January 17, 2018

Some of you may have read the recent Milton Herald article “Kunz Video Takes Mayor to Task.”  If not, following is a link to the article:

Milton Herald: Kunz Video Takes Mayor to Task

Let me provide a little more context than the Milton Herald article provides.  Mr. Kunz has been publishing political videos online.  Mr. Kunz’s videos seem part of a larger strategy to disparage and discredit our most recently elected officials (even before they took office):  Mayor Joe Lockwood and new council members Laura Bentley and Peyton Jamison.  It is pure politics.  Kunz clearly views these council members (and Burt Hewitt) as his political enemies and worthy of his public disdain and admonishment.  (A warning about these videos . . . they are classic Kunz . . . smarmy and self-congratulatory.  Kunz is the greatest thing to happen to Milton . . . just ask him.)

Mr. Kunz states in his introduction video that he is going to get “controversial” with his videos . . . citizens, hold onto your seats, we’re in for a rough ride.  And I have to give Mr. Kunz his props.  In his second video, he states that “it is unfortunate that we have elections.”  It is certainly provocative to question our democratic institutions . . . particularly coming from an American Studies major . . . and actually quite shocking coming from an elected official who has sworn to uphold the US Constitution.  Of course, this is not the first time that Mr. Kunz has taken issue with the pesky U.S. Constitution.  Along with former council members Lusk and Thurman, Kunz has asserted that some citizens speaking before Council are “violating” and “abusing” the right to free speech . . . and on occasion, Kunz and Company tried to infringe on that right.  Fortunately, a majority of council and the City Attorney have sided with citizens.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kunz’s lament about the evils of democratic elections missed the mark; Kunz did not get the attention he was seeking.  So Kunz upped the ante (and lowered the tenor of civil discourse) by asserting that Mayor Lockwood sabotaged our city government by endorsing Laura Bentley and Peyton Jamison.  This time, Mr. Kunz found his mark and the Milton Herald published a story about his comments.

So given that the Milton Herald acknowledged Mr. Kunz, I thought I would also weigh in.  For quite some time, this blog has ignored Mr. Kunz.  The reason is that Mr. Kunz is isolated and irrelevant.  With his near-violent confrontation with Joe Longoria, following on the heels of a number of other missteps, Mr. Kunz has effectively sealed his political fate . . . politically speaking, he is a dead man walking and hence not worthy of much attention.

(Here is link to my previous post on Kunz’s council’s confrontation with Joe Longoria:  Milton Coalition: Kunz Council Meltdown)

Mr. Kunz seems to sense his irrelevance, and that is why he is acting up.  Kunz’s objective is to garner attention.  Think about it.  The election is over.  What’s the value in rehashing the election?  What’s the value of alienating new council members, even before they took their seats on Council?  Does Mr. Kunz really believe his comments will make Mr. Jamison and Ms. Bentley more likely to work with him or trust him?  Does Mr. Kunz really believe his comments are going to help our city and its citizens?  Of course not.  Kunz is only worried about saving his political neck.  At this point, he has calculated that he has nothing to lose.  He is not going down without a fight.  And if the city government and citizens suffer as a consequence . . . so be it.

The metaphor that best describes Mr. Kunz’s current strategy is “tantrum.”  Like a toddler who doesn’t get his way, Mr. Kunz is throwing a tantrum (thankfully, this time without the threat of violence).  And for the same reasons as a toddler:  to get attention and to get his way.  A few folks have expressed concern to me about Mr. Kunz . . . and yes, I agree that he is an embarrassment to the City.  However, my advice, particularly to our City government staff and City Council, is to ignore Mr. Kunz.  I suspect that Mr. Kunz will follow the Terrible Twos playbook and escalate his antics, which should make for good entertainment.  However, our city government needs to focus on citizens . . . a notion that Mr. Kunz does not get and never will get.

In the most recent election, citizens voted to shift power back to themselves (and away from Special Interests and their agents on Council, like Mr. Kunz).  Time, resources, attention, and mental energy spent on responding to Mr. Kunz are wasted.  The City should not be distracted from the main task at hand:  serving the community.  Mr. Kunz is stuck in the past and digging himself an ever deeper hole.  Let him keep digging . . . our City government should focus on the future and on citizens.

Tim Becker

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BTW, the effects on the 2017 election of Mayor Lockwood’s endorsements are unclear, but he certainly was not responsible for even the greater part of Ms. Bentley’s 42-point blowout victory.  And in any case, Lockwood has the right–you could argue, even the obligation–to endorse candidates he believes will best serve the interests of the City.  Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Lusk did not post Matt Kunz’s radioactive endorsement of him, perhaps realizing such an endorsement would be a net-negative to Lusk’s campaign.

In a future post, I will be posting my own tough questions for Mr. Kunz.  And I have quite a few.  🙂