Will Tim Bubb survive in the Political Game of Chicken?

Lest voters failed to pick up on it in yesterday's print edition of the Advocate, two candidates for county commissioner said they would work to remove the 1/2% sales tax imposed without voter approval by Commissioners Bubb and Smith.

Bubb and Smith were playing Political Game of Chicken, in which elected officials bet their careers that voters won't remember instances of insolence. I think they will remember, but we'll see.

Mark Van Buren, running against Brad Feightner, and Doug Moreland, running against Tim Bubb, have pledged to roll back that tax. You can go to the Advocate's on-line voter guide and compare candidates' positions on this tax thanks to the editors, whose first question to all commissioner candidates was: "Do you agree with the decision to increase the sales tax two years ago without voter input? Would you consider eliminating it?."

If voters are smart enough to replace Bubb with Moreland, that will leave only Doug Smith as the commissioner who voted to stuff citizens by giving them an end-run on taxes. (Last commissioner election, Smith did win the Game when voters re-elected him.) And Mark Van Buren over Feightner is a good bet, even if it weren't for the tax issue.

My previous rants on abuse of power by Bubb and Smith are linked here.

Newark School administrators: You don't have to trick us with an August vote

It must seem to regular readers of these Observations that I am dead-set against any new tax. I am not. I am dead-set against the chicanery used by government and schools to get income by tricking voters or otherwise denying them the right to vote on tax matters.

Classic case of this was the sales-tax increase by County Commissioners Tim Bubb and Doug Smith. They simply refused to hear voters asking to have a voice in the matter.

City officials regularly ignore the wishes of the majority in order to avoid the majority opinion on tax issues, most recently the decision by council to skim off another $10 per auto license plate sale, in spite of the fact that voters earlier had sent a clear message of their disapproval.

No sooner did taxpayers get that jammed into their orifice than the Newark School District board sends notice it might attempt to end-run voters in an August repeat of the failed tax-levy request, thinking that the majority of what few voters might show up for such an election will be parents and teachers, thus giving the majority of people who will have to pay for it yet another shafting.

This special election could cost the school district as much as $40,000 to produce, according to the Advocate report. That same $40,000 used for the good of the people would provide many miles of school bussing the district claimed it can't afford.

For people who are supposed to be smart enough to oversee the community's main educational factory, they don't have much going for them.

Worse, they see their constituency as one dumb, numb, mass of people too helpless and worthless to defend against another stuffing by the school board intelligentsia. That is the theory on which consideration of an August tax vote is predicated.

The news for these "public servants" is that there are many folks just like me, thousands maybe.

And what we expect from you is for you to convince us of a two things before you come to us for more money.

First is that you are wisely spending the money you have, that you are not wasting it on high-priced and useless administrators and employee wages and benefits that are out of line with what other people make;

and second that after you have cleaned house and eliminated all the useless people and programs you have acquired over the years that you need more of our money to educate (not entertain and not babysit) our children.

When you get that done, you won't have to try to trick us with an August vote.

More on the storage of government records

On April 3, 2008, I wrote an observation here suggesting that management and storage of local government records might be better accomplished by having those records scanned and stored digitally rather than provide a a new center to house them as was being considered by county commissioners.
Here's the link.

The piece inspired reader Denny Gilbert to write:

"One of my duties at my last post at the state auditor's office before emphysema struck me down was the oversight/management of all state of ohio land records, some dating back to 1803, thousands and thousands of past audits of units of government in Ohio and the storage and retention of a zillion or so of the state's cancelled warrants (checks).

"My Graphics Division had a Xerox Docutech. Therefore I know that machine / process quite well. The Docutech is a fantastic machine if the operators are very well trained and proficient in the operation of the machine!

"I was involved in securing a company to take the records, scan them in digitally and create indexes of the mass. I cannot remember the exact costs, but I feel really safe in saying the costs of creating digital records here would be incredibly less costly than any construction other than a pole barn!"

Government records on paper are yesterday's technology

Licking County Commissioners are considering places in which to store their paper records.

The Advocate report said: "After almost 20 years of discussion, the Licking County commissioners soon might move forward with a new center to house records from each of the county departments."

As pointed out in an on-line comment to that report, today's technology for record storage and retrieval is by going digital. Hiring a document management company - or buying the equipment - instead of storing and filing all those old records likely is coming some day anyway, so maybe this is the time to begin.

With a Google aimed at "government document management" I quickly learned what this person was talking about by blundering to "Xerox DocuShare Industries" to which is linked another web page that talks about the conversion of all paper records of Newark NJ to a digital system. "City Government Goes Paperless" is at this link.

It makes perfect sense to research the possibilities for having public records scanned and stored digitally. I have no idea about the cost of this relative to the refurbishing of an old building, moving all the paper records there, and filing them for retrieval.

It may be a lot cheaper - or not; but if the idea hasn't been given serious study, now's the time to do that.

New way for government to feed on itself, but who will win the Game of Chicken?

The fact that two county commissioners - Tim Bubb and Doug Smith - could impose a new tax on citizens without giving them a chance to vote on it seems to be the new way for government to feed on itself. No input from voters needed, thank you.

Likewise with the imposition of an auto tag tax to be considered again by Newark City Council. No need for voters to decide, thank you (though voters spoke clearly and negatively in a referendum to former Mayor Bain's first attempt to sidestep them on this tax).

The Advocate has done a spectacularly thorough job of reporting that Smith and Bubb have a majority's grip on this sales tax bite and that the Mayor Diebold and some city council members are just slobbering over the prospect of getting a yet another auto tax past the voters.

Voters have been well-informed by the Advocate this time, for the first time in many years. In the articles Commissioners debate sales tax and City Council mixed on increasing license plate tax reporter Amy Picard has laid it all out for readers on these complex matters.

The only omission has been any reference to the history of all this and how voters are being avoided by government representatives. Namely that Bubb and Smith jammed the sales tax through, that Bain tried to stuff voters for the tag tax, it got referendum-ed, council came back and reinstated a $5 tax anyway, and now they're talking about doing it again, maybe for more.

It is incredible that they would consider trying to get away with this crap. It's not just the addional cost of living in this area, but because it's being done without a vote.

The reason they've been getting away with this screwing is because voters don't know about it, don't care about it, will not say anything, and won't remember it until next election.

Or will they? It's the ol' game of chicken - bureaucrats vs. voters - bureaucrat-scammers lose if voters remember; they win if voters forget. I wouldn't place any bets on the game, but we voters are - thanks to better Advocate reportage - getting smarter all the time.

Will the tax man survive?

Tim Bubb was one of two county commissioners who voted to increase the sales tax without voter approval. When he and Commissioner Doug Smith agreed to make an end-run on constituents they were playing the game of political chicken. That game bets the politician's career that voters' memories are so short that they won't remember next election day that they've been stiffed.

Doug Smith won the first round of political chicken when he got re-elected. Likely Tim will win his too. Nevertheless ...

Til the end of time, I will see it as my civic duty to remind voters when Tim or Doug run for commissioner of the way in which the two of them increased taxes without voter approval. It is still offensive to me that they did this, and I remember it every time I think of local sales taxes and particularly when I pay for big-ticket items.

On Tuesday, when voters select their party's candidates, they would do well to review what each of them has to say about this matter. The Voter's Guide available on the Advocate web site reports how each of them answer the question: "Do you agree with the decision to increase the sales tax two years ago without voter input? Would you consider eliminating it?"

What candidates say predicts with great accuracy how they feel about the management of public money. When they answer the question directly and to your liking, then place your bet. If they talk around the issue, or don't answer it, or blow off more political hyperbole then you deserve what you get if you vote for them.

Another "Hill" on the horizon

After all these years, there's still something quite nice about the name "Don Hill," something besides it being part of the name of the County Administration Building.

Don was totally unflappable when he served all those years as Licking County commissioner. His image as Mr. Good Guy still reverberates among long-ago voters who raised him to the level of public keepsake.

So it is with some degree of interest I received the news that his son, Howard, will run for the seat presently held by State Representative Jay Hottinger.

A news release introduces Howard as being employed as a teacher. He promises to make educational funding a priority and work toward relief from "constant taxation and request of levies from the schools," while recognizing the state's unfunded mandates to schools are part of the problem.

He writes that "This is not about Republican or Democrat and my campaign volunteers and staff are proof of this. This campaign is about common people, putting forth uncommon effort in order to do public good."

I like that - a lot.

Water Department wants to milk its customers again

Newark City Water Department is again seeking permission from city council to milk citizens for more money. The service committee has been asked for its blessings to 1) build a backup generator and 2) provide an automated meter-reading system so "workers would be free to concentrate on other responsibilities." All this for just $5 million.

Utilities Superintendent Roger Loomis was quoted in an Advocate article as saying that Newark needs to build a $3-million generator because AEP no longer finds it "economically feasible" to maintain electric service and so now Newark would be expected to pay AEP to maintain the line, but the cost of that is unknown.

Nobody knows how much it would cost, but they want a $3 million generator just in case AEP's cost would be more?

Whoa. What kind of public-money management are we getting here?

In the first place, seems to me that AEP would be under some kind of PUCO rule to provide necessary lines wherever they're needed.

In the second place, how can anybody make a responsible decision on whether to build a generator unless those costs can be compared to paying AEP to maintain electrical service - if indeed the city would be required to pay extra? (If Loomis doesn't know how much, how does he know it would be anything at all?)

Oh. There was also a hint about AEP reliability. That's what I always thought those big tanks on Horn's Hill were for - to supply the city when there was a problem with the pumps and stuff. And anyway, how many hours a year has AEP's service to (whatever?) been out of service?

As for the automated meter reading system to free Water Department workers so they can "concentrate on other responsibilities:" Did anyone ask what specific responsibilities these workers will concentrate on, once they are free?

This is so typical of government: not even think of bringing the same services to customers with fewer employees by a $2-million modernization, but instead spending $2 million so the same number of employees can find some other make-work to keep them on city payroll. That kind of "planning" (meaning making an end-run on citizens) is partly why citizens are ticked off at government.

The trouble with the water department is that it has - as have the courts and the health departments - shucked off oversight by administrative officials (council and the county commissioners). They have graduated to their own little worlds of self-oversight because they are presumed self-sufficient; each can do its own selective milking of citizens, while not being made to justify how they handle public funds.

As I remember how things usually go, city council rubber-stamps any and all water/sewer department milk-the-customers requests because council doesn't have to find the money, so what do they care?

This $5-million milking proposal would be an excellent place for council to start checking the facts, to get the numbers from AEP, and to find out whether the $2-million automated meter-reading system is really going to save money or add to the overall cost.

Go make waves, new county commissioner

When local Democrats appointed Mark Van Buren as county commissioner to replace Marcia Phelps, they seem to have made an excellent choice.

That he already has 10 years' experience as a township trustee is a good thing but it is secondary to his attitudes toward good government that he mentioned in an acceptance speech to the Democratic Central Committee.

Among them was that he would do everything he could to lower the high sales taxes (imposed by commissioners Tim Bubb and Doug Smith without a vote by citizens) because working people are being penalized by them.

"When dollars are coming out of our pockets, we should be able to vote on it," he said according to the Advocate report.

Van Buren said he would attempt to open better lines of communication between the county board of commissioners and the citizens, promising to make it a full-time job.

Attaboy, Mark. Go make waves.

Motto for bad government: Go along to get along

Candidates buy votes with promises to better serve their constituents. Once enthroned, they often melt into yea-sayers and appear to be considering the values of the good ol' boys over those of citizens.

They don't make waves or dare speak about the group's folly, wastefulness or injustice because to do so would be offensive to the individuals across the table. Accolades for each other, however, flow bravely and easily.

Going along to get along: It's comfortable but it's cowardly.

New health department's improved efficiency requires a levy to pay for it

October 26, 2006, I wrote here how City Council labors, above all, to preserve city jobs, particularly as government workers would be affected by the proposed merger of city and county health departments. Read here how I pleaded: "Can we please just grow up, and do something - one thing - the right way instead of the political way?"

And the answer turns out, after all this time, "no, we can't."

The Advocate's Ripley-esque report on the proposal - (after years of screwing around about who's going to hold most "power") (a matter that occupied most of the Advocate's report) (a matter over which the city is still whining) (a matter about which nobody gives a damn except city and county politicians and health department employees) - says about the increased efficiency:

"All current city employees, with the exception of the health commissioner and the environmental director, would continue to be employed by the county."

So there goes that efficiency in delivery of government services we hoped to have. The other shoe will drop when we learn to what height the health commissioner and the environmental director will be elevated.

And worse, now they're talking about another levy to pay for this, though you have to read to the seventh paragraph to pick up on it:

"By combining the two departments, there is also an increased chance of passing a health levy, which would provide more money to the new department.

"If a levy is passed, the city contribution would be reduced based on the money collected from the levy inside the city."

A levy? A tax, for God's sake, to pay for this more efficient delivery of "health services?"

This is your Newark City and Licking County government at work. Incredible.

When public business becomes private, a newspaper can make its own Sunshine Law

The Sunshine Law says, in effect, public business shall be conducted in public. The need for that law is created by public employees who know that their activities and decisions are not in keeping with the public's best interests.

It's that simple, though the law itself is not so simple and I have written about it here.

That public employees would even consider hiding the public's business from the public is pure insolence. It is an insolence occasioned by the attitude of public employees that the public assets entrusted to them are no longer public, but are now roadways to their personal power.

The public's business encompasses every single word that is spoken and/or written by public employees, or to public employees, regarding the public's business. Every sheet of paper in every government building belongs to all citizens. Every e-mail sent by a public employee regarding public business belongs to the public and therefore should be open to public scrutiny.

So where's the argument about whether these matters are public's business or not? Public employees, no matter how important they are, or think they are, are employees of the people. When they agree to work for the public, it is implied that they owe allegiance to the public.

If public employees meet with businessmen and lobbyists - Kraner, Reese, vendors, or Joe Blow - it is the public's right to know what is being said. When a newspaper reporter is excluded, or not notified, it is fair to assume that the reason for that is the best interests of the public are being endangered.

I credited the Advocate for having drawn a line in the sand over this matter with public officials. Recently, there appeared an editorial entitled "City's view of Sunshine Laws is a bit cloudy." So far, the Advocate's line in the sand is also cloudy because government secrecy will not go away as a result of a few editorials.

Reporters have to do like they used to do - which is know where government employees are grouping and with whom. And then they ballsie their way through the door and sit there with pen and pad.

Should they get out-muscled at the door they go back to the newsroom and they name names, editorialize, maybe go to court, keep bitching about it, and use it as ammo the next election.

With a newspaper determined enough to do that, the community has its own Sunshine Law.

Guthrie as new commissioner?

Word from Marc Guthrie, newly elected as city council president, is that, no, he won't be jockeying for the county commissioner's seat being vacated by Marcia Phelps.

Marc remembers his two terms as commissioner back in the Don Hill era as rewarding and enjoyable, but for now he's hooked on the council presidency. He is, he said "highly honored and humbled that the people of Newark re-elected me to the post last week."

The question about the commissioner's chair arose, he said, because "I have been approached by some folks from both parties regarding the vacancy."

In a prepared statement, Marc had this to say ...

"It’s been thirty-three years since my first election and I’ve been honored to serve in nearly every level of government; however, I can’t imagine ever seeking elected office again outside of this community. I look forward to working in a bi-partisan manner with City Council and Mayor-elect Diebold toward building a better Newark for our children and grandchildren."