Quinn Bill - Not the Main Issue

Indicting Anna Maria College for being a "diploma mill" and then providing exculpatory information that renders the accusation pointless, all in one article, seems awfully obtuse to me. Sliming colleges for responding to a clear demand is hardly at the core of any issue concerning the current status of the Quinn Bill.

At the core of any issue with the Quinn Bill, down underneath all this sensationalism, now that the state won't pay cities and towns for it, is a pretty simple fact: The Quinn Bill is now an unfunded mandate. That's the only reason it's even on the radar, never mind being an "issue" for so-called "news".

And the idea that there's something fishy about the police getting politically aggressive over the prospect of having their incomes slashed to ribbons... how is this "news"? Water is wet, the sun rises in the east, and police unions will always fight to retain their current level of compensation...

There's only one issue on the table here, now that we're in the middle of a horrific economic depression. City employee unions have a choice that will keep coming up for as long as city revenues keep going down. They either suffer decreases in their publicly funded compensation across the board, or they suffer personnel cuts...

...just like everybody else is suffering in the private sector.

No, that article isn't about the Quinn Bill. It's just another excuse for the T&G to publish yet another article casting as much mud as they can in the direction of the Worcester Police Department. And, of course, yet another opportunity to write that Chief Gemme refused to comment.

But I do sympathize with the T&G regarding the real problem behind all of this baloney over the past year. Today marks 275 days of NO DECISION in the court case that the T&G brought against the city in RedactionGate.

If anything really stinks in this town, it's having a City Dictator, along with a fully consenting City Council, that fights against the public's right to know so successfully. And what, exactly, is it that they don't want the public to know? It's a collection of records that a previous court had already ruled to be public records!

And at the bottom of it all is nothing but a pathetic little soap opera. It all could've been over with, long before 2009 had even begun.

It isn't the Worcester Police Department that deserves the T&G's endless sliming, it's City Hall. The stink coming out of that building is now worse than a whorehouse at low tide.

Heh.

Unfortunately, the plaintiff (T&G) can't argue their case against the defendant (City of Worcester), as long as the case is still "under adjudication". Hence, the anti-cop campaign... I mean, how else can they keep the pressure up in defense of the public's right to know?

Consequently, the question that should be on everyone's mind these days is simply, "How much longer is this bullshit soap opera going to continue?"

If I have to walk into the voting booth on November 3rd with this case still "undecided", I'll probably be voting against all the incumbents on the City Council. Their support of the City Dictator's decision to fight against the public's right to know has effectively produced a climate in this town for well over a year that's resulted in the chronic undermining of community relations with the police department.

I won't vote for them because their decision to back up the City Dictator's fight against the public's right to know has made Worcester a more dangerous place. We need to have a community where the good guys and the community at large have GOOD relations. But because of those incumbents on the City Council deciding AGAINST the public's right to know, we have a police/community climate that is just the opposite. And it just gets worse, every time the T&G publishes a story like this "Quinn Bill" thing today...

The result of their decision producing a more dangerous city can well be argued as being an "unintended consequence" of that decision. But, at this stage of the game, there is definitely something they can do about it. They can pressure the City Dictator to drop the case.

Right now.

It's either that, or we magically get a decision from the judge before the election.

Either way, this is the show stopper for me. I consider this to be the only "issue" that determines how I'll vote on November 3rd. Any other decisions that City Council incumbents have made over the past two years are not... but I can certainly spend the next fifteen days hauling them all back up into the light, and pointing out how utterly stupid I think so many of those decisions were.

Frankly, I really do like everyone who's been serving on the City Council over the past two years. But that doesn't mean that I don't find the challengers to be likable, either.

However... it isn't what any candidate SAYS during this campaign season that really matters to me.

It's what the incumbents have actually DONE that makes the difference in my book. And if something isn't DONE about RedactionGate before I step into that voting booth, none of them will get my vote. If something isn't DONE to turn around this chronic predisposition for bad community relations with the Worcester Police Department, then it's MY LIFE that's being threatened with an increasingly dangerous environment. It's MY LIFE, as someone who lives and works here, that matters to ME.

And, believe me, I see the fallout from this ongoing descent into deteriorating community relations with the police EVERY DAY. I see the look on every cop's face when I drive by and give them a friendly wave... it's a surprise to them that somebody out here in the public actually acts like they're not the enemy! And the number of kids wearing "don't snitch" buttons and t-shirts that I see, and the number of people who get into my cab and show hatred for the police... it's just gotten worse, month after month.

I blame ALL OF YOU on the City Council, supposedly MY only representatives in this city government, choosing to fight against MY RIGHT TO KNOW, and thereby precipitating this utterly unnecessary climate of anti-cop sentiment, here in the City of Worcester.

RedactionGate is the 500 pound gorilla in the room at every so-called "debate". It's been hanging over this city like an ever-darkening pall for 275 days, now. How incredibly "convenient" that the whole thing is still "under adjudication"... and none of you incumbents can say anything about it.