Island Guardian

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Stacked Deck

I thought it was a good idea to reserve the right of Referendum and Initiative in the Charter. With these tools the voters can theoretically keep the Council in check when they pass unpopular legislation. Now I am not so sure that this is going to work because the Council can stack the deck unfairly against the people.

First it is necessary to clear away the smokescreen of misinformation that surrounds our very first countywide referendum. Here it is in a nutshell. The Council can’t live within the legal limits of their budget. They take the maximum tax increases allowed by law each year yet they are perpetually short of cash. So they developed a sneaky storm water tax to create a big pool of money. Technically they can’t call it a tax so they called it a “fee for service”. The problem is nobody really gets any service for the fee. (Insert a wink here.)

As luck would have it an attentive and thoughtful citizen was watching this scheme unfold at the courthouse. She had the nerve to file a referendum questioning this storm water tax. That is when the big bloated buttocks of government sat upon and squished her.

When she crawled out from underneath the odious bulging mass she understood how difficult and expensive it would be to get this foul ordinance repealed. The County Council had used its considerable power to sue one innocent private citizen for filing this referendum. Her legal bills were about six thousand dollars. The deck was stacked against her.

When the public became outraged by this action the Council withdrew the lawsuit but they had already squashed this defenseless lady with the full weight of government. Their message was clear, “Don’t question our underhanded schemes to take your money and squander it in new and clever ways or you will pay.”

The County Council, now flush with funds from collecting this unfair tax, decided to stack the deck by spending our confiscated money to fund a campaign to support their unpopular ordinance. They have spent thousands of dollars to mail out slick brochures that obscure the issue and fill the trash bins.

If you actually read the Council’s campaign pamphlet you might get the false impression that the referendum is about clean water, protecting the shorelines, and preserving wildlife in the islands. Not true. It is about collecting more money for Public Works to fritter away.

The County Council can attempt to overpower the referendum by bringing lawsuits and at the same time using public money and personnel to mount a campaign of their own. In this way they will discourage the public from interfering with their decisions.
Whether you are in favor of rejecting this ordinance or not it is obvious that the deck is stacked against anyone who files a referendum. The only way this referendum process will be successful is if it forces the elected politicians to listen to the people. That is why I urge you to cast your vote to reject this unfair ordinance. If we reject it the Council has an obligation to go back and correct their mistakes.
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Feelings

“If it feels good, do it”. This was a motto from the 60’s. This philosophy has worked its way insidiously into the politics of today. “Feeling good” about something has become the basis for much of the policy-making I have seen recently.

The Whale Watching law is a good example of this mindset. Never mind how much it costs or that the laws simply won’t work. High costs of enforcement were considered “a bargain” when measured against saving the whales. It did not matter that the presence of patrol boats with sirens and flashing lights may scare the crap out of the baby Orcas. And it will be a miracle if anyone is ever prosecuted for “knowingly” getting too close to one of these animals. The cost of a trial and the implications of proving that a violation did in fact occur were not really important. The important thing was how good it made everyone feel.

When feelings become the driving force for most policies there is no real need to examine anything intellectually. The untended consequences of laws are not considered. It doesn’t matter that policies don’t accomplish their intended goal.

We feel empathetic toward the whales, concerned and compassionate about the environment, benevolent towards those who need better housing opportunities. It doesn’t matter if the legislation costs too much or won’t work. At least it makes us feel good.

On the other hand, when people oppose a policy on the basis that it is not practical, costs too much, or it is irrelevant to our needs, they are mean nasty and miserly. Contrary opinions to “feel good” policies are always ignored and ridiculed.

While looking for something to do the council found an historic opportunity to save the planet from the certain looming destruction from global warming. They feel that this is the kindhearted thing to do and it proves they care about our local carbon footprint. Logic and reason have little to do with this policy. But at least they will feel good about saving the earth by switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and using biodiesel.

It felt really good to vote for an ordinance that solves the storm water crisis. It did not matter that they were actually subsidizing growth in urban areas at the expense of rural landowners. Never mind that the text was poorly conceived and creates an unfair tax. A committee came up with the basic ideas so the council did not really have to think hard about the implications or worry about crafting any language for it. It felt good to solve the problem once and for all so they did it. Now they are defending this inadequate piece of legislation because they feel strongly about their original decision.

When decisions are made on the basis of feeling good we are not going to solve the specific difficult problems we are faced with. It takes hard thinking to solve these problems. It may not feel good but it’s the only way to get real solutions.
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