How to Hoodwink Honkies° I meant to write this piece about two days ago, today at the latest, but before Tuesday, for sure, so that when everyone at the city council/ the mayors office here in ABQ come back to work, they would not fail to see it [dont I think highly of me?! : -) ]. But Ive been working on my car, and things arent going so well (but I expect to get that straightened out, eventually), and I have been sleeping erratically, and in general, Ive been feeling kinda non-committal, which state of being (STATE OF MALAISE!) is reflected in the fact that I post lots more tweets than Facebook articles when under its influence. Why now? Well, a flock of millennials°°, angry that their Pot Proposition is not gonna make the fall ballot cutoff*(1), have signed a petition to try and recall the mayor, but that is sillier than silly, as it will go nowhere, and even as a protest event, it is ludicrous, for there is simply no popular backing whatsoever for recalling a mayor who just won a landslide of an election victory last November (the many deadly-force APD shootings may have tarnished the mayors image somewhat, but not enough for a recall... unless... to be elucidated in due course)! *(1) The Pot Prop will not make the fall ballot cutoff, given that the mayor vetoed the composite bill containing the pot-possession fine-reduction initiative, meaning that it will not be put on the fall election ballot unless the city council overrides the mayors veto, which is not likely, given that the mayor is more popular than the entire city council, combined — and then some! ! ABQ City Council President Ken Sanchez has indicated that he will seek to present the mayor with a smaller composite bill, where the two items that didnt meet with the mayors approval*(2) will be left out (krqe/2014/08/29/mayor-seriously-considering-vetoing-pot-proposal/). I personally smell a rat, but then Im endowed with a suspicious mind that sneezes at the least trace of pollen! *(2) The proposed initiatives that have caused red flags to fly with the mayor are: i) A pot-possession (in small, or private-use quantities) fine-reduction initiative, and ii) A tax hike, the proceeds of which would, among other things [right there is Snag No. 1 with that tax proposal, for anyone but a diehard liberal would recognize the woolly tax hike as being yet another sneaky way that Dems can hoodwink the taxpayer into helping them (the Dems) to buy votes... all those programs ostensibly aimed at helping folk would MOSTLY help Dem-friendly voters to help themselves to sinecure-style, public-sector, moss-assed jobs!], allocate funds to help provide housing for the home(i.e., house-/apartment-)less, a large portion of which, alas, would ALSO go toward yet more moss-assed sinceures! ! What has caused my suspicious mind to sneeze is that I see – in the unfolding drama (melodrama?) between the mayor and the city council – a possible (probable?) slick game designed to kill AT LEAST FOUR of those composite-bill initiatives: 1) The pot-possession fine-reduction initiative, 2) The tax hike (only half of whose funds are earmarked the homeless/ the mentally ill!), 3) An initiative that empowers the city council to approve/disapprove — and later fire, where found wanting — the mayors choice of a police chief (the current chief would NOT have been hired, Im sure, had that bill been in place when Mayor Berry appointed the new police chief!), 4) An initiative that would have altered (raised? lowered?) the number of signatures required to get a petition on the election ballot (Id personally prefer that the signatures roughly reflect the spread of the demographics)... and it would maybe have prevented a special election (they aint cheap!) just to deal with late/ outside of the election cycle referendum petitions, and finally, 5) A funding initiative (think: the issuance of a bond) for new city projects... like the transportation schemes being planned in connection with a revitalization of the city, and other urban renewal projects. The plot, as I see it unfolding, is that the city council will not be able to come to an agreement on the three initiatives that the mayor is ready to sign, because a large minority of sticklers (enough of a minority to prevent the bill from going forward) will refuse to let the mayor have his way, therefore not a single one of those initiatives, save maybe the funding initiative, will be presented – and this at the last minute – for the mayors signature. How very handy: the mayor can blame the city council, the city council can blame the mayor, and City Hall (the mayor and the city council) will laugh all the way to the ballot box this fall, at the voters expense! THE most important initiative to the people of ABQ is of course the 3rd initiative above, or the initiative that would give the city council veto rights over the hiring and firing of APDs police chief; WE ABQ RESIDENTS WANT THAT INITIATIVE MADE INTO LAW! So well just have to see how this charade plays itself out; me, I smell a rat, but I hope that I am proven wrong. If initiative 3 above is not presented to the mayor for his signature, and in a form acceptable to the mayor (not cluttered up with Kill-Bill extra initiatives, or riders), then this citys politics will be judged as wanting — as DISfunctional! — as that of Washington DC, and there will be one helluva rocky road ahead, as citizen resistance to City Hall will likely result in renewed, and reenergized, confrontation, given the betrayal also by the city council! ! ! Epilogue: I actually support the mayor in the question of the tax hike. For one thing, only half of the tax hike revenues will be used for the homeless and the mentally ill, the other half will be used by Dems to provide moss-assed sinecures to Dem-friendly voters, and that really, really sucks, especially in a sluggish economy where wages arent rising, nor is private-sector employment (a tax hike would only hurt the retail sector, which is hurting enough already!). I DONT support the mayors position on the matter of a fine reduction for the possession of a moderate amount of pot, for the federal government has already clearly stated that it accepts the democracy-dialectic (or democracy laboratory, as Bill Clinton (yes, that one!) put it recently) that exists between federal and state governments, so for the mayor to balk about that initiative is tantamount, in my humble opinion, to standing on ceremony, given that the federal government has unequivocally stated that it will not stand in the way of state-level, grass-roots democracy (Hi Gay Rights Movement!). As to the pot initiative, I herewith suggest to the proponents of that initiative that they bide their time, and if the experiment in process in neighboring Colorado pans out, then New Mexico should attempt to follow suit: legalize pot across the board. Maybe not next year, but at the latest, in 2016, for sure (this is DEFINITELY something that belongs in a referendum, NOT something to be passed by WIMPY-ASSED, PUSHY-ASSED DEM STATE LEGISLATORS!). . . ° Honkies (defined: dictionary.reference/browse/honkie) °° Millennials (defined https://google/search?q=millennials&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb) ) ) )
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 07:19:39 +0000
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