What two little birdies told me today

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The first little birdy told me that apparently councilor Litz thinks I filed an ethics opinion against him because a certain politician urged me to. Let me make something very clear to Mr. Litz, NO politician or campaign staffer tells me what to do, just ask Martha Vanderlinde’s campaign manager, when I read her the riot act on that very topic. My cartoons would be very ineffective if I was getting writing and editing advice by the very people I was supposed to be making fun of. I took action for the citizens and it was the right thing to do, something Mr. Litz knows very little about.

This same birdy also told me that I wasn’t the only one who filed the opinion, another citizen did to, but they asked to be confidential – wonder who urged them – their conscience perhaps?

Shortly after the first birdy spoke with me, another one came to my window on this fine fall day and told me there is a rumor floating around that Mayor Munson is mentoring Councilor Brown, which made me laugh so hard that I think I blew birdy number 2 off of my window sill.

See, it’s no secret that Vernon is considering running for mayor in 2010 even though when he was running against Stehly he denied that, because his councilor term is not up until 2012. I think if I was running for mayor the last person I would want as my mentor was a big government spender that almost didn’t run for a second term because of a possible ordinance and campaign finance violation. I say go for it Vernon, but I would pick a different mentor, may I suggest Kermit Staggers?

Don’t muddy the waters

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I ASKED FOR AN OPINION! I DID NOT FILE A COMPLAINT.

“It’s a little disheartening. I ran for public office to try and help Sioux Falls and move Sioux Falls forward and do a good thing and this kind of shines a dim light on the work we’re up to.  And it’s a little set back, it’s a little annoying when you see the headlines that are out there because a lot of people don’t read past the headlines but I’m not shakened by this. I’m still confident I’m doing the right thing and that Sioux Falls has a great group of people on the city council and the future is very bright.” – Jamison

It seems some councilors think they are guilty of something, not the case at all, I wanted a clear opinion – that’s it. If Greg wants to blame someone blame himself. I gave him and Bob an opportunity to resolve this internally, instead they pleaded to the media they weren’t guilty of anything.

I did not go to the proceedings today, because I stated my case clearly on the opinion form. This is about the law, and defining it, plain and simple.

Call me crazy, but I expect integrity out of our elected officials. That’s it. I don’t want to have cookies with you, I don’t want to hang out with you, I just want you to do the right thing.

Why vilify citizens that want to participate in local government?

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From KELO TV;

Bob Litz says, “What this is, what you’re seeing there with a conflict of interest actually is a tactic by a group of people that don’t want me to vote on this thing and they think if they can keep me from voting on it that they’ll get their way so it’s a tactic. Let’s just say that.”

Greg Jamison says, “I think some of the people that might be intrigued about de-railing this whole process understand most likely that it is going to pass and that they are looking for another way to derail this.”

I can understand why councilors Jamison and Litz would be personally upset that a citizen is questioning their intentions as they govern. What I can’t understand is why they would vilify citizens that want to participate in the democratic process just because they disagree with them? Would they prefer citizens just showed up to vote for them on election day and then remain apathetic until the next election day? That’s the impression you get after reading their statements.

I wasn’t trying to get anyone in trouble by asking the ethics committee to issue an opinion on conflict of interest. I was simply asking them to render one before the September 15th vote on raising development platting fees so there is a precedent and not a complaint down the road (no pun intended).

Make no mistake about it, developers have been pulling the puppet strings of city hall for quite some time and the public is finally coming to the realization that developers want your tax money to invest in their projects. This isn’t always a bad thing if the public benefits to. Growth in Sioux Falls is wonderful, but can’t developers find a way to continue doing business without constantly pandering to the city every time they want a new road built?

When I first filed the opinion request and saw my name plastered all over the media, my first reaction was that there would be a backlash. Quite the opposite. I haven’t heard one single negative comment about what I did, most people reacted by saying “It’s about time.” And these are people from all walks of life. Remember, Litz has been down this road a couple of times, and is becoming increasingly untrustworthy. He recently changed his vote on a road closure after he had already promised citizens in his district he would vote in their favor. He also got caught serving on a housing board while also sitting on the city council, in essence voting on policy twice. He seems to have trouble taking responsibility for his actions, and wants to blame citizens for his misjudgment.

That’s why it surprised me that Litz, Jamison and even councilor Brown were blaming the citizens for my recent opinion request. This confuses me. I never asked if they had a conflict of interest when it came to the retail tax increase, just the platting fees, which are widely supported by most of the councilors and most likely will pass even without their votes.

My suggestion to Litz, Jamison and Brown is to back off the citizens and not assume we are trying to derail anything, we are just asking that you be honorable and uphold the law and stop whining to the media about citizens asking you to do your job. Listen to your constituents, instead of the special interests that funded your campaigns.