Well, let's get the easy part over with.....
The 50,000, 80,000, 40,000, 128,000, 120,000,000(I know as much about this as I did before the meeting. the 120,000,000 must be something that my pea-brain cannot fathom so I am not attempting in this recap to make heads or tails of this, it's an awfully large number of what will obviously be debt)...anyways...all of these items were rubber stamped without debate. I would love to see a rethinking of how we look at government grants and what results we actually get for this kind of money but that's another debate for another time and unless more citizens engage with their government, this kind of rubber-stamping will not stop but I will continue to point it out....
Now, on to the good stuff....
Remember that old Commissioner Mike Ritz from the last commission? The one who ran on a platform as a conservative Republican only to be elected and never speak or act conservative again...much less Republican? You Republicans out there know what I'm talking about. I'm not one to jump on the party bandwagon anymore, at least, because the real problems in our country are not about parties...they are about principles, or the lack thereof and neither party owns the patent for taking the higher ground to stand on principles. Quick lesson for those of you still falling for the party paradigm in this country. It's political theater and both parties will always choose party power over party principles. Having said that, I do believe in the principles the Republican Party use to stand for...
Back to Mike Ritz...watching Mike Ritz govern was similar to watching toddlers play. He didn't fight fair, could dish it out but could not take it, would get you back if you crossed him, and would hold a grudge for a long, long time, would gloat when he won and would pout when he lost. If his constituents were for something, he would be against and vice versa...you get the picture. So when his term finally ended, several of us all breathed a collective sigh...and then something happened that we kind of didn't see coming.
Mike Ritz has returned to the commission and is inhabiting the life form that is Commissioner Steve Basar. I knew something was up at the last meeting when Basar got a collective smackdown by the full commission when he thought he was going to get democrat support and along with Commissioner Chism, would have given him the Chairmanship...but alas...it was not to be and Basar found out that he was nobody's child. Like the Traveling Wilbury's song above he got hurt...what my daughter would call butt-hurt and he hasn't been the same since.
Nevermind that Basar refused to support Roland for chairman at the last meeting who has been on the commission a lot longer than Steve, and nevermind that Basar cheated Heidi Shafer out of Vice Chairman in the last term, only to claim that title for himself, nevermind that Basar is all about himself...he wanted to be the chairman and got butt-hurt when he didn't get it. By the way, he got 2 votes for the chairman...himself and new Commissioner Chism. Not a ringing endorsement...
Chairman Ford had appointed all the different committee chairs, and I must say, it seemed pretty fair. They were split evenly between the Democrats and Republicans. Commissioner Bailey was not at the last committee meeting when this was discussed and oh how easily the vote seemed to go. Bailey was there today though and when it came time to approve the appointments, Bailey called for it to be referred back to committee. If butt-hurt Steve Basar hadn't voted along with those on the commission playing politics, it would not have been referred back to committee where butt-hurt Steve Basar will maneuver to get the budget chair for himself, just like he tried to do with the chairmanship. Maybe he will have some better reasons for being appointed than the last time when I asked him why he wouldn't support Roland for chairman and he replied "I would be better"...I guess he would be better just because??? If butt-hurt Steve Basar has any higher political aspirations, he might want to learn the art of persuasion...just because ain't gonna cut it.
When Bailey was asked why he wanted to refer it back to committee, he said "Cause I have some politcy concerns"...yeah right. That was deep Commissioner Bailey and we all know your policy concerns are nothing but political games. Commissioner Shafer has done an excellent job as Budget Committee chairman and has been praised by democrats and republicans, and all walks of life. Commissioner Ford had the confidence to re-appoint her. Perhaps the democrat party will censure him the way they did the last chairman James Harvey for appointing...gasp...a republican to the budget chair.
After the very deep and profound comments from Bailey about having "some policy concerns", Commissioner Mark Billingsly very eloquently stated some simple facts that went a little deeper than..."I have some policy concerns." He said "This body started off on the right foot. The chairman has reached out to everyone...republicans, democrats and each one had input on the different committees and the appointments were fair" He went on to note that we needed to move forward and approve these appointments today so that we could continue moving forward and doing the people's work. I believe Billingsly was alluding to the fact that this was nothing more than political gamesmanship and not very productive. Imagine a political body not gaming the system...I wish it were that easy.
The return of Mike Ritz 2.0 doesn't bode well for those of us who just want our leaders to lead and do what's best for the people. Some politicians are only in the game for themselves and are very good at holding grudges...I hope Steve Basar can move on from the past and simply do what the people who voted for him sent him there to do and I think if you asked most of them whether or not they would have wanted him to vote for these appointments? They would all say yes....if Justin Ford, a democrat can have confidence in Heidi Shafer...why can't you republican Steve Basar?
If you want to call Steve Basar and tell him what a good job he is doing, by all means call 222-1000 and ask for him. On the other hand if you want to call or email him to ask him why he was the only republican to vote to send these appointments back to committee you can do that too ...steve.basar@shelbycountytn.gov
I believe there was a total of 2 citizens at this meeting including me, the rest were mostly affiliated with some government department or a recipient of the crack money grant funds the government hands out like candy...hopefully next time there will be more...
The 50,000, 80,000, 40,000, 128,000, 120,000,000(I know as much about this as I did before the meeting. the 120,000,000 must be something that my pea-brain cannot fathom so I am not attempting in this recap to make heads or tails of this, it's an awfully large number of what will obviously be debt)...anyways...all of these items were rubber stamped without debate. I would love to see a rethinking of how we look at government grants and what results we actually get for this kind of money but that's another debate for another time and unless more citizens engage with their government, this kind of rubber-stamping will not stop but I will continue to point it out....
Now, on to the good stuff....
Remember that old Commissioner Mike Ritz from the last commission? The one who ran on a platform as a conservative Republican only to be elected and never speak or act conservative again...much less Republican? You Republicans out there know what I'm talking about. I'm not one to jump on the party bandwagon anymore, at least, because the real problems in our country are not about parties...they are about principles, or the lack thereof and neither party owns the patent for taking the higher ground to stand on principles. Quick lesson for those of you still falling for the party paradigm in this country. It's political theater and both parties will always choose party power over party principles. Having said that, I do believe in the principles the Republican Party use to stand for...
Back to Mike Ritz...watching Mike Ritz govern was similar to watching toddlers play. He didn't fight fair, could dish it out but could not take it, would get you back if you crossed him, and would hold a grudge for a long, long time, would gloat when he won and would pout when he lost. If his constituents were for something, he would be against and vice versa...you get the picture. So when his term finally ended, several of us all breathed a collective sigh...and then something happened that we kind of didn't see coming.
Mike Ritz has returned to the commission and is inhabiting the life form that is Commissioner Steve Basar. I knew something was up at the last meeting when Basar got a collective smackdown by the full commission when he thought he was going to get democrat support and along with Commissioner Chism, would have given him the Chairmanship...but alas...it was not to be and Basar found out that he was nobody's child. Like the Traveling Wilbury's song above he got hurt...what my daughter would call butt-hurt and he hasn't been the same since.
Nevermind that Basar refused to support Roland for chairman at the last meeting who has been on the commission a lot longer than Steve, and nevermind that Basar cheated Heidi Shafer out of Vice Chairman in the last term, only to claim that title for himself, nevermind that Basar is all about himself...he wanted to be the chairman and got butt-hurt when he didn't get it. By the way, he got 2 votes for the chairman...himself and new Commissioner Chism. Not a ringing endorsement...
Chairman Ford had appointed all the different committee chairs, and I must say, it seemed pretty fair. They were split evenly between the Democrats and Republicans. Commissioner Bailey was not at the last committee meeting when this was discussed and oh how easily the vote seemed to go. Bailey was there today though and when it came time to approve the appointments, Bailey called for it to be referred back to committee. If butt-hurt Steve Basar hadn't voted along with those on the commission playing politics, it would not have been referred back to committee where butt-hurt Steve Basar will maneuver to get the budget chair for himself, just like he tried to do with the chairmanship. Maybe he will have some better reasons for being appointed than the last time when I asked him why he wouldn't support Roland for chairman and he replied "I would be better"...I guess he would be better just because??? If butt-hurt Steve Basar has any higher political aspirations, he might want to learn the art of persuasion...just because ain't gonna cut it.
When Bailey was asked why he wanted to refer it back to committee, he said "Cause I have some politcy concerns"...yeah right. That was deep Commissioner Bailey and we all know your policy concerns are nothing but political games. Commissioner Shafer has done an excellent job as Budget Committee chairman and has been praised by democrats and republicans, and all walks of life. Commissioner Ford had the confidence to re-appoint her. Perhaps the democrat party will censure him the way they did the last chairman James Harvey for appointing...gasp...a republican to the budget chair.
After the very deep and profound comments from Bailey about having "some policy concerns", Commissioner Mark Billingsly very eloquently stated some simple facts that went a little deeper than..."I have some policy concerns." He said "This body started off on the right foot. The chairman has reached out to everyone...republicans, democrats and each one had input on the different committees and the appointments were fair" He went on to note that we needed to move forward and approve these appointments today so that we could continue moving forward and doing the people's work. I believe Billingsly was alluding to the fact that this was nothing more than political gamesmanship and not very productive. Imagine a political body not gaming the system...I wish it were that easy.
The return of Mike Ritz 2.0 doesn't bode well for those of us who just want our leaders to lead and do what's best for the people. Some politicians are only in the game for themselves and are very good at holding grudges...I hope Steve Basar can move on from the past and simply do what the people who voted for him sent him there to do and I think if you asked most of them whether or not they would have wanted him to vote for these appointments? They would all say yes....if Justin Ford, a democrat can have confidence in Heidi Shafer...why can't you republican Steve Basar?
If you want to call Steve Basar and tell him what a good job he is doing, by all means call 222-1000 and ask for him. On the other hand if you want to call or email him to ask him why he was the only republican to vote to send these appointments back to committee you can do that too ...steve.basar@shelbycountytn.gov
I believe there was a total of 2 citizens at this meeting including me, the rest were mostly affiliated with some government department or a recipient of the crack money grant funds the government hands out like candy...hopefully next time there will be more...
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