(Op-ed by Peter Children)
There is trouble right here in river city, and it could turn into a malignant mass that is inoperable.
We are saddle with a mayor with diminished capabilities, one who lacks good sense, is void of business acumen, surrounded by puppets who are in the ether.
The loss of Nelson & Marsters is a blow; with them soon to be a memory we give up experience, leadership and common sense. It isn’t surprising that people don’t want to serve where the leader, the mayor gains his wisdom from the bottom of a beer glass. Could it be that Kuhn, after four previous alcohol related convictions, now finds commonalty in our mayor? I believe Latham is more accustomed to self service than public service, he is a businessman first and foremost, and he is very close to Bookmeyer. From that you can draw your own convictions or conclusions, whichever you prefer. Hickey, Turncoat and Solberg have been hypnotized by the mayor and are , deep asleep. They are solid yes votes for whatever he may want.
After the elections Bookmeyer will want to eliminate the city garbage collectors and give that concession to a private firm; maybe Holt Services….you think? Along with the garbage will go the Human Rights Department; this mayor doesn’t like Lionel Foster, Foster has too many friends and he’s pissed because he could get it done before his friend at I.C. Systems was fired. It is my opinion his failure to close that office had a profound effect on our mayor, it could have drove him to drink.
Public confidence in city government continues to decline and will more than likely continue its decent under this administration. The current slate of candidates does not promise relief. I think there are about 19,866 registered voters here of which only a few actually vote….and that is one of the main factors why we have this mayor. It is surprising how close the numbers of those that vote are from one election to another. In the 2008 election 6,150 voted, in 2010 there were 6,155 that made the effort. In my opinion that is a very poor turnout; if you want good government you have to vote and you have to do due diligence, investigate the person you are voting for. People who run for public office expect scrutiny, and if they can’t pass the sniff test, then they should not run. The county has 32,000 registered voters and as a point if interest Urdhal ran unopposed the last time his term was up. I find that very strange, here you have a position that pays $45,331.00 a year ($124.00) a day plus extras and no one wanted it. It surely wasn’t because they might not have been qualified; Urdahal loads trucks and as far as I know has no known relationship with agriculture other than perhaps cutting the grass when it needs it. When I think of county supervisors I think of farms and farmland, tractors and grain elevators.
Before NorthIowaToday.com came onto the scene, the Globe-Gazette held sway over this community. Those at the paper pretty much appointed whom they felt would serve their needs best; they did this by declaring publicly in the paper who their recommendation was for each office….then more than likely that candidate would be elected. They rarely failed; why? Because people were like sheep, they revered the local paper as all knowing. Years ago it was only the paper and the radio, and the radio never made declarations as to who was better than anyone else.
Of late we have had television and the Internet, this has made a big difference as to how the news is delivered, and young people today prefer the electronic media. This then has weakened the print media to the point several major papers across the country have closed their doors for good.
I personally am hoping that Sandy Servantez will run against Kuhn should Weaver decide not to seek another term and follow in the footsteps of his colleagues Nelson & Marsters. I further think Mrs. Servantez will beat Kuhn with ease if her supporters get out and vote. What happened to this young housewife was unimaginable…denied even the courtesy of a twenty minute interview was an unprecedented insult to not only her but to all other women who in many ways mirror her life as a hard working woman who gave of herself as a “friend of the commission” serving the HR department for two years. This woman is one of us. She did not just arrive here from somewhere else, has no political connections, doesn’t want to sell insurance to the city, is not going to try to sell ground to the city to build the Taj Mahal on, will not attempt to profit from any decisions she may render. I know for a fact that she is not a member of the Country Club, nor ever has been; she has no private tennis courts and is not acquainted with any dignitaries that I am aware of.
Her two years as a “friend” of the commission put her in an ideal position to move onto the commission itself, but for the arrogance of the beer drinker, she now would be there. Then this train wreck of a mayor has the audacity to have a policeman remove her from the podium at a council meeting simply because she did not follow his rules. You will be able to review this incident on a piece of film included in this article in case you may have forgotten. It is important no one ever forgets what took place in that room. This woman presented no threat to our mayor other than to revel his arrogance for all to see. Well then watch his handiwork so it becomes embedded in your mind when to go to vote. Bookie and his ilk want you to forget, I….well I don’t want you to forget, I want you to always remember so look at it once more, then look again and again. Ask yourself this; what was her crime. The position she sought did not offer any compensation but required a lot of time to fulfil. These are the types of people who are the most valuable assets in any community. Do not forget her name when you see it on a ballot.
In closing just a note about the article in today’s Globe-Gazette showing a rendering of the proposed new building for Harley Davidson; it wasn’t a surprise to see Henkel will be the builder….hence the Bookmyer/Kuhn connection. Henkel was and still is a good builder and the Minerts are a hard working family, hard to look a gift horse in the mouth. I predict that this incentive and the way it was handled will cause problems that will take this administration into the courtroom before it ends.
Peter Children
|