I’m sorry that our little city had to go through this recall process but Lance has brought this upon himself. I remember supporting Lance when he was first running for office in our city and what he said he stood for. Within days of taking office he was backing off what he ran on and had no excuses when asked why. The old saying – what goes around comes around – is true. I hope Lance can try to reflect on this and the good he did do for the city and move on in his life in a positive way.
To Dave Leckness I wish him the best; I’ve known him for over 20 years. If I was going to give him any advice, I would tell him to be careful of who he thinks his friends are. If they have any interest (political) now or in the past in this city they still may be on somebody’s payroll. I know that sounds somewhat paranoid for our little town, but unfortunately when companies are bidding on million dollar contracts they will have their people trying to get to you. Once you accept that 1st favor they own you forever.
Philip Serrins
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Amen to that; just look at Sacramento and DC.
“when companies are bidding on million dollar contracts they will have their people trying to get to you. Once you accept that 1st favor they own you forever”
This is unavoidable, though. The USSC recently ruled that corporations and unions have the right to speak with their dollars in politics.
And elections are usually won by spending dollars. That too is a fact, even if one can find exceptions. Mayor Bloomberg won only because he spent some 113 million dollars.
One could argue that he spent his own money, but that means that only the rich and wealthy can win since they have the most money. Invariably they are rich because of the corporations they hold; therefore corporations influence politics either way.
So you cannot avoid the problem at all.
That being the case, you can take your chances with grass-roots movements, which these days are successful about as often as the Chicago Cubs. Even then, they’ll need to raise lots of money. From whom? Like-minded voters? That is just another name for “special interest group without corporate or union influence”.
I say let corporations and unions donate as much money as they want, just require that ALL donations must be made public and the information accessible. They do it anyway, this way at least people will know.