COLUMN/OPINION: Running Huntington More About Economics than Political Science

Hmmm... that does seem kind of hard to grasp, though doesn't it? Wasn't Mayor Kim Wolfe a Republican? Did Huntington not see an influx in taxes and fees during his term? In fact, it wasn't until he enlisted Tea Party President Dale Anderson II, that he turned against taxes. Dale made him see the light after he only narrowly defeated Anderson in the primary. So if the Huntington Tea has accomplished nothing else, it has taught Wolfe that taxes are bad...too bad it took him four years to learn that.

But, the harsh truth that no one gets about local government, is that it is more successful when it is about business and not politics. It is this reason that makes a strong City Manager system intriguing. But, with Williams, we get a strong Mayor who would also be a leading candidate for the city manager position. So in this way Huntington gets the best of both worlds.

Running a city should be more about economics than political science. Political ideology will not determine the success of a city. Abortion, gay marriage, and other factors should be left for the big guys to fight about. In political idealogy, the Democrats do favor more taxes. But, on a local level , it does not make good business sense to drive business and citizens out of city limits. In fact, Democrat Williams dwells on his experience in the business world. Williams is a manager with proven skills and experience in the financial industry.

One of the things that comes with experience is connections. Williams has Art Laffer, creator of the Reaganomic principle The Laffer Curve as one of his influences that he has learned from. Now, wait a minute, wasn't Reagan a Republican? Hmmmm...and Williams is a Democrat? Hmmm... again, economics has the upper hand over politics in Mr. Williams' priorities.

Again, the lesson here is put politics aside as much as possible and concentrate on turning red into black. Let's worry about profit, overhead, and business terms instead of political terms like abortion and gay marriage. When looking at things from the business side, politics really doesn't matter.

So if we all work together and give the Democ-- ...I mean The Mayor a chance, we can accomplish change instead of playing political games. And if we put the reindeer games aside, we can find a real leader who cares about Huntington, that is the plus side of a strong mayoral system. We have a Mayor who will be the face of Huntington and lead us to help him solve social issues like crime, drugs, homelessness, hunger, and the other problems that plague our society.

So for now, let's keep politics on Fox and the other cable channels and let's bring economics to The City Council meetings. Let's make the priority of Huntington to make us a well functioning city and 'profitable business' without just taxing and spending. It's all about how you approach your business, if it succeeds and/ or fails. Sometimes, it just takes teamwork, creativity, and hard work, very rarely, is politics a business asset.