Is Ebli on thin ice or solid ground?

Wow. If I heard right on the radio, State Representative Kate Ebli was one of two Democrats who voted against applying a tax on certain services to ease the state budget crisis.
That means one of two things -- or both: She's viewed within the Democratic party as someone who could be unseated by a Republican who dared to portray her as a tax and spender, or she knows her Monroe area constituents will hang her with that come election day and is smart enough to vote accordingly.

Will anyone take the bait?

Here's another freebie!
Don't all you campaign workers whip out those cell phones all at once, but given the fact we have no less than FIVE mayoral candidates (okay maybe we really just have two), which one is going to be the first to challenge the rest to a debate?
I think I remember the last time out (or maybe the time before?) Iacoangeli tried to arrange a debate with Cappuccilli and Cappuccilli had a schedule conflict or stomach conflict or something, I'm not sure which.
But even if one can't be arranged, you score points calling for a debate right? That's got to be good for at least three votes. Given the margin in the last mayor election, that might be enough to decide the winner.

Another brilliant idea!

Sometimes I just amaze myself.
But I can't use this, so I'm throwing it up for grabs to any of the candidates for mayor who want to claim it.
SELL THE CITY ICE ARENA TO THE COUNTY FOR TAKEOVER PAYMENTS!
I know. It sounds crazy. But just think about it.
The county promises to buy the place for fair market value, but the only payments it has to make are the current subsidy the city has to fork over each year. After the debt is paid off, the county then can continue paying for the rest of value of the facility.
The county either converts it to a new jail or an INS dorm. (The layout is more like a dorm and it even has an overhead balcony on one side where guards can oversee the population.
The city unloads the thing, the county gets a cheap jail space without the huge initial outlay a project of such size would take, and everybody's happy.
Cheryl McIntyre pick this one up and run with it.
(Maybe it would be simpler if Cheryl just bought the place herself. I bet that would win her some votes.)

Time for a tax increase?

Are our elected officials that out of touch with their constituents?
The state legislature seems to be on a course that will end with a tax increase of some sort. Either an income tax or sales tax or maybe a combination of both.
Taxes aren't too popular in good times, why should we be happy about this in bad times?
Now there's a rumor flying that the city of Monroe might go for a tax hike to pay for street improvements. I hope it's just a rumor.
I don't get it. I won't harp on the city cost-cutting study again or point fingers at certain state legislators, but I wonder how people with the decision making powers run their own budgets.
At my house, if the income goes down, something gets cut quickly. We really don't have time to get second or third jobs.
But in government, we just keep spending figuring that the money will come from somewhere -- like taxpayers who already are having trouble making their own budgets balance.
Can't people figure that out.
For instance, if I have to choose between buying my kids clothes or having my streets cleaned, or even plowed, which choice do you think I'm going to make.
All this talk about shutting down state government or downsizing local government is really scary -- considering I hardly use any state or local services at all.
How come it seems most elected officials don't see it that way?

Riveting stuff

I get some perverse joy out of watching those ultimate fighting in a cage contests on TV.
But they have nothing on Council Follies, the new reality series that debuted on public access cable last night.
If this is a preview of the election season bodies, if not blood, will be dropping all over the place.
If you missed it, you have to watch the reruns.
Here are highlights:
1.) Ed Paisley gets pasted by a vigilante mob of city retirees for trying to ax one of their own from the pension board. Can you believe ex-police chief knavel came out for this one. I thought he was going to make a citizens arrest. If that didn't deep-six Ed's re-election chances, I shudder to think what it will take. The terrible thing is looks like he just stepped in this one. I don't really think he had evil motives.
2.) Sometime commenter here David Smith just about blows a gasket because he's still irked at Compora. Poor Mayor Al had to rein him in. Did anyone but me think just for a moment that Dave was getting ready to pull a gun? Dave, really, give it a rest!
3.) Compora expresses concern about people using the council meeting as a political forum as she invokes the benevolence of Iacoangeli in giving pensioners a seat on the pension board. Then she nails Mayor Al for taking a lame duck pension trip to New York. Hey, who's being political anyway?
4.) Bill Burkett, running for mayor, borrows an idea from Dave Smith and decides his platform will be to sell the ice arena. Geez, if he had pushed for that when he was re-elected, he would have saved the city close to a mil by my estimates. What, is Smith his campaign manager.
I could go on an on.
Who said democracy was the messiest form of government?

Democrat or Republican?

I've always wondered about politics in the city of monroe. You see people run for office and some get elected to office and you wonder, are these people Democrats or Republicans?

I get a sense that most have been Democrats, but that doesn't stop them from hating each other. So why doesn't the city just go for partisan elections. Why wouldn't someone running for office -- for mayor for example -- just come out and say "I know city elections are non-partisan, but I want all you people to know I'm a moderate Democrat or a conservative Republican? Wouldn't that be a little more honest with the voters?
I don't think that's going to happen, but here's a little game: Tell me what party affiliation you think those now on city council are. Let's see if we can come up with a prevailing opinion.

I'll start with one. I think Paisley is a moderate Republican.

Let's get really lame

We've got a lame duck city council and a budget problem in Monroe that's getting worse by the day.

But it looks like business-as-usual at city hall. That's good in some ways. It's bad in others.

It's good because nothing major is being done. There's been a big city study saying positions shouldn't be filled and others should be eliminated. As far as I can tell, nothing's been decided about that. The question is, will those on the hit list be hit before the current city council changes? Should they be? Or should the city council just ride this out and not do anything major that a new council might be forced to undo?

I would think that the city should make the no-brainer cuts and cost reductions that are pretty obvious and practically no one would argue about, but leave the major decisions to the next council.

In other words, council should get even lamer right about now. Talk about what it might do or should do or could do, but do nothing but easy cuts and maintenance until after the election. It's not only easy. It's safe for those who are running for re-election.

Does this really matter?

I was watching a debate the other night and began thinking whether it's worth applying one of the yardsticks used in national elections to the Monroe mayor's race.
That yardstick is called "family values."
If you run down the list of candidates, it's a series of broken marriages and excess baggage.
In fact, if you run through the whole list of council candidates, there are a bunch of dysfunctional issues.
Does it matter? Does it speak to moral character or personality issues that might make someone better or worse in local government?
On the national level, Rudy is running for president and he has a horrendous history of failed relationships. But he's a viable candidate apparently.
Does this kind of stuff matter locally or does it matter only when you're personnally opposed to a candidate?

Name that council

Okay, we know who the candidates are.
I you were king or queen for a day, what would your dream council be (chosen from among those running).
We already had someone responding to the post break the ice and make their selections.
Who do you choose and why?

Who's up next?

Okay, barring some last-minute filers, it looks like we have at least four candidates for mayor.
Cast your vote in this first Observer Straw Poll. Who's your favorite and why? Here's your chance to advertise for your candidate. Make it sound convincing, even if you think it's the lesser of five evils.
The candidates are:
Bill Burkett (councilman, former city employee, union backer, flip-flopper, kidney patient).
John Iacoangeli (ex-mayor, ex-city planner, current planning consultant, somewhat uncompromising dreamer and spender)
Pat McElligott (retired insurance man, realtor, blusterer, and grandstander)
Cheryl McIntyre (fundraiser, widow, divorcee, political newcomer).
Mark Worrell (ex-councilman, maverick, tightwad, straight arrow, ex-teacher)
Now if you don't like any of the above, who do you think should run for mayor?

Capper recap

Whoa, big stunner!
Who would have guessed that Mayor Al wouldn't run again?

Everyone.

An illness known as prostate cancer, a plague known as Compora and a prediagnosed condition known as Burkett sort of pre-empted that big decision.

It was a wise decision anyhoo. Let's send him and Dottie Edwards on a cruise as a consolation prize.

Okay, before we get into guessing exactly who might be the next mayor, let's do a little recap.

In his 12 years as mayor, what would you say Mayor Al's biggest accomplishment was?

Here are the rules: Be positive, and an answer like "maintained the status quo" will not count.

The most convincing and persuasive answer earns a chauffeur-driven ride to any part of the city. Yeah, you know who the chauffeur will be (So, okay, we'll throw in a six-pack to make it bearable).

In everyone's best interests, anyone with the first name of Lloyd and last name of Conner is not eligible to participate. If the winner is a mayor wannabe, he or she gets a six-pack and a cruise on a yacht (apparently a drunken sailor sometimes is fit to be mayor). This contest is void where prohibited.

So what's with this King Floraday?

There were some comments to the post below blaming Rick Floraday for the success or failure of the Hoedown downtown.
Maybe I missed it. Does he run the downtown development authority with an iron hand? Is the thing a monarchy?
I dunno. I'm just asking.
BTW, I don't think I ever said Floraday would not run. If someone can show me where I said that, I'll be more than happy to stand corrected and apologize for my erroneous prediction.
As loyal readers of the blog might know, my predictions usually are only about 86 percent correct, at best.