When appearances count
Barbara Wilhelm has long been involved in the civic affairs of Dawson and there is little doubt that she will make a fine mayor. Wilhelm was appointed the borough’s first woman mayor on Monday night. The cause for celebration though is tarnished by the methods employed by small-town politicians, including Wilhelm. Wilhelm and her niece, both members of council, voted to annoint her mayor. The opposition wasn’t flawless either as Pat Trimble’s wife, Cathy, also a council member, voted in his favor.
Dawson’s solicitor Richard Husband said that his research of the ethics law led him to conclude that council members could vote for themselves and relatives as they didn’t stand to benefit financially from the outcome. What Husband failed to point out, and what we suspect the three already know, is that appearance of ethics violations are nearly as troubling as actual violations.
We wish Wilhelm well as Dawson’s mayor but at the same time recognize that this is small-town politics and her detractors will forever whisper behind her back that she couldn’t have gained the post any other way.