-By Warner Todd Huston
Lisa Jones of the web news site The Examiner has a great piece that exemplifies what I have been saying for a long time: unions are antithetical to good government.
Jones details a story of the incestuous relationship between anti-democratic union thugs and the city government in Denver, Colorado. Her sad tale of inside dealing and graft concerns the story of a law firm that promulgates the interests of Big Labor and members of Denver government that tends to make a mockery of the people’s interests by using subterfuge and lies to further the goals of Big Labor over that of the people.
One part of her story is quite egregious. It reveals a Councilman that got away with violating the law while running for the city council because of his support from insiders connected with the law firm Isaacson Rosenbaum. Apparently while running for a council seat in the 3rd District, Paul Lopez was in violation of residency requirements.
The law states that a candidate must reside in the District in which he is running for office, but Lopez lived in District 2, not District 3. This is a clear violation and should have made him ineligible to run for a seat in District 3.
So, how did his pals fix it for him? They had the law firm point out that “residency” was not really defined in the municipal code. Not defined? How about ENGLISH! Residency, as EVERYONE knows means LIVE THERE! Lopez did not LIVE THERE! It is pretty clear. How much more “defined” does the word need to be?
Anyway, go and read Jones’ expose as there is more to it than just this one tale of graft and corruption.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, Human Events Magazine, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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