At 7, she helped save Salem’s library. She’s just getting started – Salem Reporter:
Zoey Harper didn’t have a script when she spoke in the Salem City Council chambers for the first time, back in April 2024.
She was 7 years old. She needed a stepstool to reach the microphone.
These “kids are our future” stories are far and away the most cringeworthy pieces that the media produces on a regular basis.
…Through her love of reading and talent for public speaking, a young person helped convince the community to support a five-year levy to fund the library and restore its service hours. Voters approved it in May 2025.
“Zoey was instrumental in that, she really was,” [Fund Our Libraries Now leader Jim] Scheppke said. “If she hadn’t done that, I don’t know. We might not have gotten everybody on board for the livability levy.”
So…first, kids should have, at most, a limited role in politics. They’re not of voting age, are generally considered “off limits” in terms of any kind of opposition to them or their position, and, particularly at this age, there is nothing a kid could say that couldn’t be better articulated by a competent adult. What they tend to bring is a an emotional appeal, one of the most feeble ways to decide an issue.
Second, if the budget committee was actually swayed by Zoey’s testimony, this is about as strong a case as can be made that they have no business making any sorts of recommendations or decisions for the city.
What could a 7 year-old have possibly said that was game-changing and persuasive? More likely, Scheppke is just being polite which is fine under most circumstances but which makes him look something of an idiot when reported in this fashion.
…When Zoey stepped up onto the stool, the budget committee’s stoic expressions broke into smiles. Zoey’s mom, Megan Harper, crouched by one side and her younger sister, Hannah, flanked the other, barely peeking above the lectern.
“My name is Zoey Harper,” she told the group. “No more cuts to our library please. I learned to read myself before kindergarten and I love reading books. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I just love this library.”
Was that it? The totality of her testimony? On the basis of this the battle was won?
That same night, after testimony from her and dozens of others in the community, the committee unanimously approved then-Mayor Chris Hoy’s proposal to use hotel tax funds to delay the cuts for the year.
I am highly skeptical that hers was the instrumental bit that turned the tide.
In the following year, she’d table with Scheppke outside of the library, asking community members to reject cuts and later to support higher taxes to sustain the library’s funding. Scheppke called Zoey and Hannah their best lobbyists. They’d run to catch up with people before they could reach the parking lot, then bring them back to the table to take a pamphlet and learn more about the library’s services.
Not sure if this was awesome, annoying, or both.
Zoey testified about her love for the library in front of city officials four more times as they considered how to balance the city budget. Perhaps her most impactful was during a Nov. 25, 2024, city council meeting as councilors considered whether they wanted to ask voters for a property tax increase.
“I have been to the library many times with my family and it is one of my favorite places to go. Books are important to me because I love reading and I have done many things at the library. And I really like going there,” Zoey testified at the meeting.
Well, me too. That still doesn’t balance the budget. In essentials her argument is “I like it so we should have it.” It is, aptly, the argument of a child.
Mayor Julie Hoy, then a councilor and mayor-elect who had questioned the need for the levy, recalled Zoey’s testimony hours later, ahead of the vote.
“Testimony from, it was Zoey, I think, tonight, was enough to make me vote yes,” Hoy said, and smiled. “It was wonderful.”
Scheppke said Hoy’s vote, giving the levy unanimous support from the council, was critical.
What I just wrote about the budget committee applies to Mayor Julie Hoy as well.