So, although the "sore issue" of anyone in the city getting paid more than minimum wage seems like such a political hot issue to so many, my particular income situation certainly doesn't dictate that I have to think like a complete idiot about this, too.
Twenty nine K a year is peanuts for the service that's gotten in exchange. If Councilors charged a pro-rata hourly billing, based on what their typical incomes are in private life, their actual worth to the city, it'd be one helluva lot more than a measly $29k a year.
I agree with Joe Petty when he says, "No, I think it's a red herring for candidates who have pretty much nothing else to talk about." (...a quote from the video clip, below.)
But I was certainly surprised to see this campaign video clip that was posted to YouTube yesterday. It's a clip that appears to catch Rick Rushton in a lie...
Bill McCarthy apparently feels that the pay issue is important. The video clip has Rick saying, "I've already taken a zero percent on this year on the raise", and then cuts to a list of the Councilors and Rick's name circled in red with the $29k circled next to it.
So, although the pay issue certainly doesn't seem like an issue to me, a campaign video that makes one of the incumbents out to be a liar is certainly a big issue.
What about it, Rick? Has Bill McCarthy done a "gotcha"?
Frankly, something like this showing up just a day or two before the election leaves me suspicious... You can't tell if Bill McCarthy made this video, you can't tell if he even knows about this video, and you can't tell if he even has any connection at all to the YouTube user named "McCarthy4Worcester". There are, after all, only two clips posted under that username.
And we can't really tell if what Rick said in the clip is one of those excised sound bites that's taken out of context. We can't see whatever he might have been saying before what's shown, and we can't see whatever he might have been saying after what's shown... We can't tell if everything he may have said before and after would have completely changed the argument being forwarded in the video... namely, that "Rushton lies about turning down a pay increase", which is the title of the video clip.
And then there's this graphic that's used in the video.It doesn't show what year, or what source this comes from. It could, conceivably, be a totally fictitious set of data. We just can't tell from the clever editing that was done.
Voters have no real opportunity to see this particular swipe play out in just 24 hours before the election... and that's what really bothers me about it. Issues need to be brought up at the BEGINNING of the campaign season so that all the candidates have a fair chance to bring their positions clearly into view, and all the ancillary info fully sifted through. This kind of thing always bothers me... these last minute surprises.
It bothers me because nobody really has any time left before the election tomorrow to completely drill down into this and find out what all the facts are. It's not because either Bill or Rick represent positions that I favor or not, and it isn't because I like or dislike either of them. I personally feel that ALL the candidates can bring something valuable to the Council, should they be elected or re-elected.
But this last minute mud just pisses me off.
Update(10am): I got a message from Rick this morning refuting the claim made in the video clip, saying that he doesn't know what document the video was showing, and suggesting that the City Auditor's department has the correct listings of Councilor pay. There's also a copy of a letter he sent to Director of Human Resources on 1/13/09, instructing them to reduce his monthly compensation to the level that existed prior to January 10, 2009.
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8 comments:
It surprises me a bit that someone can't make $29k driving a cab in Wormtown. (I bet back in the day, before the City went down for the third time, it was quite possible. Like when there used to be stores Downtown that people shopped at.)
But what really surprises me is that you haven't figured out something far more important. Namely that someone with the writing skills you exhibit here on a daily basis should worry about how much one can make driving a cab in the first place.
Jeff, you are not a cab driver who has a blog on the side.
You are a writer who drives a cab to make ends meet, but hasn't realized it yet.
Dude- write a book already. ("Wormtown Taxi". It's already got a great title.) Write 30 or 40 essays. (You do that anyway!) Put them together in a cohesive fashion, and start sending them to publishers. Soon the reject letters start rolling in. Before you know it, someone will publish it. (I'll buy one. Most of your readers will too.) Then you get to go on tour plugging it on local radio shows.
On the strength of this, you might just get an advance on something much bigger.
Before you know it, the cab gig becomes nothing more than something you do to draw inspiration for your real job.
-Heyduke
Imagine the money saved if there were no councilors!
The CM could run the city as it should, as a business, and the nonsense the councilors cause would finally disappear. Extract the politics from the whole process, the residents would be better off.
The amount of money is nothing. Small potatoes. I agree. I think the real story with this is how the council, working in partnership with the City Manager voted themselves the raise without popular consent, in a time of financial crisis. This is typical arrogant and toxic way Worcester City Hall does it's business and why no one on the inside should be voted back in. Politicians lie all the time, that part is not really that surprising. We need more than 1 of 5 people to go out and vote.
Did it have a date on it?
If one isn't visible it doesn't mean it was the latest one.
Heyduke: My collection of rejection slips from magazine and book publishers burned up in a fire in 1983. The average "writer" in America makes far less than $29k a year... more like around $4k.
Will: I think John Lennon's "Imagine" lyrics would sound interesting if you were to re-write them "Wierd Al Yankovic" style.
Anonymous: The pay raise was voted in on December 19, 2006. This was nearly two years before this past autumn's "financial collapse" on Wall Street. But you're certainly right about this city needing more than just 1 out of 5 going out to vote tomorrow!
See here is the thing about the 30k a year for councilors.
I have a job. It doesn't pay me a whole lot of money but I need it. Every once in a while, as is the case with the majority of the United States citizenry, I have to do something I find unethical at my job. Even though I hate it, I do it, because I need to keep my job. For a 30,000 a year raise, I might do a few more unethical things to keep that raise.
See where I am going with this at all?
----> You can do it, Jeff. I believe in you. Don't give up. <-----
Consider this......
Before Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, he FAILED 670 times.
He failed and failed and failed. People laughed at him. He could not pay his workers. He had to hide from bill collectors every day. Edison's wife begged him to get a real job. Day after day after day- of utter, humiliating failure.
How many of us would have given up after failing 100 times? 500 times? When do you hang it up and "get a life"?
Every time Edison and his men tried something new, the light would glow for a minute- then burn up and die. Night after night they failed. And then failed some more.
Then one night, on the 671st try, they turned the light on, it glowed- and didn't immediately burn up like all the others had. It glowed all night long, into the next day, and into the next night before it finally burned out. It was the most amazing thing anyone had ever seen- electric light. Edison's workers wept with joy. After this night- they laughed in the bill collectors' faces. Before long this invention changed the world and made Edison fabulously wealthy.
The point is---> he never gave up. EVER. Long after people laughed at him and said he was a loser and his idea would never work, long after anyone else would have thrown in the towel, long after everyone else would have given up and driven a cab- he kept trying. No amount of failure or rejection letters every stopped Thomas Edison.
Edison was a genius. Follow his example. Don't give up. :-)
-Heyduke
Heyduke: giving up has never been an option.
Gabe: I really can't see that kind of chump change corrupting anybody.
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