The "I" stands for Internet in these candid candidate
profiles
COLUMBIA, 3/15/11 (Beat Byte) -- The
first online mention of 5th Ward Columbia City Council candidate Glen Ehrhardt (left)
is, fittingly, a birth
announcement.
"Angel Stewart and Glen Ehrhardt of Columbia are the
parents of a 6-pound, 5-ounce girl born at 9:50 p.m. May 20, 1994, at Boone
Hospital Center."
For his daughter this campaign season, it's Sweet 16 and
learning to drive. For dad, an equally significant challenge: After being
recruited to run for Mayor, Mr. Ehrhardt is now tackling a Council Ward race as
the establishment favorite. His singular Columbia Chamber of Commerce endorsement is the foremost bit of digiteralia in his long record of service to
the law and the community -- often as a contrarian voice.
As Columbia's well-known City-University political divide
would cast it, Ehrhardt is Town to opponent Helen Anthony's
Gown.
As digitally
recounted, Glen Ehrhardt's legal career has
been the definition of "general practice." He's represented a variety of
diverse interests, from counsel for the defense in the case of an Ashland farmer
suing a builder over land erosion issues, to
counsel for MU basketball star turned businessman Willie Smith, who hired
Ehrhardt to sort out a church fundraising fiasco that involved alleged conflicts of interest and ever-complicated Central City Columbia church politics.
At Tuesday night's League of Women Voters candidate forum,
Ehrhardt emphasized his thirty-year ties with Columbia and Boone County, during
which time he has also counseled several public institutions.
He defended Boone County Sheriff Ted Boehm against a
sex bias charge. And, in the
drawn-out process that was the Daniel Boone Regional Library's re-design,
Ehrhardt went to bat for the library board, fighting for zoning and building code variances that
would accomodate increased parking -- and a "tower" that became one of several
lightning rods for criticism of a construction many say metamorphosed -- or
metastasized -- without public notice or approval.
Unafraid to tackle controversial issues and clients,
Ehrhardt appears thorough, competent, and persistent. It would probably not be
a stretch to suggest that if Columbia had a list of Best Attorneys, he would be
on it.
No
stranger to local politics and community activism, Ehrhardt has often
found himself on a side of the street that might surprise some observers -- the
contrarian side.
Concerned about a City of Columbia gender identity discrimination ordinance, Ehrhardt spoke on behalf of Boone County Citizens for Good
Government, a controversial conservative group that mostly vanished in 2004
after fighting for several years against many of the county's sacred
cows.
Best known for working to repeal Columbia's
deposit ordinance; opposing then Presiding Boone Commissioner Don
Stamper's controversial fairground purchase; and for a political fight against
incumbent Boone County Commissioner Karen Miller that
entered the books as one of the nastiest in recent memory, Boone
County Citizens for Good Government also fought
for law enforcement, public safety, and lower taxes.
Hard to politically stereotype, group members supported a blend of
Republicans, Democrats, and State Representative Chris Kelly, who might be Boone County's most notable "Demo-Rep" -- a one-man
combination of two-party rule.
As president of the
Bluff Creek Neighborhood Association, Ehrhardt fought a traffic snarl that
threatened his neighbors with unsafe driving conditions. A Trib report paints a picture of
a man willing to speak out for a cause.
"Not buying the explanation that bad weather delayed the
construction, Ehrhardt retorted that it wouldn’t have been
necessary...."
"That’s another issue bothering the
president of the neighborhood association - lack of proper
notification. Ehrhardt said he only learned that the road would be
closed...."
In a more conciliatory 2007 role on Columbia's new high
school site selection committee, Ehrhardt campaigned for cool-headedness.
As new sites kept popping up in the wake of a bad first
siting, Ehrhardt suggested that the high school's location "be based on as much
information as possible. A rushed decision would be very short-sighted. If we
need to delay it several weeks or months to get the best information possible, I
think that is what we should do."
Recruited to run for
Columbia Mayor last year,
Ehrhardt declined to get directly involved as a candidate.
But he did take the gloves off with Third
Ward Councilman Karl Skala, demanding that Skala cough up travel records opponent
Gary Kespohl used to win, most notably in a series of radio ads that portrayed
Skala -- a materially-modest man who had just lost over 70 pounds to preserve
his health -- as a big spending, big-eating glutton dining on the public's
dime.
"Ehrhardt used the Sunshine Law to obtain documents
Kespohl used to question Skala’s spending," the Trib reported. "Ehrhardt said he
wasn’t targeting Skala when he asked for council expense accounts. But 'there
were several individuals who had much more in the way of expenses and trips than
other council members,' he said. Kespohl decided how to use the information,
Ehrhardt said."
Ehrhardt's move -- which included a high-profile email that invoked the dark overlord of conservative local politics -- not Rush, but Fred -- was effective. Despite the hard feelings, it was also, in the end, politics -- which is nothing if not a contact sport.
Ehrhardt's move -- which included a high-profile email that invoked the dark overlord of conservative local politics -- not Rush, but Fred -- was effective. Despite the hard feelings, it was also, in the end, politics -- which is nothing if not a contact sport.
When attorney David
Rogers passed away in 2005, he was "of
counsel" to Ehrhardt's law firm, then known as Rogers, Ehrhardt and McGuire.
About Mr. Rogers -- a longtime co-host of the KFRU Sunday Morning Roundtable who
described himself as a "raconteur and amateur historian" -- I said this to a friend at his
funeral:
"David was one of few people who, while part of the
system, was never afraid to criticize it."
Rogers was one of my favorite Columbia voices, a
well-regarded pundit who had the audacity, the courage, and the strength of
character to call right or wrong, fair or foul, savvy smart or Boonedoggle
boneheaded, on our community's political establishment -- of which he was a
prominent part. It's hard to imagine such a larger-than-life figure
not rubbing off, at least a little bit, on a younger attorney
in his orbit.
Glen Ehrhardt clearly wants a more conspicuous role in the
political decision-making process. But hereabouts, that role often comes with an
unfortunate trade off -- the dismissal of voices that question the
establishment, of which he too is a prominent part.
Should Mr. Ehrhardt win, therefore, I hope the spirit of
David Rogers comes with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment