Uncorked: Opinions on ‘Opinion’

“It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.” —Mark Twain.

Last week’s edition of Marlborough Weekly contained an additional Opinion piece: a commentary which Paul Davidson wrote about Marlborough District Council – specifically, councillors. He springboarded off the previous issue’s Uncorked, about a transparency debate in chambers.

I thought I might hear about one or the other, if not both, at Council’s extraordinary meeting convened last Thursday regarding the ferry project. (About that, you can read a news article as well as Thoughts of the Week.)

No one there reacted unpleasantly. I did, however, receive sharp criticism via email.

The sender is someone I – and, even more importantly, long-time Marlburians – respect. Who is less important than what, though it speaks to the person’s good character that the rebuke came in a private note expressly not for publication.

Honouring that discretion, while recognising others may want a reckoning, I’ll relay only the gist of this disappointment: that I chose to publish a one-sided essay casting a side-eye at local government officials given my background as a local government official.

That’s a reasonable reaction. I served on five governing bodies in California over a 10-year span, overlapping the three decades in which Paul has lived in Marlborough. Experience shapes perspective.

I have a different take than Paul’s. I do not see councillors—or staff – in our rural district as underqualified compared to urban district counterparts. I came here from a rural district after 40-some years living in metroplexes. Where one chooses to live is not the be-all, end-all marker.

Other points he raises do seem familiar. Orientation for newcomers? Been there. Liability as a lens? Done that. Staffers’ tenures eclipsing councillors’ terms? Yes, indeed – here and there, if not everywhere.

Paul extrapolates an advantage for Council employees. That’s his assessment, his observation from his longitudinal view.

His opinion. I do not have to agree with every opinion published under “Opinion”.

If that were the litmus test, why write what you are reading? Hard lines in the sand: violence, obscenity factual inaccuracies.

“Everyone has a different take on the world, a different opinion, and given the same inputs have completely different outputs.” —Penelope Fitzgerald.

True. And, from Ai Weiwei: “The only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.”

Email [email protected] to contact the author.