[Note: Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education member Michael Stratz canceled his subscription to the Oshkosh Northwestern in November of 2001, a day after Oshkosh voters turned down the District's $12.8 referendum. Northwestern Executive Editor Stew Rieckman wrote a column criticizing Stratz for making the newspaper a "scapegoat." After siding with the majority recently in a 5-2 vote to retire the Oshkosh West High School Indian mascot/logo, Stratz's rationale for his vote received criticism from some Northwestern readers. Below is an excerpt from a letter Stratz recently sent to the Northwestern, followed by the entire letter.--Tony Palmeri].
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To my knowledge, there is no rule that requires any elected official to vote with the majority view of a community on any specific issue. In making the statement "I was elected not to represent the majority (view) but to vote how I believe...." I was trying to make the point that elected officials should use their independent judgment to study all sides of an issue, including popular sentiment, and then make the best possible decision for the organization they represent, (in this case education). --Mike Stratz |
March 18, 2002
Dear Editor,
My name has appeared in recent articles and editorials regarding the Oshkosh School Board Vote on the West High Indian/Logo issue. I would like to respond to concerns regarding a statement attributed to me, which was printed in the March 14, 2002 issue of the Northwestern, which was taken considerably out of context. The statement said: “I was elected not to represent the majority but to vote how I believe…”
At that meeting it appeared to me, that some of the public was upset because the board was about to vote against the community (apparent majority view) on the Indian/Logo issue. I was trying to explain that the first duty of the board was for the well being of the West High students and staff, whose site council had recommended the change. In a true democracy, each person has one vote and the majority will always rule. A republic (which is our form of government) uses an election process (one person, one vote) creating representatives who make decisions, which may or may not represent the current popular view.
As I understand history, this (representative) provision was created specifically to eliminate bad decision-making due to high profile and emotional issues (like the Indian mascot issue). To my knowledge, there is no rule that requires any elected official to vote with the majority view of a community on any specific issue. In making the statement "I was elected not to represent the majority (view) but to vote how I believe...." I was trying to make the point that elected officials should use their independent judgment to study all sides of an issue, including popular sentiment, and then make the best possible decision for the organization they represent, (in this case education).
The "by the people, for the people and of the people" often quoted, refers specifically to the "election process". Thus, we the people have ultimate control of our government by electing our representatives. This is a messy and sometimes clumsy form of government, but we haven't yet found a better one. This is why it is imperative for all of us citizens to stay informed and become involved in the political process, or to at least vote. Please do not forget to vote this coming Tuesday April 2; your representation in your government depends on it. Thank you.
Michael L. Stratz
Oshkosh Board of Education Member
[Epilogue: After placing this letter on the Commentary web site, I was informed that Mr. Stratz has re-subscribed to the Northwestern, apparently after having a discussion with Mr. Rieckman regarding the Northwestern's employing the CQI practice of having outside stakeholders sit on a review committee to review education stories. It occurs to me that the Northwestern should give serious thought to having outside stakeholders sit on a review committee to review Winnebago county stories, and neighborhood issue stories, and UW Oshkosh stories, and . . . well, you get the picture. --Tony Palmeri]
[Epilogue Part 2: The epilogue above is not quite accurate. The Northwestern's "new" Education Advisory Committee does not actually review education editorials and stories (as understood initially by Mr. Stratz), but engages in periodic roundtable education discussions which are then factored into the Northwestern's editorial board discussions. Many thanks to Mike Stratz for clarifying the situation. --Tony Palmeri].