This political season is ripe with drama. Despite our name having “tea” in it, we prefer our leaders remain above the drama. Since our first election year, our team has grown and we decided to create an endorsement team with some team members abstaining while others agreeing to take on the responsibility of watching/attending debates, researching, and reach out to candidates running. Each member has different criteria for their choices, and we have compiled some of their remarks in this post. Ultimately some of these races were close and came down to a tie breaker.
It is important that we weigh the costs and benefits of all our future leaders and that we are intentional about having conversations about why and who we support. Our choices in leadership should not be boiled down to personality conflicts, hurt feelings, or personal gain. Instead, all of us should decide with our convictions rooted in firm community betterment and benefit for the greatest number of neighbors.
Some deciding factors for our team were the willingness of candidates to have a conversation with our team, either through the emailed questions or through sitting down at a table for a conversation. To all candidates that participated and took the time to have a conversation, we appreciate you and your willingness to speak with all of our neighbors. Other deciding factors included candidates ability to overcome adversity, how they handled the campaign, and their ability to communicate clearly their ideas.
We gave equal opportunity to all the candidates to participate on our platform. We also did not charge for access to our platform or the work we put into publishing and designing graphics to advertise the candidate conversations.
A special thank you is extended to our team members, the ones who spent hours watching debates and interviews to the ones helping us to run the camera and moderate the comments during the live conversations. Without our team this work would be much heavier and we truly are grateful to them. Finally we are thankful to our neighbors who submitted questions for both the candidate questions and during our live conversations.
Seat Five
Seat five is currently occupied by incumbent Diane Williams-Cox. It is no surprise that our team has been critical of her choices and treatment of our neighbors. For this reason, we understand her choice not to participate in our questions or invitation for a conversation. Historically, Williams-Cox has voted against our community, our neighbors, and our hard-working city employees. She continues to support the city manager going as far as to give him an “A” when asked during a debate. The impact of her votes has hurt our community and our neighbors despite her assertion that it has not. During the debates she presents as arrogant and self-aggrandizing.
“Dianne has experience but is too close to the work and alliances to be fully impartial.”
Our team is split on Tifany Hill and Dot Inman Johnson. Both women are strong candidates with passion and good fruit in our community. Ultimately the tie breaker came down to local elections being the opportunity to get our neighbors and our ideas into our government and break up any status quo that we may want changed.
If our community could ensure both Tifany Hill and Dot Inman-Johnson proceeded to the general, we know that our city would be in good hands with either candidate being elected.
Tifany Hill receives our endorsement. The first and defining reason is she did not state she wanted a new majority. Instead stated that she wanted to represent all our neighbors. This message was iterated throughout her campaign and since day one. Tifany Hill expresses clear concern and understanding of the issues. We saw her research issues after learning about them. Our team appreciates her ability to acknowledge when she needs to research more on a topic. She never showed an attitude of “fake it till you make it.”
“We need new blood and I know she will work hard for change.”
While she is new blood and some of our team stated that she is a novice, this could prove to be a learning curve for her. However, with her history of military service we are confident she will be able to overcome obstacles. Tifany also was eager to speak with every member of our team and sought opportunities to connect to each member.
“Tiffany is eager to get to work. She has shown a willingness to listen to ideas as well as to problem-solve existing issues.”
Read Tifany Hill’s candidate questions Here.
What our team said about Dot:
“Dot is incredible and is inspiring—I didn’t realize how much she accomplished until her conversation on the page.”
“Dot’s history on the commission and understanding of what commissioners can and cannot do will suit her well to move the city back to a posture where City Hall is more responsive to the people.”
Seat Three
“This race feels less about one candidate clearly separating themselves and more about who people connect with and trust”
Seat three has the most candidates and has the biggest potential to determine the future of our city commission. Many neighbors are expressing a distaste for the current commission culture. Other neighbors feel that a new majority is needed to correct course and get our ship back on track. However, this race has a bit of everything for everyone and a pool of candidates that are just as diverse as our community.
The majority of our team ranked Tom Derzypolski as their top choice and is the endorsed candidate for our team.
“He presents with a wide range of experiences, a passion for representing all our neighbors, and is a unifier.”
Tom Derzypolski is successful through self-made endeavors. He understands what the local small business owners need to be successful while also understanding the importance of listening to opposing views and concerns. While we heard criticism about Tom, and saw him personally attacked by multiple other candidates, he maintains a platform of positivity and found ways to encourage even his opponents. Tom was consistently on time for our meetings and eager to keep the conversation going. His honesty in in campaign is evident in our conversation with him. He was open to suggestions and ideas that team members asked. Finally, Tom Derzypolski sought ways to connect to the various communities. We appreciated his creative “drinks in the drive” and “Hey Tom” outreach. He genuinely wishes to connect with neighbors from all walks of life and we feel he will be a strong bridge on the commission.
“Tom seems to approach most issues from the center which means he will be more likely than some to weigh out his votes and listen to a broader group of residents.”
“Tom has remained a steady, grounded, and likable candidate throughout the race.”
Read Tom Derzypolski’s candidate questions Here
Mayoral
Our team unanimously chose Jeremy Matlow as our endorsed candidate. Every team member stated that Matlow is the most likely to listen and represent all our neighbors out of the mayoral candidates. While several of our team members did not appreciate his messaging and disagree on some of his politics, we all felt that he is the most willing to listen to other perspectives and weigh concerns of opposing neighbors.
One thing is for sure, we know where Jeremy Matlow stands on issues. A good leader is clear where they stand and we do not question his stance. Team members are easily able to reach him as a commissioner. Throughout the years, neighbors have reported to our team that he is one of two commissioners they reliably hear a response from.
“He has a lot in common with all of our neighbors: seeking accountability, advocating for those with the least, smart development, and affordable housing.”
He brings a history of support from every people group in town and is the most likely to make large changes in how the city does business”
“He advocates for all our hard-working city neighbors to make livable wages, and he asks questions before voting on items.”
“His voting history shows that he votes in line with the community on the big votes like the Capital City Country Club”
Read Matlow’s candidate questions Here.
Our team was disappointed in Loranne Ausley and Darryl Parks for not responding to any of our requests. We would have appreciated the opportunity to speak with the other two candidates. We feel that our community needs accessible elected officials willing to have conversations now more than ever. Unfortunately, they both appear to be more of the same leadership we are currently experiencing in City Hall.
We are better together and we all deserve a seat at the table. Our city is in deep need of change. We know better than anyone that there is no perfect candidate and there is no perfect elected official. However, we should still weigh our options. With all our neighbors benefit in mind, we should choose our elected officials based on what benefits the largest amount of people and gives us a government that works for our community and values our input.
Seat 5 – wish I knew more. Seat 3, down with him. Mayor Matlow – hell no.
I think they forgot somebody.
We did not forget you. Your campaign and treatment of neighbors recently has concerned many of our team members. Rather than expressing our concern publicly about your tactics we chose to simply omit any statement about you.