HAYWARD CON GAME !!

1. ( oops,here i go again being "antagonistic" as my opponents like to characterize me.

CON GAME:  Mayor Ashton Hayward's editorial in today's paper is just a con game. His attempt to con the voter's into believing the city council has independent staff that does the bidding of the council (the legislative branch of the government) is shameful. I have served on city council for four years. I have a 100% perfect attendance record. I have not been asleep for four years. When Ashton Hayward claims the city council has a staff that cost the taxpayers $160,000.00, what he isn't telling the public is this fact - he hires them, they work for him, he can fire them. Whoever they are at any particular point in time one of their functions is to push the Mayor's agenda and to lobby city council members. This is not called democracy - it is called "dictatorship" .I don't believe this is what the citizens want. The most important issue facing the city government (other than federal grand jury investigations for bribery and corruption) is the power of the legislative body to have control over the hiring and firing of its staff. Read more about the charter amendment that you will be asked to vote for in my previous blog post on this matter. Please be aware that there are several councilmembers who do not support the charter amendment allowing council to hire its own staff because those individuals benefit for having unfettered access to a powerful Mayor - with concentration of power in the executive branch that will do their bidding . See Maren Deweese's blog and learn more about how this works, especially the Main Street Project. (I am happy I voted against the project - my image in my mirror looks pretty good this morning).