On November 6, vote for Scharlow for 3rd district council.

During his recent forum appearance before the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association, incumbent 3rd district councilman Steve Price was visibly disoriented when I pointed out to him that in 2007, he had voted lock-step with the 1st district’s Dan Coffey almost 98% of the time.

After a mercifully brief and laughably ineffectual denial, Price bristled and responded that his near perfect confluence with the malicious Wizard of Westside could be explained by the 1st and 3rd districts being alike.

Like many of the urban legends that pass as gospel within non-critical minds, this assertion simply isn’t true, and in refuting it, the reasons for change in the 3rd district become abundantly clear.

The bulk of New Albany’s historic business district lies in the territory of the 3rd district. The tourist draw of Mansion Row on Main Street is located in the 3rd. The once vibrant Vincennes Street commercial corridor originates in the 3rd, as does the most significant portion of the Ohio River Greenway project. A big chunk of the city’s historic housing stock lines the streets in the 3rd.

During his first term in office, the accidental councilman Price – twice rejected by overwhelming primary votes, only to scrape through owing to splits in three-way races – has been consistently unable to fathom the potential inherent in his own district. Bizarrely possessed with the notion that ignorance is somehow a virtue, he has proceeded to vote against the interests of his own district again, and again, and again.

The contrast between Price’s dully repetitious underachievement and the life experience of Republican challenger Brenda Scharlow could not be more instructive to prospective voters.

As a young adult, married, harried and faced with the demands of a large family, Scharlow swiftly rejected Price’s “circle the wagons” approach to budgetary matters by seeking an entrepreneurial solution. She founded a business and made the pie larger. Then, applying the same wisdom to their community, Scharlow and husband Larry embraced the potential of New Albany’s core by investing in it not once, but thrice: First with Tumblebus, then in the conversion of the Grand theater into a convention and banquet facility, and now with the building of condominiums by the riverfront.

Price can do no more than spout homilies, and he slouches behind them.

Scharlow designs her own ball, and she runs with it.

Price warns against a litany of forthcoming catastrophe, and he proposes regress as the only course.

Scharlow grasps what might be, and she counsels progress as a remedy.

Price’s worldview is an embarrassment to Democrats, and the Democratic Party knows it, even if it says nothing publicly.

Scharlow’s platform is a credit to Republicans, and they certainly need it.

No candidate is perfect, but the majority of Brenda Scharlow's positions are calibrated to suit the needs of the 3rd district. Conversely, after four years in office, Steve Price all but concedes that he still cannot fathom those needs.

On November 6, vote for Scharlow for 3rd district council.

See also: Five takes a look at Three, at NA Shadow Council.