I like talking to the public, especially as much as I do, because I can hear their understanding of the big topics in our community. And if they don't understand, I try to set them straight. Believe me, I don't touch the subjects that I have little knowledge of. I can't be going around spreading the wrong info. Lucky for me, I know lots and lots of stuff. Stuff you wouldn't be interested in.
For instance, the public sometimes gets the wrong idea of what the City Council (and the City, for that matter) has jurisdiction over.
Someone wrote a letter to our newspaper blaming the City for the shoddy looking London Bridge sign that's on the highway. Well, that's not a City sign. It's the London Bridge Resort's sign and they haven't fixed it up for many many years. What can the City do about it? Probably not much. The sign isn't breaking any city codes or laws. It's just crappy.
Last year a promoter put together a big boat race and had it out on the lake. But he didn't have all the proper permits in place ahead of time. Permits from the Coast Guard, the Bureau of Land Management (because they control the land under the water--where a buoy would be anchored) and Game & Fish. So the promoter appealed to the City and the Mayor, asking them to pleeease let him put on his boat race even though he didn't have the permits. He was given this answer, "The City doesn't have jurisdiction. That's federal and state." Which is correct. But the citizens who only read a small portion of each newspaper article see it differently. I'm guessing it's people who only read headlines. They are still whining about the City making it difficult for event promoters to put on such events. Seriously????
But this last example is my favorite. You all know our friend Buster. You know, THIS GUY:
Well, a friend of mine who lost an election a couple of years ago confided in me that his loss was due IN FACT to Buster (County Supervisor) because he'd managed to get the ballots printed in such a way that was unfair to him. The rule is, candidate's names are alternated in position from ballot to ballot. That way, when the uninformed voter fills out his ballot and just checkmarks the first candidate's name on each list, everyone has a fair chance of getting a vote. Well apparently it was assumed by this guy that Buster made it so the names wouldn't alternate their positions on the ballots. I let this friend of mine know that Buster actually doesn't have power over that, it's the County Elections Dept. But he persisted. "Buster knew what he was doing." I tried to explain a situation we had that same year with ballots where the names did not alternate because candidates were told to come to the Elections office and draw their name out of a hat to pick a position on the ballot. Since I was the only Precinct Committeeman to show up, they let me draw EVERYONE'S names for my Precinct. I know this is all Greek to you but I'll keep explaining. I drew my name as well as Buster's because he's in my Precinct. Buster's was drawn in the last position on the ballot. And no, it didn't alternate because the process was DRAWN. If the Elections Dept was so gung ho for Buster, they'd have used their power to change it so he wouldn't appear last on the ballot. But they didn't. They actually giggled about it and I heard they talked about it at the next County-wide meeting. They gleefully announced that Shawna Thornton was the only candidate to show up and draw names for the ballots. Yes, I was drunk with power.
Now, I can honestly say that at the Federal level, they're screwing us big time. They're sending money to Haiti by the millions (or was it billions?) and meanwhile there's people starving in the U.S. We're throwing money at the Feds and they're spending it very stupidly. But here at the local level we're quite honest, really.
Not because the press is breathing down our backs but because we have more scruples than the Feds. They do things that are outright illegal, and when they are confronted they just lie. We know this is fact. So, let's all hate the Feds, and let the local government try to get the jobs done.
