Tom McCallister running for mayor

I understand that Tom McCallister is running for Mayor in next years Huntington WV municipal election. Tom McCallister once did a good job with trying to save the Olympic pool in the past; it's just that the money was not there.

Tom McCallister would be a good recreational manager for a youth facility. If a kid got too obnoxious, Tom McCallister could tell the kid that he was "violating the charter and the law" and boot the brat out until he straightened up. Obnoxious teenagers deserve a scolding lecture from Tom McCallister. However Tom McCallister gets himself in severe hot water for viperously scolding adults like they were teenagers with disciplinary issues.

Tom McCallister can quote chapter and verse of the regulation broken to justify his position.

Tom McCallister comes across as "my way or no way" and obnoxious teenagers need that authoritarian guidance, but full-grown adults do not. Adults need common courtesy and basic respect more than conformist regimentation from someone with the inflexible attitude and tight rule set of a drill sergeant.

However if a job becomes available to manage a dozen rowdy teenagers, Tom McCallister is the man for the job. But he is not the man to manage city council.

Candidate Tom McCallister has a regimented "by the book" mindset IMHO..

He needs a very tight set of strict rules to uphold to be happy. He finds contentment in advocating strict conformity for the sake of strict conformity. That attitude is good in a jail guard, or in an attorney, or in the military but not in civil politics. Adults base politics on elective choice rather than legalism that stifles the potential for progress.

Tom McCallister seems to be addicted to city council meetings and is constantly lecturing and scolding city council to conform to this or that legalistic standard. After twenty years of city council meetings, Tom McCallister can quote the city charter and many obscure ordinances from memory, in much the same way as a 20-year prison inmate can quote the 1000 rules of the prison.

It is my opinion that those who are fixated on legalistic hyper conformity to "the rules and regulations" (or charter) seem to have a form of co-dependency with the rule making regulatory authority. Some people have dependency issues with authoritarian persons and some with institutional authority.

To make a case in point... This institutional codependency is often seen in career military men who do not adjust well to civilian life due to a co-dependent relationship with the ultra authoritarian military institution. It is also seen in some career criminals who have no idea how to function outside of a highly regulated prison institutional environment.

Ultra conformist mindsets thrive on a multitude of rules and in extreme cases have committed thousands of rules to memory. Hyper conformity is dependent on the status quo for a standard to conform to. When the rules and enforcement become integral to the identity, a public perception of the “enforcer” tends to be negative. It has gone far beyond being just a political activism. Tom McCallister has developed a public identity of holding councils feet to the fire to keep them on their toes.

Many see no need for a self-appointed political rules cop that has not been elected and therefore to seek election is an attempt to legitimate his self-appointment by seeking the voter’s approval knowing fully well he will not be elected. Until the election is lost, he is for the moment legitimate in his position by virtue of simply being a candidate.

Those with an enforcer type hyper conformist mentality are often too concerned with regulating the precise dimensions of the box, to ever comprehend what it is like to think outside the box.

The Mayors job in the future requires creative innovative thinking beyond the proverbial box, and although I believe that Tom McCallister sincerely cares about Huntington, he is too old school "by the book" and inflexible to write a innovative new chapter in Huntington's history at the helm of city government.

I do not think Tom McCallister is a bad person but I do not believe that he is the man for the job of Mayor. Huntington needs adaptive innovation and improvisation, and not regimentation by the enforcers of the status quo that no longer serves the needs of a rapidly evolving and increasingly diverse community.