice of waiting until a Judge chooses to retire, as we saw when Judge Taylor retired. If you recall it was as if the legal community twittered a flash mob to get in that race.
Taking on a sitting Judge is courageous as it angers many “friends” of the Judge that will jockey for political favor. This was exemplified by the fact that Demetrios’s own boss, State Attorney Dennis Ward took out ads for Judge Ptomey. A contested election also allows for a discussion of a Judge’s record. This is increasingly important as the Judiciary is using administrative orders to restrict the public from recording events in the courtroom. Our courtrooms should have streaming webcams capturing every event. Instead, the public has better access to bands at Schooner Wharf than to Judicial proceedings. Every Judicial race should be a contested one, for this, Demetrios is a true leader.
While it is true that I am consumed with highlighting when these types are deficient in their service as our elected or hired officials, I would be remiss if I did not draw attention to a few of the true leaders throughout our community that make a positive difference. Yes, believe it or not, among us are individuals with the characteristics of honesty, truth, practicality and whom put their community before their own self interest. Admittedly I may not always agree with them on every issue, but I do know where they stand, and to me that is more important than a smiling jackal who will tell me what I want to hear and then either do nothing, or worse do the opposite of what they promised.
So who are some of our local heroes? Let’s start with John Dick, Chairman of the Monroe County School Board. John has been serving since 2006 and has consistently been a vigilant fiscal watch dog, conducting his own research, and aggressively challenging the school administration for better service. John will look you in the eye and tell you the stark reality of any given situation, and more importantly let you know where he stands. I know there are people that vehemently dislike John. More than likely this is because John will discuss and make the hard choices that are needed, regardless of how popular such positions or rhetoric are. John’s been trying to save a sinking ship while other less useful School Board members vilify him.
For instance, in a recent email exchange, Vice-Chair Andy Griffiths tells me “At least when I retire from the school board John Dick will have to one day accept some responsibility for the way things are in the school system. He's the chairman for God's sake. And he has been there going on six years. At some point you have to own it.” This is coming from a guy who has been on the board nineteen years, and had been Chair previously for 6 years, while Dick has been Chair for less than a year. Seriously? See the contrast, one guy here is a politician, the other is a leader. While Griffiths doesn’t want to Monday morning quarterback his decision to buy a seven million dollar nursing home at the behest of Randy Acevedo, he is more than willing to lay his nineteen years of driving the school system to the abyss on Dick, while Dick is trying to fix the system. Under Dick’s leadership, Monroe County Schools moved up to #8 out of 67 Florida districts, while the budget has been reduced over the last few years from $90.2 million to $74.8 million. That’s what John Dick owns, Griffiths owns the nursing home. Correction, we own the nursing home, thanks to Smiling Andy.
Hero Number Two. Kay Thacker. Now some of you Key West folks might be scratching your heads and wondering who Kay Thacker is or what office she holds, but she does more to serve the Keys than the vast majority of our elected officials. While Kay is the president of the Key Largo Federation of Homeowners Associations, she also is an avid watch dog of local politics. She maintains an enormous email list that shares vital news and discussion with members of the public. She is quick to dig through the superficial discussion frequently offered by our agency administrators and elected officials and poses challenging, thoughtful questions to them, then shares those insights with her readers. She attends countless meetings, coordinates candidate debates and keeps everyone informed of decisions and actions of our elected officials almost on a minute to minute basis. She also understands that we are in a crisis, and has a keen eye on government finances.
Kay gives her time and energy because she is a leader, and cares about her community and our future.
And finally, I can say without any doubt that Demetrios Efstratiou is my hero. Demetrios recently ran for Judge against Judge Ptomey who has been on the bench since shortly after the fall of Rome. Demetrios had the courage to take on a sitting Judge. Despite the illogical ascertation Judge Ptomey repeatedly proffered during the campaign that voters always had a choice because no one ever “chose” to run against him in the past, Demetrios offered voters a true choice on the ballot. This compared to the usual cowardice of waiting until a Judge chooses to retire, as we saw when Judge Taylor retired. If you recall it was as if the legal community twittered a flash mob to get in that race.
Taking on a sitting Judge is courageous as it angers many “friends” of the Judge that will jockey for political favor. This was exemplified by the fact that Demetrios’s own boss, State Attorney Dennis Ward took out ads for Judge Ptomey. A contested election also allows for a discussion of a Judge’s record. This is increasingly important as the Judiciary is using administrative orders to restrict the public from recording events in the courtroom. Our courtrooms should have streaming webcams capturing every event. Instead, the public has better access to bands at Schooner Wharf than to Judicial proceedings. Every Judicial race should be a contested one, for this, Demetrios is a true leader.
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