Even before Greg Robinson became an attorney, he had a natural inclination to ask the big question.

Like, why is this 42-ton bronze head of Vladimir Lenin still here?

Robinson, one of 14 candidates vying for a seat on the Lawrence City Commission, was in the U.S. Army at the time. He was part of group that was escorting nuclear weapons inspectors into the former Soviet Union. By this time, the Soviet empire already had collapsed, which caused Robinson to ask one of his Russian counterparts why the 25-foot tall bronze head of Lenin was still in the town square of the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude.

“He told me that was easy,” Robinson said. “He said they didn’t have a crane big enough to move it.”

Greg Robinson

Robinson wishes all questions at Lawrence City Hall were so easy to answer. Instead, Robinson said he’s not sure residents are getting straight answers about a host of city issues. Last year he served as one of the leaders of the opposition group to a new sales tax to fund a police headquarters, which ultimately was rejected by voters in November. Robinson said the city process for developing the headquarters plan left voters with lots of questions about what the true need was, what efficiencies would result from a new building, and why the city was selecting the site that it did.

“I’ve gotten labeled with an anti-police tag, but I’m not,” Robinson said. “I’m anti-sales tax and I’m anti that particular proposal. I think the voters said they weren’t anti-police, but they also told the city ‘you’re not going to play us for fools.'”

Then there is the Rock Chalk Park sports complex, a project that Robinson frequently refers to as Rock Chalk Tax Park. Robinson said the questions about why the city allowed for about $12 million worth of infrastructure to be built at the park without going through the city’s standard bidding process are numerous.

“I think we’re still having a referendum on Rock Chalk Tax Park,” Robinson said. “The citizens are very mad about that. I think it is appropriate that it is still an issue because citizens need to make it clear they are not going to put up with that nonsense.”

Service time

Robinson said he thinks he would bring a unique perspective to the Lawrence City Commission. Robinson spent just under two years serving as a patrol officer in the Lawrence Police Department in the mid-1990s before leaving to get a law degree. Since 1999, he also has served as the city attorney for Lansing, the community that he grew up in.

“Municipal law is complicated,” Robinson said. “It takes awhile to get your sea legs, but I’ve got them. That’s a huge positive because I’ll be able to talk to city staff in their own language.”

Robinson said he’s been around enough city government to know that all the acronyms and technical jargon can dissuade the public from weighing in on issues. He said he would work to make sure city issues are understandable to the general public. He also said he would have a message for city staff members: Tell commissioners what they need to hear, not what they think commissioners want to hear.

“I remember a general telling us that bad information in means bad decisions out,” Robinson said. “He said he has to have a staff that has the fortitude to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear.”

Robinson served about eight years in the U.S. Army, leaving the service with a rank of sergeant. While in the service, he became a Russian linguist and was assigned to a European-based unit that conducted “electronic warfare voice intercept.” He said that’s a fancy way of saying he spent his days listening to Russian conversations.

Robinson later was assigned to a unit that provided an escort to nuclear inspectors who travelled into former Soviet territory as part of various weapons treaties. That assignment gave him a rare view of America’s Russian “enemies.”

“When you meet them personally, you understand that people are just people,” he said. “Regardless of their governments, we all have the same family concerns and personal concerns.”

Issues

Robinson, who unsuccessfully ran for the City Commission in 2005 and the Douglas County Commission in 2014, said he thinks the police headquarters issue essentially needs to start over with a new evaluation of needs. He said he believes the need for evidence storage could be reduced if the department was more aggressive in discarding evidence that prosecutors say is no longer needed. He thinks there were several other issues in the original evaluation that created more questions than answers.

“I think a lot of questions go unanswered because it creates the perception that the needs are so bad that we have to do something,” Robinson said.

On other issues, Robinson said:

• He thinks the process the city is using to analyze tax breaks and other incentives for development projects is flawed.

“If I was a developer, I would take advantage of the system too because that is what our leaders are encouraging,” he said.

More 2015 City Commission primary election coverage

• Candidate profiles and questionnaires