BRIAN CHORLEY
CountyNewsLIVE.com is proud to add another regular columnist: Hermann Alderman Brian Chorley.
Chorley is an independent thinker; he does no one's bidding. He is a died-in-the-wool conservative Republican, but I'd say he's part "compassionate Republican," to use a worn-out phrase, and part "Tea Party conservative." (Sorry for all the labels!)
Chorley is modern in his knowledge. He truly "gets" the Internet on a level few others in this region do, and he is probably the area's leading expert on energy. It is also my observation that Chorley has an unusually high degree of self-discipline, which causes him to achieve many of his goals.
Chorley is a leader in the Hermann Chamber of Commerce and in the Hermann Brush & Pallette Club. Brian Chorley is one of those people who winds-up running anything he joins because of his even-manner and his executive skills.
On the Board of Aldermen, Chorley speaks the least. He is not one who is in love with the sound of his own voice. When all Hell is breaking loose in the Board of Aldermen, it is Chorley (as well as Alderman Ron Van Booven) who will be working quietly and humbly behind the scenes to find a solution. Chorley played a vital role in finding a workable middle ground in the 2009 Maifest-Jaycess showdown. He worked almost alone in that role.
For these reasons, I hear Chorley's name spoken of more and more as a potential future mayor of Hermann.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Brian Chorley was one of the very earliest supporters of Jeff Noedel's publishing efforts here. Chorley goes all the way back to the BergerWithCheese.com days. Chorley has been a valuable resource to Noedel in understanding Hermann politics, and Chorley has -- from time to time -- counseled Noedel on how to sell advertising. Noedel values a strong friendship with Chorley and makes no apologies for it.
That said, this is Brian Chorley's column, and CNL will exercise a minimum of editorial influence over it, just as it does with the Alex Luft column. This is Chorley's space -- to dialogue with the 7,000 people who come to CNL each month.
County Unity – What Can We Do?
First, I want to say Thank You to Jeff for giving me this forum to express my views and ideas. He approached me with the idea of having my own Blog here a while back and I really appreciate the opportunity to interact with all of you.
For my first post, I had planned to write something non-political and something with very little controversy, like the fine swimming pool we have in Hermann or the wonderful resource we now have in the restored Rotunda building. But with the August elections coming up soon, and the recent buzz about the county commission race, I thought now would be a good time to address County Unity.
County Unity really is a loaded phrase today, isn’t it? It assumes there is a divide in the county that must be overcome. It conjures up words like, “mistrust,” “lawsuit,” “hatred,” and “dirty politics.” But, when I sit back and think about it, I wonder if the whole talk about a North/South divide is real, or if it is just a vocal minority on both sides who want to shout each other down by making this point or that point. Do the people of Hermann really hate the people of Owensville, or visa versa? I don’t think so.
Most of my daily life occurs in Hermann and New Haven, so I get very few chances to visit other parts of the county; and I imagine it’s that way with most people. If you live and work in Owensville, you probably don’t have the time to keep up with what goes on in Hermann or the northern parts of the county. With this being the case for a lot of people, I would have to venture a guess that most people in the county want to get along. We don’t have the time to fret about what people in other parts of the county are doing or not doing. We all have a vested interest in the success of our county. We want more jobs here, and we want to see stability and growth. And I would also assume that we don’t want one part of the county to succeed at the cost of another part of the county.
It seems to me that we have had a leadership problem within the county that has led to the perception (real or not) of a North/South divide. If most of us want our county to succeed, then why does it appear our leaders are always at odds with each other? Why can’t our leaders get along? Now, I’m not saying they can’t disagree on issues, but we don’t want them to be at each others throats all the time either.
I am to the point now that we have to get past all the bickering and blaming each other for what happened in the past. We need to rise above the “dirty politics” and come together and let our voices be heard. We have a lot of issues that our county is facing that we need real leadership on. One issue for Hermann and Owensville residents is our MOPEP problem. Sure, the city governments are working to solve our respective problems, but there is room for county leadership on this. What if we could find and develop a new power source that would benefit the entire county? Is it likely to happen? Maybe, but it’s definitely not going to happen without county leaders and our elected officials. We are paying a LOT of money for our jail services and transportation. Are there solutions available to us within the county? Who knows, but we will only find solutions with county leadership playing a major role. Are county finances a concern? Sure they are, but we can’t keep accusing each other of foul play and expecting full cooperation and understanding from everyone.
So what can we do as citizens to promote County Unity??
What we need, in my opinion, is a group of concerned citizens from all parts of the county who will come together and unite on common issues and goals for our county. This group should be able to work with county leaders to let them know what our concerns are, and what direction our county should head in. I think this group will be an active group that will help get things done no matter whom is in office and no matter what the political climate is.
It’s time we get moving forward. What happened in the past is in the past. We can’t do anything about it now except point fingers. Well, we should be pointing fingers at ourselves for letting this go on for so long. Now is our chance to move forward. Now is the time to focus on the needs of the county and not on each other’s shortcomings.
If you agree with me, I challenge you to join me in founding Citizens for a Better Gasconade County (CBGC). I want to reach out to everyone in the county to join me to help move the county forward. We can do this, if you want to. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there is no need for county unity. Maybe there is no desire for CBGC. But from what I can tell, we need to come together and let our voices be heard. We can get along and work on the issues that are facing us today and point our leaders in the direction of progress and success.
I have set up a special email address if you are willing to join me to form CBGC. If you have any interest whatsoever, please email me at GCUnity@gmail.com with your name and contact information and I will keep you informed of the details as they develop.
Let me know what you think! I want to know if you agree that we need to get past the bickering and finger pointing and get Gasconade County back on track.
Thanks for reading my long first post! I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to discuss the issues of the day with you! Hopefully my future posts won’t all be this long!