register |  login
› LONGMONT
Loading Ad
Visit Other Hubs:
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Tower
RECENT STORIES

More City Council Buffoonery
Contributed by: Chris Rodriguez on 4/9/2008

4/8/08 - Anyone happen to catch tonights Longmont City Council meeting? Once again the simple task of choosing applicants for advisory boards descending into utter nonsense. How hard is this?

For the board in question, there were 4 applicants, and 3 positions: 2 primary and 1 alternate. The deadline was somewhere around 10 days ago, as a clear answer was not given by the City Clerk of when this was. So if you, like me, looked at the City Council agenda that came out last Friday, and every Friday before each meeting, there were the applications of the nominees.

It's been the opinion of more than a few that our new majority on council is cherry picking candidates for these appointments. One of the applicants put on his application that his neighbor, Councilmember Karen Benker, was who advised him of this spot. Hmmm, okay, we'll let that go for now.

So, councilmembers had a few days to consider the 4 applicants. But at the council meeting, Sean McCoy lets it be known that he and Brian Hansen have submitted 2 applicants of their own, AFTER THE DEADLINE! I bet you can see where this is going.

Councilmember Mary Blue had recused herself prior to this as she had a family member in the list of applicants. Gabe Santos brought up the point that one time he had put in an application for a board after the deadline and there was no special rule change or consideration for him, and there not should be one for these two applicants. So they put it to a vote: should council suspend the rules of the application deadline for these two applicants. Here's where I think City Attorney Clay Douglas made a mistake: while Councilmember Blue was recused from the vote involving her relative, she should NOT have been recused from her vote on this change of rules. Do you want to guess how this vote went? Yeahs: Benker, Levison, McCoy, and Hansen.

So, not only does this out of control bloc blatantly disregard the rules that have been in place for I'd guess a long time, they make it so they can vote on it, and pass this questionable procedure. And no, they didn't vote to change an ordinance or any resolutions, you know, the stuff that makes the rules they're supposed to follow. They just wormed their way around it. Very democratic.

Lastly, want to guess who made the cut for this board? One of the primary members was the aforementioned Benker-invited nominee, the other was one of these late and very questionable additions. Councilmembers had all of maybe a few minutes to look at their applications, if that. Note to some councilmembers: when some people say you're doing a great job, maybe they're not talking about YOU specifically.

Sidenote:You may have noticed a new site name, I'll also be hosting a podcast which can be subscribed to through iTunes. Just do a search for Longmont, you'll find me there. I'm thinking the above story may be on the first official show.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

©2008 Chris Rodriguez/Longmont Advocate LLC
(Chris Rodriguez is a Longmont resident, and the publisher and broadcaster of Longmont Advocate, a community website and podcast that raises local issues to increase public awareness and interest)


SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story



Current Rating
Based on 7 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

< BACK | NEXT >
Showing 1-10 of 12 comments
Submitted By: J. McCoy
posted on 4/25/2008 @ 10:57:57 PM
Rated Story
Don't you know Chris, the rules are for conservatives only,Wray is laughing because Democrats have a free pass with all their entitlements over everyone else according to the progressive rule makers?
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Doug Wray
posted on 4/12/2008 @ 12:12:18 PM
(Not Rated)
Who ever said you were a conservative? (falls off chair laughing) (from under desk) "...who ever said..." (hooting and kicking feet).... Ahhh... Chrissy, you really crack me up. Thanks! I needed a good laugh and Steph's site bookmark wasn't quick-to-hand.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Chris Rodriguez
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 10:35:07 PM
(Not Rated)
Who ever said I was a conservative? And who says who I'm talking about is liberal OR conservative? Talk about making assumptions, do you know how each councilmember leans? How they're registered? You ever been to or watched a CC meeting? What's with all these "They's"? But thanks for the meaningless and irrelevant (to this post) rant. Lemme guess, you are one of these so-called 'grown-ups'? HAHAHAHA, please.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Ralph Dosser
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 10:00:40 PM
Rated Story
This bizarre little thread is a fine example of all that remains of modern movement conservatism. They can't win on issues, so the only thing they have left is demonizing their opposition. They take any act - no matter how small and innocuous - and blow it up into a scandal. They emit a continuous stream of made-up allegations, blowing smoke and hoping that the voters will assume there has to be a fire somewhere. The bad news for them and the good news for America is that it doesn't work anymore. They lost Congress, they lost Colorado, they lost Longmont - no sane person will bet on McCain's chances in November. The grown-ups are in charge again.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: David Larison
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 6:07:13 PM
Rated Story
For the record, the vote was 4-2 allowing the past-deadline candidates to be eligible. Lange and Santos dissented. One of the Johnny-come-lately's, Lannan(sp?) was voted onto the Board for a regular term, not as an alternate.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Chris Rodriguez
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 5:49:48 PM
(Not Rated)
Stephanie, since Mary Blue wasnt voting, what if it was 3-3? Fail by not passing? Change the rules for their own benefit, I know if the other side did it, some of these folks would be howling. Keep an eye out for changes in campaign finance that would criminalize what some of them did themselves, or ease the penalty on things they did - after the fact of course.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Chris Rodriguez
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 5:44:20 PM
(Not Rated)
No story yet you're on your third comment - and the ghost of impropreity was brought up and asked about in the council meeting, and even voted on, and a couple members didnt go lockstep. Maybe it's not an issue to you, doesnt mean it's not an issue. Oh, they're building a track record alright. Did I say you shouldnt 'write freely'? I think I said 'who cares', and your free to reciprocate, don't matter a lick to me.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Ralph Dosser
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 5:05:45 PM
Rated Story
My point, Mr. Rodriguez, is that you don't actually have a story here. You had to split hairs repeatedly to come up with even a ghost of an appearance of impropriety. As for being an "endless" apologist for "these people" - they've been in office a matter of weeks. Why don't we actually let them build a track record instead of trying to nitpick them to death for procedural matters, of all things? Furthermore, I'll continue to write freely and as I see fit - this is a public forum, after all.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Chris Rodriguez
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 3:50:12 PM
(Not Rated)
Yeah, I wonder if you'd think that way if you were one of the people who got their application in ON TIME and may have been more qualified. Oh, but it doesnt affect you, and being an endless apologists for these people, it just is such a meaningless issue. Who care's what you're 'afraid' of, did we ask?
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Ralph Dosser
posted on 4/9/2008 @ 3:15:01 PM
Rated Story
Mrs. Baum, in what world do kids pay the slightest attention to what happens in local government meetings? And why are conservatives so utterly obsessed with President Clinton's sex life that they'll mention it at every opportunity?
[Report as objectionable]
Showing 1-10 of 12 comments
< BACK | NEXT >
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Chris Rodriguez

Longmont , CO

Chris Rodriguez has posted 57 stories and 236 comments since joining on 3/22/2007. Chris Rodriguez's average story rating is 3.85.
SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY
STORY RSS FEEDS
WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?
Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

Loading Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

This YourHub.com community is produced by The Denver Newspaper Agency
Web Development and Channel Analytics provided by Indigio

terms of use //  privacy policy
the staff //  advertise //  help & faq
buy photos