I have heard a lot of whining and crying lately about elected members of the Unicameral and the Lincoln City Council having other jobs and some how that smacks of a "conflict of interest".
Well whoop tee do da day!!! Get Over it!!
When the annual salary for a State Senator is slightly more than $12,000.00 and that of a Lincoln Council person is around $24,000.00 it is not hard to understand why these people have other sources of income. After all the positions they are elected to are considered par time employment.
I for one would like to see everyone, including my elected officials exist above the poverty level. No I would rather my City Council person not have to reside at the City Mission.
If our elected leaders could not avail themselves of other income opportunities who would we have respresenting us? Spouses with a working husband/wife? Retirees?
I for one do not care in the least that some of these representatives have other income, even if it comes from tax payer dollars.
So what if Republican Ken Svoboda's (City Council) company has a mowing contract with the city. So what if Democrat Chris Beutler (State Senator) works for the Parks & Recreation Department.
Doesn't anybody think if Svobodas connection were a problem elected Democrats would be all over it. Doesn't anybody think that if Beutlers "double dipping" were a problem elected Republicans would be all over it.
The lack of consternation from members of the opposition parties tells me that this is and always has been a non-issue. If Jon Camp, Patte Newman, Annette McRoy, Dan Marvin and Gramma Seng are not making a public fuss about it then why should I?
If it were a problem anyone or all of these people would be shouting it from the top of City Hall. To my mind this is one of the checks and balances.
No our Government isn't perfect, but I know if it really were a problem we would know about it.
In Continuum
while I am at it, the current tax revenue problem is not solely the fault of city management either. Yes it began in Council Chambers at the behest of the citizens but it ultimately ended up on the ballot for a public vote.
Your damn right I am talking about the Smoking Ban. This is a side effect of the bitter pill the city coffers had to swallow when the zealots of Lincoln cut their nose off to spite their face.
You voted to eliminate millions from the city budget, yet you expect the same level of service and whine like a little baby cutting teeth when it appears that your property taxes are going up.
Where do you think the money for all this comes from? Can you Tax Payer?
Get a grip people. Please don't give me the impression that the citizens of Lincoln are that stupid that they don't realize that when one form of tax revenue is eliminated or drastically cut other forms have to be increased to maintain the same level of service.
There were plenty of us that were vocal about what was going to happen if a Smoking Ban went into effect but we were ignored or poo poo'd as doom sayers.
Well now that it has come back to bite you on the ass don't whine and cry to me that the city has to eliminate some services, employees and raise your taxes.
You people that voted for it are getting just exactly what you asked for. The problem is you drug all the rest of us that knew the consequences beforehand down with you.
You dumb asses that voted for the smoking ban are the iceberg and the city of Lincoln is the Titanic. And now you cry when the Mayor and Council try to keep it afloat by raising taxes.
Tell me what the hell did you expect?
You didn't really think there wouldn't be financial consequences when you voted to eliminate millions of dollars from the tax base did you? Please tell me that you are not that naive. Or stupid.
I am just a passenger on a big ship of state that is going down.
No comments:
Post a Comment