Municipal reform
I was listening to the CBC earlier tonight to find out who won the municipal election in Ottawa. Turns out Larry O'Brien kicked some Munter and Chiarelli ass. I think he will be a good mayor. He obviously has a lot of management experience from Calian, and he seems quite conservative when it comes to financial matters. The best part of the night though, was listening to Janet Stavinga (an ex-council member) talking about the election returns. She was rooting for Alex Munter and was in total denial that he was going to lose. O'Brien is running away with the thing by thousands of votes, way over half the polls have reported, and Stavinga is clucking about how it all depends on which wards have reported etc...
Dream on sweetheart.
Anyway, after it became impossible to deny that O'Brien had won she started yammering about his neolithic policies on taxation and his lack of experience etc... To be quite honest, I think she was flustered and she wasn't making a whole lot of sense. In fact, I'm not sure she was speaking in sentences so much as stringing together random words that she'd absorbed osmotically over her 10+ year career in municipal politics, "Indeed, fiscal.....taxation......programs......move forward....experience....the residents don't appreciate, indeed.....responsibility....indeed....."
I think there should be a law that only lets politicians serve in municipal government for 2 terms like the US president. Then maybe we could get rid of some of the wretches who permanently ensconce themselves on municipal councils and plague us every time we so much as open the local news section of the paper or show up at a community barbecue. If they get comfortable, they'll get corrupt. What a joke it is to suggest that you need all kinds of experience to be a municipal politician. Judging by the quality of the average councilperson I'd say the main qualification is phoniness, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a willingness to spend other people's money. A term limit would encourage leaders to make correct decisions rather than popular decisions, and hopefully would attract people who aim to serve their communities rather than to land a comfortable job.
Term limits for municipal politicians! Who's with me?
Dream on sweetheart.
Anyway, after it became impossible to deny that O'Brien had won she started yammering about his neolithic policies on taxation and his lack of experience etc... To be quite honest, I think she was flustered and she wasn't making a whole lot of sense. In fact, I'm not sure she was speaking in sentences so much as stringing together random words that she'd absorbed osmotically over her 10+ year career in municipal politics, "Indeed, fiscal.....taxation......programs......move forward....experience....the residents don't appreciate, indeed.....responsibility....indeed....."
I think there should be a law that only lets politicians serve in municipal government for 2 terms like the US president. Then maybe we could get rid of some of the wretches who permanently ensconce themselves on municipal councils and plague us every time we so much as open the local news section of the paper or show up at a community barbecue. If they get comfortable, they'll get corrupt. What a joke it is to suggest that you need all kinds of experience to be a municipal politician. Judging by the quality of the average councilperson I'd say the main qualification is phoniness, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a willingness to spend other people's money. A term limit would encourage leaders to make correct decisions rather than popular decisions, and hopefully would attract people who aim to serve their communities rather than to land a comfortable job.
Term limits for municipal politicians! Who's with me?
Labels: politics
posted by Mr. Apple at 12:20 AM
2 Comments:
Keen observation from afar
An astute --remote-- insight regarding Janet Stavinga, the Councillor who was a big Alex Munter supporter during the election, but was Bob Chiarelli's all-too-eager accomplice throughout the entire misadventure known as the 'Munster Sewergate Scandal'...
(http://www.ottawasewergatefiasco.com/shadydeal.htm)
Indeed!
Well said, Mr. Apple.
Dear cuttothechase,
Thanks for your kind words. I checked out the link you provided, and you know what? I've never seen this issue publicized anywhere in the press. It strikes me as a total failure on the part of Ottawa news media. Even if there is no funny business going on, at a bare minimum it is municipal government being totally unresponsive to what the community wants - which is itself newsworthy. No wonder there is a de-amalgamation movement......
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