One of the chief complaints about Warsaw Councilman Ron Shoemaker is that he too often votes “no” on initiatives being pushed by the Thallemer administration.
When Thallemer asked for $4 million to build a lavish new fire station, Ron Shoemaker voted “no.”
When Thallemer asked for a 51 percent sewage rate hike for small business, Ron Shoemaker voted “no.”
Thallemer’s supporters cast these votes as votes against improving the city. “Ron Shoemaker must be against fire stations!” they say. “He must be against sewage treatment!”
Shoemaker, for his part, says that he’s not against making improvements. He’s just against doing things in haste. He’s against the constant rush, the constant pressure from the Thallemer administration to consider and vote on Thallemer’s plans, and only Thallemer’s plans, immediately and without delay. He just wants to slow things down, consider other options, and get a better deal.
There’s a word in politics for Ron Shoemaker’s philosophy of governing: It’s “conservative.”
Conservatives have always opposed the faulty leftist idea that every problem must be met by a swift and massive flurry of government spending. Conservatives have always opposed, as much as possible, reaching into the pockets of small businesses to pay for the government’s extravagant ideas. Conservatives have always rejected the faulty leftist argument that voting against a particular proposal means that you are opposed to fixing the problem the proposal was meant to address.
Conservatism gets results. For evidence of this, you need only look to Ron Shoemaker’s career on the common council. Because of his willingness to stand up and say “no,” Warsaw citizens saved almost a million dollars on the city’s new fire station.
