Dishonest Politicians – Boone Edition

One of the primary reasons why so many people dislike so many politicians – they’re dishonest.

Local election results are in and Huntersville will have two new commissioners starting next month. But before moving on from this election, I wanted to write about one specific mailer from the campaign that has been bothering me since I received it this past Saturday – after I had already cast my ballot during early voting.

Commissioner Dan Boone sent out a large mailer on the last weekend of the campaign paid for by the Dan Boone Election Committee. On one side was a list of four reasons to vote for the candidate, but on the other side one specific “accomplishment” was prominently displayed – “The ONLY Town Commissioner to Attend ALL Town Board Meetings!”

This is completely false.

The mailer doesn’t say the only commissioner to attend all parts of all meetings, nor does it say the only commissioner who wasn’t late to any meeting. It says the only commissioner to attend all meetings.

I reviewed the minutes of every meeting of this board from Dec. 7, 2015 through Oct. 16, 2017 (minutes are not yet available for the Nov. 6, 2017 meeting – but all commissioners were present) and Commissioner Boone was present for all meetings, but so was Commissioner Guignard. Commissioner Guignard was late, however, to two meetings: Sept. 19, 2016 and Sept. 18, 2017. The reason he was late to those two meetings – he was performing his duties at the yearly Angels of ’97 charitable golf tournament.

And if you were wondering, over the past two years Commissioner Bales missed one meeting (Nov. 21, 2016), the mayor missed one meeting (Oct. 2, 2017), and Commissioner Phillips missed three meetings (Feb. 1, 2016, July 18, 2016*, and August 1, 2016*). Of course, two of the three meetings missed by Commissioner Phillips were directly related to the serious injuries he received after being hit by a truck – but I guess that’s still no excuse for missing town board meetings.

Besides his claim being completely false, simply being present is not actually an accomplishment in the real world. The town board is not like elementary school where we reward children for perfect attendance (which is really an award that should be given to parents of those children…). Companies don’t cease to function if their employees are late to work or take a day off – and neither does the town board.

Here’s something to consider – if Commissioner Boone had actually missed the June 6, 2016 meeting, we would have had a lower tax rate in Huntersville for at least one year. Reminder – Commissioner Boone voted against a lower tax rate at that meeting and the budget was passed after the mayor broke a 3-3 tie.

As everyone is very aware, Commissioner Boone agreed to run as part of team this election. By running a mailer with a false claim, he placed himself above the team by criticizing the other three members of the team. That he chose to run this mailer on the last weekend of the campaign after benefiting from the other candidates and their supporters putting up his signs, handing out his palm cards, putting him on multiple ads, and encouraging people to vote for him speaks volumes.

I called Commissioner Boone after I received the mailer and requested an explanation since Commissioner Guignard had also attended all meetings. He stood by the statement. He again stood by the statement last night in-person when I asked if he wanted to comment prior to running this article. I’m paraphrasing because I didn’t take down his statement in writing, but his explanation was that being late to the meeting doesn’t count as attending the meeting. He was raised to understand that if you were late to something, it was the same as being absent. He also explained that this same statement was on his campaign website and on one of his palm cards.

Here’s a little secret for any candidates reading this – roughly 99.2% of voters never look at your campaign websites and almost the same percentage never actually read your palm cards. This percentage is even higher for voters, like me, who have already decided to vote for you, which I had before receiving this mailer. The difference is you bring far more attention to something when you purposefully choose to highlight it on one side of an oversized mailer than when you bury it on your website or on a palm card.

So why pick this fight with a newly re-elected sitting commissioner the morning after the election? Because some things are more important than politics.

Commissioner Boone’s vote earlier this year to change management at HFFA took courage and was the right thing to do despite what hack reporters from WBTV might think. The singular importance of that vote was the only reason I voted for him this election. I regret my vote for Mr. Boone, it won’t happen again.

I welcome any response from Commissioner Boone.

Eric

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