Government by the people: A lovely mess
Orem resident and civic activist Aaron Campbell hijacked the phone of Mayor Jim Evans last week to send out a “robocall” to the city about the possibility of a tax increase. A robocall is one of those automated messages frequently used by political candidates that I get faked out on every time. I invariably start to have a conversation with the caller and then realize I’m stupidly talking back to a recording.
So anyway, Campbell prepares this robocall, and it’s going all over Orem: “Hi, this is Aaron Campbell, and I have some bad news. Right now, I’m watching the Orem City Council plan to raise your city property taxes by almost 50 percent. This may not be a lot of money to some of you, but this still represents the largest increase in city property taxes in history of Orem, and for what? To pay for Utopia, which is a failed business endeavor, Center for Story, which is nice but not needed. And they are giving raises for employees who make over $60,000. Please come to the city council meeting tonight at 6:30 and ask them to focus on our needs instead of their wants. 6:30 tonight. This is Aaron Campbell. Thanks for listening.”
The call resulted in a huge turnout at the city council meeting. OK, Campbell shouldn’t have sneaked this message out on the mayor’s phone, but the communication was highly effective, drawing about 200 that night.
In fact, it was so effective, and dealt with such an important issue, that the city itself should have been doing the robocalling. That’s what technology is for, isn’t it? To communicate efficiently and quickly? I don’t know about you, but the Orem City website not one of my favorite bookmarks.
In the ongoing saga of government by the people, this incident brings something important to light: Officials at all levels should get comfortable with encouraging the tumultuous, raucous, often messy and definitely untidy scene that invariably develops when the people jump into an issue. It’s a healthy thing. Instead of complaining about Campbell’s misuse of the phone system, Orem government ought to take a lesson from him. Our system works best with maximum participation.