Incumbent District 1 JP Thomas Lundstrom (R-Springdale) describes himself as one of the most conservative members of the Washington County Quorum Court, and brags that he has probably voted “no” more than any other JP in the county. Lundstrom is “totally opposed” to any county zoning, and he thinks the spay-neuter program is a waste of money. Flipper Tom said he objected to paying $60,000 to furnish the Terminella Building, although he did vote in favor of it. “I’m just opposed to taxes,” he said, then added the trite quip that government should be run like a business.
JP Lundstrom must have been thinking about such free enterprise wonders as the bankrupt American International Group Inc. or local developers like Ben Israel and Brandon Barber. He did say he believes the county should buy the old Fulbright Library property next to the courthouse, which would provide room for a parking deck and give some financial relief to the developers, although he said he doesn’t know of any pressing issue for space and new facilities or any other public purpose in doing so.
Sharon Green, the challenger for the District 1 position, seems to think there is a difference between public service and free enterprise bidness. “You have to be accountable to a higher source than just a business,” Green said naively in an interview sponsored by the League of Women Voters. “In a business, you are accountable to yourself, not to anyone else. As a government officer, you are accountable to all of the residents in the county.”
Green also favors reasonable zoning regulations, continuing the spay-neuter program, and other sensible approaches to modern county government. She said she saw her role as a JP to hear the residents of Washington County and give them a real voice in government. Ms Green will soon learn that Springdale loves the stingy voice of Tom Lundstrum and that they love his callous late 19th-century opinions about government.
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