Coffee With Steven White
Robert Thomas
In his 1982 hit song “Allentown” Billie Joel sings about a community in decline but, despite that, he “won't be giving up today”; which is a motto Allentown native Steven White takes into his by-election run for councillor.
White, who has 25 years of experience and success in the financial planning sector, sees himself as someone “who can make a difference” when it comes to entering politics.
His journey to Moose Jaw started nine years ago and although the move here wasn’t an intentional one he is glad it turned out that way.
White is married to Susie, who originated in Cebu Province in the Philipinnes. The family decided to attend a wedding in Regina, where Susie's family immigrated to. Before they attended the wedding they checked with US Immigration to see if Susie could leave and return with an I-130 visa and were told it was no problem.
“The wife tried to re-enter the US but could not re-enter,” White said.
The I-130 visa is a visa issued to allow relatives to immigrate to the US. It is listed as a first step, with the Green Card allowing permanent residence.
“There was nothing illegal, everything was in order,” White said, adding that under the Patriot Act US Immigration officials can prevent entry for any reason.
With Susie stranded in Regina with her family White returned to run his Ameriprize Financial franchise in the US.
“Part of the perks of owning your own business is you can get six days off in a row to be with your wife,” White said.
As it turned out White grew fond of Canada and immigrated himself.
With Susie's sister working in the lab at the former Moose Jaw Union Hospital, White said “we came here, it’s a great city.”
When he first arrived in Moose Jaw he worked for Investor's Group for five years.
After five years he decided it was time to move on as he had worked in financial planning and stocks combined for quarter of a century.
“Twenty five years is enough,” he said.
Today he works in sales at Acklands-Grainger.
Given his 15 years in financial planning and a stint as a head trader at a small Boca Rotan brokerage firm he said he sees nothing wrong with his job.
Asked if he felt his present occupation was beneath his talents, White said that that is not the case. As he enjoys his job.
“I am not one of those who cares what job a person does. A job is a job,” he said, adding “I would work here (we were at McDonalds) no problem.”
About his credentials in the financial sector, White says he has no degree in finance but he does have “experience and numerous courses I’ve taken.”
“I don’t ride on credentials. I ride on experience at what I am doing. I know plenty of people who ride on credentials but don’t know what they’re talking about.”
One of White's most unusual jobs he did was 10 years ago when he was asked by Ken Matthews to use his financial skills to go through the books of Allentown as part of a mayoralty election race. Matthews he said is a fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh.
"I looked at three years worth of budgets and not one of the budgets was balanced like they claimed,” he said.
White was asked about a rumour floating around the community and if he could clarify things. He stated that he did not work for three years nor was he connected in any way with the winner Ed Pawlowski. Despite the budgetary problems, Pawlowski would win two more elections.
The former Chicago community organizer, Pawlowski, was convicted in 2018 for corruption and other criminal charges connected to Allentown City Hall.
“I’m completely opposed to that guy.”
Rumours have been circulating in Moose Jaw that White was part of the corruption due to an online report not clearly written. White had no affiliation to nor did he support Pawlowski or others in Allentown City Hall later convicted on various criminal charges.
“The point of bringing it up in interviews is that I’ve looked at city budgets before. I’ve looked at ours,” he said.
His look at Moose Jaw city budgets has White pointing out some of what he sees as the shortcomings in how the City is run.
“In my honest opinion the departments are not telling how to run things properly. They’re running it bare bones,” he said.
The rise of crime and the funding to combat it is a big concern.
“We need our police force properly funded to do the job they need to do.”
The number one concern for White is infrastructure.
One idea he had to help fund the required infrastructure renewal is through recognizing financial opportunities.
“We could have sold bonds to finance infrastructure at half a percent to two percent max and bought them back cheaper than we spent on them,” he said, about historically low bond rates in recent financial history.
White says new thinking is necessary when it comes to running the City.
“The model of thinking in the City for so long is the only way we can raise revenues and it is to raise taxes. We need to be able to look at everything on the table. Raising taxes every time we need money is not the way to go," he said.
Being originally from Allentown, the home of the former steel colossus Bethlehem Steel, whose reversal is immortalized by Billy Joel's song White was asked if there was a lesson there.
“It was revitalized quite a lot. We went through a facade program and covered up a lot of problems and made it look pretty. But we never looked at the root of the problem,” he said, adding that there are similarities in Moose Jaw with such things as repairing the same pot hole six times without understanding why it could not be fixed properly the first time.
“There has got to be a better way.”
White said a bad cold many people in Moose Jaw are suffering from has prevented him from door knocking but he has approached various community organizations about the potential of holding a forum.
He points to such things as the Downtown Facility and Field House Board member sanctions, the “debacle on High Street”, infrastructure and rising crime as reasons why people should come out to ask questions and become involved.
“There is a lot on the table to bring the voters out to the election,” White concluded.
EDITOR'S Note – Are you a candidate in the upcoming Civic Bi-election or the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division Trustee election? Would you like to sit down for coffee and chat with one of our writers if so drop us a note at moosejawnews@gmail.com
