(Editor’s note: Rose Mulvany-Henry, newly elected member of the Board of Public Utilities, will take office on Wednesday, Jan. 8. The following is an open letter to Mulvany-Henry from her general election opponent, State Sen. David Haley, who lost the general election for the BPU at-large, position 3, seat by 37 votes.)
Dear editor,
With the nail-biting finish of November’s citywide general election decidedly in 2019’s rearview mirror (which asserted Rose Mulvany-Henry for BPU’s campaign bested David Haley for BPU’s campaign by a mere 37 votes; just ¼ of one percent of the 14,356 votes cast that were counted), many of us greet your new, never-before-elected service at BPU in 2020 with genuine optimism.
After all, six of us, including the one-term incumbent who was president of the Board of Public Utilities, vied in the at-large BPU August primary which resulted in my 1st place, your 2nd place and his 3rd place finishes. As you and I alone moved forward towards the general, an oft articulated awareness of public concerns for BPU’s policies and practices was regularly cited.
Your campaign, endorsed by a few of our fledgling primary opponents and generously funded by some of the same special interests that lost that incumbent in the primary, picked up major steam immediately. Bolstered too by public yard sign displays alongside a respected established candidate for another countywide office, the Mulvany-Henry campaign just ran a stellar race.
The muted Haley for BPU campaign had one mission alone; to provide one voice (ostensibly, my own) on the six-member board that’d put public concerns about BPU policies and practices back before the Board of Public Utilities. As a decades-long elected officeholder, I ran only on a well-established integrity for being ever accessible and of doing what I said I will once elected.
Constantly questioned, let me reiterate. Haley for BPU raised and spent less than $1,000. in both the primary and the general election. Though outspent 10-1 by your campaign, only low voter turnout, ironically 33 percent lower from precincts really needing a responsive voice before BPU’s syndicate, led to that 37-vote deficit and won the crucial race for you this time … instead.
Our campaigns expressed approaches to better, more transparent governance of the utility but differed. Mine, which I will continue to pursue in Topeka as a state senator, simply advocates comparing concerns and policies with opinions on other Kansas utilities issued by the Kansas Corporation Commission (kcc.ks.gov.) while yours purports to rely on internal drivers to change.
As you join the board, I for one take heart in believing you do hold the requisite skills, intellect and awareness to leverage influence on an established and entrenched machine; tone deaf to pleas for parity by the public due to senility, obliviousness and even corruption. Where so many others have understood, pledged, won and failed us, you, Rose Mulvany-Henry, can succeed.
Godspeed.
David Haley
35+ year ratepayer / consumer of the Kansas City, Kansas – Board of Public Utilities