In a second round of protest in the Niagara County Legislature, the wishes of the people were again repelled and renounced by a mute and recalcitrant Republican majority. Without argument or explanation the right wing, if not reactionary, Republican power block inexplicably refused to act to restore one small venue of the public sphere, namely the popular and successful Legislative Journal with Tom Christy.
Without any concern for having their position understood, the Legislative block brazenly held its ground on mere excuses alone as to why they should not act to restore the Christy show to the people. Obviously without apology or regret and with what can only be understood as smug and arrogant indifference, the Legislature allows the unjustifiable acts of the LCTV Board of Directors to go unquestioned and unclarified.
Not only has the Legislature further deepened the divide between government and the people but now begins building a wall to prevent real communication, education and understanding. When Boards of Directors, of questionable talent and integrity, can serve as a buffer between the government and the people, between reason and the public interest, we the people enter into a very dark and dangerous period of civic neglect, disregard and repression. When government officials consider public discourse to demean and compromise their own integrity and right, the political process called democracy becomes a thing of the past.
It was with the stone wall of silence that the essentially inaccessible mind of the Republicans frustrated the democratic process. What could they really be thinking? What could really be motivating them? Who is really influencing such inscrutable if not vile actions against the people? We will probably never know. They don’t feel obligated to explain.
What little we heard from these newly self-appointed Aristocrats, came primarily from Mr. Updegrove. In brief he denied that the Legislature had any authority or authorization to act upon the Christy affair. He gave excuses as to why they can’t act but not why they should not act. They hid behind the weak claim that they had no authority to intervene. They excused themselves of any obligation with the feeble and questionable excuse of administrative and legal formalities. Sadly if not pathetically they refused to own the moral responsibility as leaders to reconcile the Lockport bureaucrats with the interest and right of the people to be heard publicly and be represented with their own voice. They failed to live up to a standard of legislative conduct given us by one no less than Plato himself. That standard is that the true mark of a Legislator is to use powers of the Law to bring harmony from conflict.
However, apparently scoffing at both legal and moral responsibility or obligation, and obviously lacking any sensitivity, compassion or respect for the voice of the community, the Legislature sharpens and exacerbates the conflict. These living obstacles to truth are no Legislators. They are functionaries and factionaries of interests and powers that ultimately do not serve you and me. They refuse to talk openly and honestly about those interests. The have de facto de-legitimated their legally given powers.
But as we should all know by now, this one small venue of public discourse, Christy’s Legislative Journal, apparently loomed very large when it insisted the failures of economic development, egregiously high and misappropriated taxes, that is the wasted wealth of the people, should be brought to light and discussed. Critical discussion of our disastrous political economy is now off the table in Niagara County. The writing is on the wall. The purging of the Christy show is a warning and threat that what may be discussed in the Niagara region will be determined by the wishes of established wealth and power. But such power is not real, only apparent. It is surely only a coercive, bullying force refusing to be held up to the mirror of self-examination.
If such people cannot explain and convince, they choose to threaten and intimidate, repress and mock if not revile any faith in the generative and nourishing power of the democracy that we stand for and countless have died for.
If it is true that Truth fears no questions, then we know now that Niagara County does not yet have the truth behind the egregious cancellation of the Christy show. Apparently many questions are feared by our Legislature. Possibly the central question is what exactly the agenda might be that permits the cancerous growth of an autocratic if not authoritarian contempt for the people, public discourse and the very lifeblood of America which is our own democracy.
This in effect is a state of siege against civic integrity, the public sphere and ultimately freedom of speech. The question for those who still desire openness of democratic inquiry is whether we will forfeit our government to the interests of greater political centralization of power and the sequestered, immune bureaucracies which make decisions and policies for a public which now no longer has the acknowledged right and means to question those decisions. The political parties do not now really work for us let alone really represent us fairly and interactively. Possibly the community must now reconstitute itself and repoliticize itself to empower actions which are really in its interest and for its benefit. Can we believe that a Legislative body that does not speak to us with respect for our need to understand is really even any longer listening to us?
However all is not lost. There are efforts underway in the Erie County Legislature and other jurisdictions in Niagara County to pass resolutions to reverse the publicly insulting decision regarding Legislative Journal with Tom Christy. The fight for legitimate and authentic democracy continues.
23 comments:
you are do over the top - I hope this is not required reading for your students.
I hope so too. I wouldn't want them to be subjected to Barney's poor spelling.
"He's over the top?" He's over the top?
Sorry Barney. You're the one over the top with this political machination, manipulation and support of oppression in any form or state of being. You, Mr. Barney, are the archetypical means from which true discourse is misguided, misinformed and derailed to try and stay the malignant control that is called "the majority caucus." Disgusting isn't strong enough and distasteful barely begins to describe the level to which this has all sunk.
Please take the sniping rhetoric and go to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the Mayflower Rock for some insight or perhaps more appropriately, at this point in world history, to Tibet.
Lou Ricciuti
Lou,
I can't begin to understand your thought process - how you equate TC to the plight in Tibet.
You should really find a hobby or some volunteer work.
good stuff, Lou!
Why don't some people get that it's possible to be passionate about something other than defending ideas that don't work anymore. The NC Republicans have exhausted their ideas to save this county. They need to let us all talk to one another. I think the best definition of a politician is someone with the courage to give up defending their power when they have failed to help the people.
We shouldn`t have that much power to begin with Larry. Two qiuck things I have learned as a politican. First, never make promises, for the simple fact that alot of times you can`t keep them. Just do the best you can for the problem. Second, be yourself with people. I hate it when I see a politican act like they are better than someone because they have a "position". Thats just BS.
I think what the Legislature really needs is a wake up call. Currently ,I believe that we do not have a represenitive that has any idea what its like to live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. Thier views are distorted by grander things. Most, if not all of them are very well educated. Perhaps what they need is a couple well minded average citizens who have real world experience working with them.
Now please remember that this is only an opinion. I may not like how some of the Legislators govern. But I still respect them for being in government. I feel that they just need a differn`t point of veiw on things.
Well said Lou!!!!!
Rob,
One way to reduce power and potentially eliminate some corruption is to increase the number of Legislators. Apparently in Ancient Athens they had very large juries, for example, because the believed that there was less a chance that the jury could be bribed. So why not 36 Legislators rather than 18 or 19? Just a possibility. …. I’m also very suspicious about “county manager government.” As soon as government functions are being talked about in terms of managers, professionals, specialists, or anybody who must have very special qualifications, I begin to smell centralization and further bureaucratization. And that means it begins to look to more people like democracy is antiquated and not possible. …. But with education at the level it’s at, democracy does sometimes looked doomed. For instance right now in Buffalo 2/3 of the adult population is reading at the bottom two measures of literacy. This roughly means they are barely functionally literate. How can a democracy work when people can barely read???
Larry and Rob,
Don't you think it might be easier if you two just talked on the phone.
Dear anon:
It might be easier but then you wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear what real political discourse is all about. And I’m still hoping that the ‘hit men,’ ‘rodeo clowns,’ and disinformation agents of the party zealots will soon come of age and elevate the level of discourse to real ethical politics. “Gotcha politics” is just power mongering, my friend, not to mention tearfully boring and demoralizing.
Larry....I have to disagree with you on having more Representation. I feel we have to much already as it is.( Funny comments from a Politician huh?)I wish we still had a Board of Supervisors running this county. Or a County Exceutive stlye of government. In my opionon our style of government that we have right know is bought and paid for.
Rob,
But isn't it easier to "buy and pay" for a government of fewer people with proportionally more power? But if you don't buy that, can you tell me why? What are the actual advantages of fewer representatives, executive style Gov or Board of Supervisors Gov?
Larry --
At risk of being labeled as one of the rodeo clowns, I thought I might try entering a discussion here.
You and Rob have been batting around some issues that have interested me for some time. The issue of how best to manage the county (or any govt. entity) should be apolitical but, sadly, almost never is.
I believe that Niagara County (the place, not the legislature) has way more government than we need or can afford. What was created two hundred years ago is not necessarily what we need today.
Given that our interests tend to be more alike than different from one end of Niagara to the other, why is it necessary and/or how is it effecient to maintain three cities, five villages, twelve townships and ten school districts?
Add to that county government itself, plus the multitude of special use districts within any of those (sewer, water, lighting, BOCES, etc.), and the burden that is our state government.
All that, by any measure, is a lot for a county of less than 220,000 souls.
The power behind all that government infrastructure? Follow the money, as the saying goes. Take a look at your home property tax bills, and then tell me who really controls things around here.
Pirate:
Firstly, I think you know quite well I wouldn’t consider you one of the ‘rodeo clowns.’ Actually you’re still my favorite amongst the Repub set. Please don’t tell the rest of them.
I think I agree and disagree. I think there are some services and infrastructure that can be shared like police, electric, equipment, etc., but I don’t think that means we have to get rid of communities as polities.
Vis a vis NYS and the Feds we, Niagara Countians, have more in common than differences. But between communities in NC I think there might be value differences that matter, that separate communities. Those value differences, whether religious, ethnic, racial or whatnot, have to be represented.
So sharing “technical” costs is one thing and that might best be ‘managed’ than ‘governed.” But conflating value systems would be a problem. So, at the least, surely you’re not in favor of eliminating communites are you?
But maybe you’re right. Maybe we can be conceived as one value community. It would take some convincing though. I think if for example there really was a racial harmony there wouldn’t be such a divide between Niagara Falls and the rest of NC, between Niagara Falls and NT.
And thanks for participating.
Larry --
Thanks, although "rodeo clown" was one of the results from an aptitude test I took in 8th grade.
I am not advocating the elimination of towns as communities, rather the political mechanisms that come with being officially "a town."
The sense of community, I think, comes as much from the other factors you mentioned (race, ethnicity, religion) as anything. That is why people still relate to communities like Bergholz, Pekin, Lower Town (Lockport), the Avenues (aka little Poland in NT), and on and on and on.
We can still find and nourish our sense of community through our neighborhoods, houses of worship, social groups and clubs and other common interests that bind people together.
My concern is that the formality of so much government is what is holding us back. The greater good is often overlooked as a much smaller parochial interest holds sway under the guise of "township" or "city" and so on.
It is the sheer volume of formal government here, I think, that leads to abuse. In such size comes power -- power in the way of budgets and patronage, contracts and consulting. Right now, the Republicans seem to be riding herd in most locales and simultaneously take advantage and take much abuse.
So the Dems howl, calling it unfair. Calling it Boss Hogg. Calling it all sorts of things, in part because they may be right but also in part as a strategy to assure that, the next time around, they are in the majority.
It is somewhat ironic that the body that seems to take the most abuse on this and other sites is the county legislature. I've never quite understood that. After all, that particular body, given what they oversee, may have the least to say about my day to day life -- certainly less than the town in which live and the school district where my kids are educated.
It's the people that make a community what it is, not their elected representatives.
Besides, if we had to elect fewer of them, we might reduce the number of dunces, nitwits and ne-er-do-wells that seem to get elected. Or, maybe I'm just dreaming.
Two very well and thought out post gentlemen. My take with the this on is one of I have to agree that there is to much. There are way to many special districts, school districts, so forth and so on.
One of the things I learned on my infamous NYC trip for schooling is there are alot of cost that occur when you consolidate things of this nature. You would hear the arguement that why should someone in Youngstown have to pay for a new road in Royalton.
What do you do? I know there have been a couple of studies. I guess you won`t know untill you actually try.
Pirate/Rob:
Pirate, where you lost me, sorry, is at “In such size comes power – power in the way of …”. Can you give me an example of how “size” leads to either “budget problems, patronage, contracts, consulting” issues or complications. Sorry I’m pretty thick when it comes to these matters. If/when you have the time, I’d really like to get a clearer picture since I’ve never been involved in the day to day process of governing.
And Rob despite the costs are you still for consolidation or not? …. I guess that if it were possible to convince people that, as Pirate said earlier, given we have a lot more in common in the county than differences, we have to get people to see that the county is a community in a sense. If Youngstown actually felt that it was kin to Royalton, then there wouldn’t be any complaining about the road in Royalton. But then it seems to me that it would be up to the County Gov to decide if and when the road was going to be put in right? And then Royalton would still have to have representation in the Leg, wouldn’t it. …. What would the justification be to reduce the number of county legislators or other "formal" aspects of Gov? How does that improve gov or make it more fair???
At the end of the day I would probably be infavor of it. As long as it cuts overall cost of Government.
Larry -- Over the past few years, I have had opportunity to pay attention to both the amount and the workings of government at the local level here in Western New York. By local I mean county, city, town, village and school district. By any measure, we have more of the above than almost place else you can imagine.
To be sure, there are services provided by all that government, but so too are there costs, the cumulative effect of which is serving to stagnate our economy and make the region less and less attractive to new business, new ideas and growth.
Such costs go beyond the obvious, taxes. There is a cost to the multiple layers of regulation that comes with so much parochial government. There is a cost to the duplication that exists within such a structure. There is a cost when neighboring communities compete for jobs, development, grants and so on, failing to recognize that a solid development project in Niagara Falls, for instance, might also benefit Lockport (the whole rising tide thing).
There are, give or take a few, 165 people holding elective office at the county, city, town and village levels in Niagara County. Add in maybe 70 or 80 more elected school board members. Who knows how many others there are in appointed positions that directly impact services provided to the citizens. Or, worse, in appointed positions that really don't do much of anything beyond filling a patronage need.
Most of what passes for the geopolitical structure of the county was established many, many decades ago -- before communication and transportation from Barker to Youngstown, Olcott to NT, Rapids to Niagara Falls was so relatively easy for most.
Yet, there they sit, all ostensibly making decisions in the best interests of "their constituents." Most all answerable, in some fashion, to whatever organization helped get the elected in the first place.
Having met at least a handful of this army, I continue to believe that the vast majority believe they are there to help, to make a difference, to improve the lives of their friends and neighbors. That some do it more effectively than others is to be expected.
But even the very best intentions and the very best peformers seem to be stymied by the sheer size and scope of the structure, even before politics is factored in.
Kevin Gaughan in Erie County has made a minor career of examining this. He's become a bit of a caricature these days, but if nothing else he performed an interesting service by organizing an examination of the dollars and cents cost of government in Erie County. The numbers can be a bit overwhelming. You can find it here: http://www.thecost.org/
I'd love to see a similar study for Niagara County, where we have even fewer people and less geography than Erie. Perhaps something for an enterprising college class, eh Larry?
In the end, I may not know much, but I do know that my combined property tax bill on my thoroughly average home has more than doubled in the last decade. Sadly, our household income has not kept pace.
Jobs and income dry up, friends and family begin to look elsewhere for opportunity, quality of life seems to be OK but we have that nagging feeling that something is slipping. And, for the first time, I am giving serious consideration to advising my children to pack up and leave when their time comes.
And what is the typical response in Niagara?
"It's the Republicans fault."
"No, the Democrats screwed this up first when they held the majority."
"Oh yeah, well what about Mayor Bigfoot. What's he done?
And on...and on...and on.
Pirate-
Nice analysis. I do hear what you’re saying and it sounds more than plausible. I can’t say that I see clearly how the various costs add up, especially overlapping costs. But I’ll take your word that it could be demonstrated in dollars and cents. And I guess it’s not much of a refutation but something just seems to tell me that on the face of it roughly one elected official on the average for every one thousand people doesn’t seem too much. I’m certainly not going to go man the barricades on the basis of that intuition but the connection between your exposition of the layers and categories of government and the connected cost just doesn’t seem to add up. I guess I’d actually have to see numbers. No, I don’t expect you to give me that. And I don’t doubt that taxes are high but I guess I’m just not quite convinced that it’s the amount of government that is causing high taxes that keep business out. I do hear that in NT they are eliminating, I think, 18 teachers while the number of administrators has grown while enrollment has dropped. Apparently these administrators have more assistants and secretaries than ever before. And I can see that as an example of driving up taxes with excess administrative expenses. But I’ll check out the website you mentioned and keep slugging away at trying to comprehend all this. Thanks for your efforts. …. I still wish you’d come out of hiding and come talk to my political philosophy classes, damn it!!!! You could come as Phantom of the Opera or maybe Batman.
Larry --
The cost issue can be difficult to absorb, in part because at times it seems counter-intuitive. Every town has roads that need repairing, for instance, so the cost is the cost is the cost, yes? Well, only maybe. Might not it be more efficient if there were just one entity doing those road evaluations, schedule work, issuing RFPs and letting contracts?
Another example -- the town of Lewiston is currently debating a local ordinance that would, for the first time, require any plumber working in that town to obtain and maintain a master plumbers license. On its face, it seems to be an ordinance that is looking out for the best interests of the citizens, to avoid having them get ripped off by a fly-by-night company.
But, what happens if the least expensive plumber for a particular job has his office one town over, where a license (and the cost in obtaining same) is not required. Does that plumber now charge the Lewiston resident more? After all, his cost of doing business in that town has now just gone up. Yet, in many of the towns in which he works, no such ordinance exists.
My point is that "cost" is more than just taxes. More than just what the government collects and spends. Government, regulation, enforcement and so on also add costs beyond your tax bill. Where you have so many entities and so many different levels, it can also create confusion.
These indirect costs from govt. has as much impact on quality of life as your property tax bill. Some are more readily identified and calculated than others, but they exist.
Having some experience from a past career, I can tell you that the tangled web of building codes and the sometimes vast differences in said codes from one town or city to another is mind-numbing. Makes me wonder why a contractor from Erie County would ever cross the canal.
There have been some efforts at progress. I understand several of the school districts take part in joint purchasing cooperatives. The county has made an effort to consolidate its economic development efforts into one office (although they still have deal with and sometimes compete with more localized efforts in many locales within the county).
But, so far, it is just nibbling at the edges. Root cause examination and fundamental change comes painfully slow, if it comes at all.
It takes political will and courage to propose such change. As we know, political will and courage is in short supply around here. Why? About the only quotable thing Woodrow Wilson ever said was, "It you want to make enemies, try to change something."
As for guest appearances in your class...I can't appear as Batman because...well...I AM Batman.
I stand illuminated and humbled. Yeh, that's good stuff, stuff that I wouldn't think about, I confess, in a million years. But I'm beginning. I think that is also the kind of stuff kids should be studying in the schools as part of civics classes, real problems. From there they can work toward the great classical thinkers. But starting with ordinary everyday real problems is fundamental... I'm still working on your response to my Nader piece. But I'll catch up. .... Thanks, Batman!
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