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More on House Speaker Andy Dillion Recall (Michigan)

April 16, 2008 by 9 Comments

Warner Todd Huston

This fight is getting fierce, as I reported last month. Like all Democrats who claim to be interested in democracy, politicians like Dillon reveal that they are far more interested in keeping their political power than they are in serving the people. Dillon is the Speaker of the House of the State legislature who is using union thugs to stop citizens from signing a recall petition aimed at relieving him of his office over his support of wasteful spending and a massive tax increase.

It’s gotten so bad with the fear of the entrenched Democrat power structure, even the Michigan Assoc. of Police Organizations has jumped in to fight the citizen’s right to free political expression with an automated phone call that tells citizens that an “extremist” group is out to topple Dillon.

This is a perfect example of entrenched politicians abusing their power to stay in office and doing their level best to destroy the legal, legitimate efforts of community groups so that they, the politicians, can remain in power.

We like to imagine that we are in a democracy, but examples like this are perfect reasons to at times doubt that assumption. This is the most cynical effort of thwarting the citizen’s wishes that has been seen in quite a while and a spotlight needs to be shed on it for all to see.

If you want all the nuts and bolts of the legality of the fight, Ballotpedia.org has some fantastic info on this effort.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Swimming Pools Marked as ‘Necessity’ in Cash-Strapped Toledo

April 14, 2008 by

Warner Todd Huston

Maggie Thurber over at Thurber’s Thoughts has a story that reveals the nanny state foolishness we are so woefully stuck with these days.

Apparently, the City of Toledo, Ohio is sinking over half a million dollars into keep their city swimming pools afloat all the while the city is whining that they are out of cash and need to raise taxes. Naturally, the excuse is that the city is somehow obligated to provide entertainment for its citizens. You’d be excused if you thought that a little idiotic.

The Toledo Blade reports that director of Toledo’s department of neighborhoods Kattie Bond told the paper that, “It is important to provide recreational opportunities for citizens. We live in a city where we do get hot weather, so it’s important we provide a place for kids to at least get wet and cool off.”

Thurber notes that the city’s pools served only about 5,000 people during last year at a cost of $120 per person!

Using this assumption, the pools had about 5,000 unique visitors. The 2006 Census data shows that there are 74,896 children (under 18 years of age) in Toledo. Even if every visitor to the pools was a child, we would be serving less than 7% of the kids in the city. If we consider total population, those estimated 5,000 unique visitors represent less than 2% of the population.

Yet the city is planning to spend about $600,000 for this – which is about $120 per person served. It would be cheaper to buy every kid in the city a membership to the Boys and Girls Club ($5 per year for 16-18 year olds, but only $3 for 7-15 year olds) which would give them access to ALL activities, not just the pools.

Yes, swimming pools are nice, but are they so important that funding them comes before police or other services? Further, is a pool worth operating at far, far higher rates than private pools can operate at? Especially in a day when these cities throughout the country are constantly crying poor?

For such a huge cash outlay to serve so few citizens ( a number that seems to be declining year to year, to boot) it sure looks like these pools are ripe for cost cutting measures that can save the city millions.

Instead of looking to raise taxes, how about taking sensible cost cutting measures, Toledo? Were I a Toledoan, I’d be requiring such an effort before I;d agree to a single penny in new taxes.

Good post Maggie!

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