This election season, I’ve noticed something interesting about lawn signs here in Greenfield. There are a number of properties around town that have reliably leaned conservative, and therefore leaned strongly in the opposite direction from myself and most people I know here. But this year we have found a candidate for mayor who we all support — Virginia “Ginny” Desorgher. She’s a dedicated public servant who has earned the respect of people from across the political spectrum.
Ginny’s record was not always in line with what I would have preferred, yet her willingness to enter into a serious discussion, even where there may be some conflict, impressed me. She admitted her own capacity for error some of the time, and was able to correct me at other times. This is a person who can push back when necessary, yet always manages to do so respectfully. All of that is leadership material.
Seeing Ginny in action, sifting through municipal records, parsing meaning out of reams of data, has been impressive. She has a deep understanding of how municipalities work. Having found discrepancies in property assessments, Ginny has been willing to ask tough questions about consistency, honesty, and basic fairness.
In the recent struggle over the school budget, Ginny was instrumental in piecing together a plan by meticulously going over city records and finding what unused funds could be diverted to help make up the deficit for the schools. It’s one thing to want to see our schools properly budgeted, which most of us would agree on. But it’s another thing altogether to be able to draft a specific plan on how to do that based on hard data. That too is leadership material.
More than ever, we need elected officials who can run on their honesty, integrity, ability, and genuine concern for people and for our collective future, rather than political party affiliation or because they are friends with all the “right people.” Ginny Desorgher will be a mayor for all of Greenfield.
Benjamin Miner
Greenfield