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Open mind may be hard to keep
(by Barbara Christian - March 03, 2011)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Open mind may be hard to keep
From all reports, our local state representative, Marlene Anielski, is a nice woman who listens, takes notes and has a winning smile.
Isn't it refreshing to be able to see our politicians in such simple, face-value terms, instead of looking at them and imagining an R or D tattooed on their foreheads? Isn't it heartening that those of opposing party affiliations can see one another as fellow human beings without the D or the R?
Revelations about Mrs. Anielski's receptiveness came from those of a different party stripe than hers who turned out at the Chagrin Falls Library last week to meet their representative. She had come to talk to constituents, one on one and face to face. She wanted to hear their concerns and maybe fix them. But while no subject was off the table, it appeared that the only one the majority of people wanted to talk about was one she was not prepared to address, Ohio Senate Bill 5.
That's the one that seeks to curtail the rights of public employees who are members of labor unions. If passed in present form, at this writing, it would end their right to collective bargaining. It's the same issue creating its own weather front of protest in Wisconsin these days.
Mrs. Anielski demurred on discussing S.B. 5, because she is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, not the Senate, and was not involved with creating provisions of the bill, nor had she read it. As it turned out, she listened to those who wanted to talk about S.B. 5 anyway.
What took the meeting out of the realm of us vs. them is that the representative met with each person, or as many as time allowed, one at a time. Group think removed, it's not so easy to be angry or obstinate. And that goes in both directions.
Later, some of those attending the meet and greet said they were surprised to learn that Mrs. Anielski, in deference to the capital letter behind her name, does not oppose unions. In fact, she supported Walton Hills police officers when they decided to unionize. She happened to be mayor of that town at the time. So much for capital-letter stereotypes.
The only thing marring this all-American scene of people exercising the idea of government by and for the people was the police offers assigned to the event. Their presence was part of the new reality since January ... since Tucson. The lead officer reported no problems.
Just for the record, we have never met Ms. Anielski and admit to having been skeptical of her. After all, she does have a certain capital letter after her name, and it's different from the capital letter of the political party we support.
Could it be Mrs. Anielski does not subscribe to the monolithic thinking of her political party? Could it be she will continue to listen to her constituents and her own core values and act and vote accordingly?
Mrs. Anielski is new to her job. We wish her well. What remains to be seen is whether the freshman legislator is strong enough to resist the pressure to vote the party line instead of her own good conscience.
Will she keep her core values, populist approach and an open mind? We will wait and see. We can hope she has her inner GPS set on true north.
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