Monday, July 3, 2006
Reasoning with the Unreasonable
An article in the Daily Pilot today discussed the
recently-formed political action group, Return to Reason.
According to the article, this group has apparently been formed
"to change the make-up of the council in the November
elections." Sounds like a good idea to me!
According to the article, this group is comprised of more than 50 community leaders, including several former council members. The article quotes Steve Dzida, identified as the group's spokesman, as saying, "Supporters of the group are concerned residents who have grown increasingly impatient with the direction the city is heading." He went on to say, "The group wants to elect people on the council that will do business in a professional and reasonable way."
Our young jailer/mayor, Allan Mansoor, is quoted in the article as saying, "It sounds to me like it's a return to unreasonableness by not wanting to uphold the laws." He continued with, "It seems to me that (Dzida) is going to support a candidate that does not want to uphold the law through the Immigration Customs Enforcement proposal that was put forward by this council."
An even more interesting quote was from lame duck councilman Gary Monahan. Discussing the group, he is quoted as saying, "If they think the city is heading in the wrong direction, they need to get off their butts." He continued, "Put up or shut up and run a candidate and see if that person can win. If they can't, they're obviously not in the majority." I offer that this is exactly what this group seems to be doing - they've gotten "off their butts" and are, in fact, apparently going to support one or more candidates for the seats available in November that can get this city back on track.
I don't know which candidates Return to Reason plans to support, but I can speculate with the best of them. Clearly, they're not going to support Mansoor nor anyone he hand-picks for the seat to be vacated by Monahan. That narrows the field to a few, based on who we suspect will be running in November. I'll let the group make that decision.
In my opinion, this city does, in fact, need new leadership. Mansoor, Monahan and Eric Bever - Mansoor's buddy - have turned this city in the wrong direction. They have shown themselves to be capricious, devious and flat-out untrustworthy.
Mansoor and his group have chosen a shoot-from-the hip style, which one observer has frequently described as "Government by Ambush". That's an accurate description, in my view. The list of such events is long and has been chronicled here ad nauseum.
Mansoor has shown us that he lacks the intellectual horsepower and maturity to continue to function on the city council. He continues to demonstrate a narrow focus, prescribed for him by his band of "Improver" cohorts and invariably chooses to put the wishes of a few ahead of the needs of the city in general. He has pandered to the most intolerant among us, which is best demonstrated by his embrace of the Minuteman mob and their leader, Jim Gilchrist.
It is, indeed, time for this city to get back on the right path. If the good folks who form the core of Return to Reason can help accomplish that, I will applaud their efforts.
3:23 pm pdt
According to the article, this group is comprised of more than 50 community leaders, including several former council members. The article quotes Steve Dzida, identified as the group's spokesman, as saying, "Supporters of the group are concerned residents who have grown increasingly impatient with the direction the city is heading." He went on to say, "The group wants to elect people on the council that will do business in a professional and reasonable way."
Our young jailer/mayor, Allan Mansoor, is quoted in the article as saying, "It sounds to me like it's a return to unreasonableness by not wanting to uphold the laws." He continued with, "It seems to me that (Dzida) is going to support a candidate that does not want to uphold the law through the Immigration Customs Enforcement proposal that was put forward by this council."
An even more interesting quote was from lame duck councilman Gary Monahan. Discussing the group, he is quoted as saying, "If they think the city is heading in the wrong direction, they need to get off their butts." He continued, "Put up or shut up and run a candidate and see if that person can win. If they can't, they're obviously not in the majority." I offer that this is exactly what this group seems to be doing - they've gotten "off their butts" and are, in fact, apparently going to support one or more candidates for the seats available in November that can get this city back on track.
I don't know which candidates Return to Reason plans to support, but I can speculate with the best of them. Clearly, they're not going to support Mansoor nor anyone he hand-picks for the seat to be vacated by Monahan. That narrows the field to a few, based on who we suspect will be running in November. I'll let the group make that decision.
In my opinion, this city does, in fact, need new leadership. Mansoor, Monahan and Eric Bever - Mansoor's buddy - have turned this city in the wrong direction. They have shown themselves to be capricious, devious and flat-out untrustworthy.
Mansoor and his group have chosen a shoot-from-the hip style, which one observer has frequently described as "Government by Ambush". That's an accurate description, in my view. The list of such events is long and has been chronicled here ad nauseum.
Mansoor has shown us that he lacks the intellectual horsepower and maturity to continue to function on the city council. He continues to demonstrate a narrow focus, prescribed for him by his band of "Improver" cohorts and invariably chooses to put the wishes of a few ahead of the needs of the city in general. He has pandered to the most intolerant among us, which is best demonstrated by his embrace of the Minuteman mob and their leader, Jim Gilchrist.
It is, indeed, time for this city to get back on the right path. If the good folks who form the core of Return to Reason can help accomplish that, I will applaud their efforts.
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