[Cory Steiner]

I'm in New Jersey. Enough said. Please, no comments.
If you will, make a brief statement on the competence, integrity and leadership abilities of your local, county and state elected officials.
Thank you.

Serious answers only, please. I'm not in a laughing mood lately.

[TallPine]

Have you ever seen "Hee Haw" ....? :D

[El Tejon]

"Leave it to Beaver" meets a very confused "The Soporanos.":D

[Jack T.]

State gov: Something to be desired. Dem gov/house/senate. . .although Oklahoma Democrats are somewhat different from Cali/NY Democrats.

Local gov: Since I am on the City Council, at least 20% of the local elected officials are as close to perfect as can be. . .the other 4 guys aren't quite there yet. :D

[Shooter973]

I live in the most Republican state in the Nation. Our State budget is always balanced (Has to be by State Law). But I still pay way to much in taxes and almost everything you can think of is regulated into the ground. My Governor was just tapped to be head of the EPA, which is a good thing. as I couldn't bring my self to vote for him again. He is a RINO (Republican in Name Only). My City government is just about the most incompetent, power hungry bunch of incompetent ???????s that draw breath. They have turned our down town into a empty war zone looking area by over regulating and micro managing every possible detail of private business. My mayor is a little twerp that is being jabbed in the butt by his father-in-law, as a stepping stone to higher office. But he is so hated by the people that he won't be re-elected and couldn't be dog catcher here. He is the finest example of the Peter Principle, rising to at least 1 step higher than his competence level. All in all a poor representation for the average voter. I just hope people will come to their senses soon. :cuss: :fire: :banghead: :banghead:

[telomerase]

Well, it's Dallas... last year the Dallas police dept. got caught planting "drugs" on over a hundred Mexicans (I forget the exact number, the Dallas papers have many articles on it), jailing some and deporting others. The "drugs" turned out to be drywall powder when a sample finally got to the County forensic lab.

Nobody was arrested for this atrocity. The Dallas police chief has demanded that he be given a forensics lab that reports only to him (!?)

Then there's the mayor and council, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a basketball arena, but don't have the money to fix the potholes on Lemmon Avenue, next to the UT Southwestern Medical Center. This caused me to buy four struts for my Geo this month.

So compared to some places I suppose the local government here is great. At least they're unpopular, which holds down the damage.

[Jim March]

I'm in California. It ain't pretty.

Our governor:

http://www.scarybear.org/desktops2/thumb2.gif

(Also known as "Clucky the psychotic chicken")

And it goes downhill from there. WAY downhill. Down past Florida, and the elevator appears to be dropping straight to hell.

:cuss:

[Jim March]

Our senior Senator:

http://nofx.freeservers.com/images/convent1.jpg

[Jim March]

Here we find a typical Berkeley city council meeting:

http://www.funzionegamma.edu/magazine/sestonumero/gif/cover.jpg

:scrutiny:

[Kharn]

Our local government is really, really full of Good Ol' Boys.

For example, Mr. M, a former county commissioner and farmer (probably 4 houses for his entire extended family on a ~100 acre tobacco farm, dirt roads all over the farm), lives on the road my development jets off from. Last summer, the state crews started repaving the 5-6 mile long main road as it sorta needed it. During the middle of the 2 month-long job, all the trucks and equipment disappear for a week. My carpool commented on it a lot, because they left a nasty 2" drop at one point in the road between the new asphalt and the old asphalt. Well, suddenly we realize something had changed off the main road: Mr. M's entire farm road system was now black top (along with two driveways in our development that had previously been gravel, which belonged to people who were Mr. M's friends), a good mile or two of farm roads that would have cost an arm and a leg to pave. A week later, the state crew was out paving the main road again as if nothing had happened.

The same guy's grandson was known for showing up to school a little late with dried blood on his hands and he'd be talking about having some dealings with someone named 'Bambi' and to 'dont tell too many people, its not the right season' on more than one occasion. :uhoh:

Sometimes, its best not to ask questions in back-water Maryland.

Kharn

[El Tejon]

Ummm, Vic, did not Nighthorse of Red vote for the AWB in '94 and vote to reinstate it???:confused:

[JohnBT]

The local list is too long, so let's start off with a snippet from Style Weekly:

"Still, City Council is malfunctioning as rarely before.

In a span of about four weeks, the city’s governing body was beset by two federal indictments — El-Amin stepped down after pleading guilty to tax fraud, and Hedgepeth was arrested July 24 on federal bribery charges. Councilman Joseph E. Brooks died unexpectedly June 26, leaving two seats to fill immediately and perhaps a third, pending charges against Hedgepeth.

“If it does anything,” Wilder muses about the recent troubles besetting City Hall, “it just highlights a problem that is somewhat chronic. … So much has happened that people have become — I won’t say oblivious — they have tolerated so much. They say ‘That’s just Richmond.’ The latest shenanigans is a furtherance of the problems. It’s defying toleration.”

As for those who say that having an at-large mayor will not solve all the city’s problems, Wilder fulminates: “I hear some people saying that this will not be a panacea. Well, I certainly have never said it would be a panacea. Only a fool would make a statement like that. But it is the first step in terms of accountability … that people have a greater say about their governance.”

Nonetheless, two previous tries along these lines have failed.

In 1995, for example, despite a similar referendum with Richmonders voting almost 2-to-1 for an at-large mayorship, the General Assembly knocked down the proposal to create one. The city’s representatives to the legislature said the language of the referendum had been unclear, that the city’s voters hadn’t really known what they were voting for.

Among the loudest of the critics of the 1995 attempt: Doug Wilder.

Wilder says now that he was uncomfortable with the main backers of the 1995 effort — then-Mayor Leonidas Young and Young’s aide, Joel Harris. If so, Wilder was soon proven correct.

Young and Harris were indicted on obstruction and drug charges, and both wound up in federal prison."
______

"Councilman Chuck Richardson was a talented representative but, sadly, a heroin user who spent more than a year in jail in 1996-97 for refusing to identify ... " Times-Dispatch
(Caught him shooting up in a car in front of dealer's house. Otherwise, a hard worker and well liked. Decorated Nam vet and a council member for 18 years IIRC. JT)
______

RAY MCALLISTER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jul 29, 2003

Our cast of characters in Richmond have long had their problems.

Some not as serious:

Councilman William Golding was removed from office in 1978, not realizing that felonies he committed as a teenager had disqualified him. (Later, his rights were restored, and he was re-elected.)

And Mayor Roy West shot himself in the finger in 1987, apparently while cleaning a pistol.

But it's beginning to look as if Richmond's city officials can compete on the national level.

In fact, our rogues gallery may be approaching world-class status.

Last week, Councilwoman Gwen C. Hedgepeth was charged with accepting a $2,000 bribe and lying to federal authorities about a $500 bribe.

The world-class part?

Not the money involved. But the allegation is that she took the $2,000 bribe to support a candidate for another seat on council - a seat that opened up when that councilman (Sa'ad El-Amin) resigned and pleaded guilty to a tax-fraud charge.

If any of it proves true, you can call it scandal squared:

Does anyone else pile scandal on top of scandal?

A look at American scandals in politics, entertainment and sports - and how Richmond stacks up:

POLITICAL SCANDALS: Richmond's are not as notorious as New York's or Chicago's or the Big Three of American scandals: Watergate, Teapot Dome or the Grant-administration scandals.

But consider our persistence.

El-Amin's conviction and Hedgepeth's indictment are not the first.

Leonidas Young was convicted on two fronts in 1999 - of influence peddling as mayor in the mid-1990s and of fraud as pastor of Fourth Baptist Church.

He was sentenced to two years.

Embarrassingly, Councilman Larry Chavis was elected mayor by fellow council members in 1996, two days before news hit that his trucking company owed a quarter of a million dollars in taxes.

That doesn't include a prosecutor (David Hicks) and a sheriff (Michelle Mitchell) who had to repay the city for tens of thousands of dollars they had given themselves in bonuses and vacation pay, respectively.

Oh, and Mitchell was under federal investigation in connection with her use of jail-store profits.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: The nation's ultrapopular TV quiz shows were hit by scandal in the 1950s.

For entertainment here, how about the circus around a criminal charge that former Councilwoman Reva Trammell illegally directed a police officer not to report her argument with a married officer who slapped her.

The charges were eventually dismissed, but it was a show.
(This went on for weeks. There was even a sideshow when she sued a DJ for calling her Reva Tramp-ell. Well, for instance, an ON-duty policeman met her in the middle of the night at the War Memorial downtown when he was supposed to be on the other side of town. JT)

And, remember, Councilwoman L. Shirley Harvey failed to pay five years' worth of utilities bills, rented out property the city had condemned, and criticized her detractors as Satan.
(One time she organized a 6 AM prayer service on City Hall's observation deck to greet the sunrise and to banish evil spirits from the City. JT)

SPORTS SCANDALS: The nation has seen point-shaving scandals in basketball, thrown fights in boxing and the 1919 Black Sox baseball scandal.

We have boxing, too.

Former Commonwealth's Attorney Joe Morrissey - jailed and stripped of his law license during his career - also engaged in fisticuffs.

His most famous moment may have been a courthouse hallway brawl with a defense lawyer. He even became "Fightin' Joe Morrissey" when he later went into private practice.

And how about boating?

Defeated Councilman Raymond D. Royall, facing loan and tax charges related to his auto dealership, faked his own death in a 1978 boating accident off Virginia Beach.

We have always had our ingenuity in Richmond.


Ray's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Call him at (804) 649-6333; fax (804) 775-8059; or e-mail rmcallister@timesdispatch.com
________

I could find some more, but the thunderstorm has passed and I'm going to the range.

John

[Monkeyleg]

Last year the county executive and most of the county board were voted out in a recall election. They had set up a pension system that made themselves millionaires, all courtesy of taxpayers.

The former Democrat senate majority leader is facing twenty felony counts, including extortion (force lobbyists to pay to get bills voted on). He's also facing federal money-laundering charges. The former Republican assembly majority leader and one of his cronies are facing charges of using state employees to campaign on taxpayer time.

The current governor received about $750,000 from Indian tribes in the state during his campaign. One of his first acts as governor was to approve a new Indian gaming compact with the tribes that sets their payment to the state at a paltry 6% for infinity. There's an investigation going on as to whether this was a quid pro quo.

A state senator who had vowed to vote to cancel the governor's gaming compact changed his mind at the very last minute, and voted to approve the governor's deal. In exchange, the governor said ok to video poker in taverns. This senator is the head of the WI Tavern League, which has wanted video poker for a decade.

Welcome to Wisconsin, the home of clean government. :(

[4570Rick]

Jim March is to kind. I am convinced that the United States of America is suffering from a blockage of personal freedoms, much like a body suffers from constipation. A High Colonic is in order. The irrigation tube should be inserted in the area of Sacramento.:mad: :fire:

[matis]

Paint Picture of Your Local/State Government
___________________________________________


I can't do it 'cause I'm all out of tar (and feathers, too). :D




matis

[HBK]

I'm in Washington. I might be wrong, but I'm of the opinion that the governor, Locke, has run the state into the ground. When I moved here, he was governor, so maybe he inherited this mess. We are under a "budget shortfall" right now. There is a law that says that the state budget has to be balanced. I think he ignored it. The senators, god help us, are Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. THey are both pro choice/anti life and anti gun. When I send them letters, they respond with the usual anti gun crap. My rep, Baird, seems to be a fair man, although he is still pro choice, anti gun. He did vote to arm pilots, though. I don't know much about the state government, except that it is run by mostly republicans who want the budget balanced and no new taxes. The minority of Democrats want to start a state income tax. This place is a lefty hellhole compared to SC, but the rural areas are chock full of red blooded Americans that I would want on my side in a gunfight. The cities are a different story.

[Gray Peterson]

City Government: Again, I'm in Hillsboro, not Portland, but Portland seems to be the dominate player in the metro area game. Portland is VERY socialistic in tendencies. There's a lot of effort being made to condemn PGE (Portland General Electric) and make it a public utility district in the area. PGE has vowed to fight any efforts at condemnation through the courts, so it would take YEARS to do it, yet Portland presses on.

Portland also tends to believe itself an autonomous entity from the state of Oregon. Many times the Oregon Legislature had to tell Portland "No, you cannot do this". There's already a bill in the Legislature to preempt Portland or any other city from condemning perfectly running power utilities like PGE (PGE's financial situation is quite good, it's Enron that's having issues right now).

Portland also tried to ban assault weapons, but were preempted by the Legislature by a firearms preemption law in 1995.

Portland is also very anti-gun. Repeatedly they have thumbed their nose at CHL holders, banning self defense handguns possessed by CHL holders at the New Years Eve party, finally relenting after Oregon Firearms Federation filed an appeal with the Oregon Supreme Court. In most cases, Portland almost always loses at the OSC. Portland once banned the possession of certain kinds of knives. They won at the first two levels of courts, who plainly ignored the state legislature's intent to preempt the field of regulation on knives, but they lost at the Oregon Supreme Court.

That being said, Oregon isn't too bad. There isn't much in the way of "corruption" at the state level. However, there has not been a Republican governor in Oregon in 20 years. Victor Atiyeh was the last one.

[Sgt]

Paint Picture of Your Local/State Government

I have no artistic ability, so I won't even try.

But if I could paint, I'd only need to use the color "Brown" Nuff said?

Semper Fi, Sgt

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

http://www.eclh.nl/janus/images/janus.jpg

- pdmoderator

[Cory Steiner]

I didn't realize how bad it was until recently. We have 630 school districts. 60% of our property taxes go to the Department of Education. 50% of all of that money goes to 30 (out of 630) "needy" school districts. 2/3 of the remainder (in our town) that's put aside for municipal functions goes to our rediculously corrupt county government to feed the Axis of Evil.
Every community in New Jersey is required to have their "fair share" of "low-income" housing. The lawyer who represents Fair Share Housing is also the developer who makes millions from low-income housing projects that no one wants. Those who qualify are "dropped" into our communities with no resources to effectively integrate into the community to include means of getting to the food stores, recreation for the kids, ect. To summarize: Nightmare, but the "feel good police" continues to use them to get rich.
Builders and other very competent businesses have or are fleeing the area. It's near impossible to do business around here unless you "pay to play". That is you must use the labor that our dictators authorize or anyone bidding in the competitive markets of free economy will be harrassed not only by the unions, but also by the governing bodies that issue permits, ect. And it's the citizens who ultimately pay, many of which are leaving the area because they just can't afford the property taxes anymore.
That's all. Thanks for the forum to vent. I'm running for office and I don't care if my opponents learn that I've posted on a gun forum. I own guns, I like guns and you're all so lucky that me and millions of other Americans like me are on your side. Keep your heads in the sand. It's safe there because of us.
"Ever had a pissed off Marine on your tail?" - Tommy Lee Jones

[HBK]

Good luck, Cory.

[TheEgg]

The state Democratic Representatives ran to Oklahoma earlier in the year to prevent re-districting. The state Democratic Senators are now in New Mexico for the same reason.

We are paying thousands of dollars to have a special session in Austin but the Democrats keep running out of state to make sure nothing happens. Despite protestations to the contrary, these cowardly men and women are still getting their state paycheck, their staff is getting paid, Bill Richardson, Democratic Gov. of NM is paying for their security details with the taxes of the people of NM.

The spineless Republicans are letting this happen.

I can't decide who is the most contemptible, the Democrats for hiding out of state or the Republicans for not lowering the boom on them.

By the way, for those not in Texas, if they stayed in Texas, they could be arrested and brought back to Austin. By running to another state, they are out of the jurisdiction.:barf: