Thursday, September 29, 2005

Gang of Four = Union Busters

What is it that the Gang of Four have against low-income New Albanians and what is it they have against unions?

They continue to demand that the sanitation department bleeding is a chimera, full well knowing that the only alternative to the mayor's plan is a 50% increase in residential fees - an increase that would severely impact widows on a fixed income, single-parent families in financial straits, and retired couples on fixed incomes.

They continue to hold out false hopes to the city's sanitation workers, leading them to believe that their jobs are safe, when it is obvious they are not "safe." But it makes a great political tool to use against the mayor. Tell me truthfully - if the mayor had come forward with a proposal to make the sanitation department self-supporting, wouldn't the Gang of Four have jumped on that with just as much vigor and obfuscation? You know they would have.

The Coffey diversionary plan to abandon downtown redevelopment to the YMCA would likely have resulted in the construction of a minimal facility. More to the point, it would have been built by non-union trades workers. What do they have against unions.

Now, they have their long knives out for the police department. My experiences with the police department have all been positive. I've listened carefully to the rational basis for the city's take-home car policies. It is a presentation all should hear. Any doubts that linger about its benefits to the city would float away. I invite the leaders (or detectives, or street cops) to explain it. They can show definitively that this is NOT a perk for the cops, but rather a rational approach to making the best use of a short-staffed police force.

Using unions as playthings and straw men, these so-called Democrats are the city's biggest union bashers and it's time they were called to account for it.

Remember it now and in 2007.

The Gang of Four
Larry Kochert
Steve Price
Bill Schmidt
Dan Coffey

...otherwise known as the right side of the room at city council. I'm a progressive. I lean left.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the gang of four has a motto like the composer Oscar Levant once stated. "Once I make up my mind, I'm full of indecision."

Thursday, September 29, 2005 1:44:00 PM  
Blogger Jeff Gillenwater said...

I don't think abstaining has much to do with indecision, but rather a fear of accountability.

I've been thinking of printing up some bumper stickers that read Don't blame me. I abstained.

I know where I could sell a few already.

Thursday, September 29, 2005 5:20:00 PM  

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