Rotta vs. Holman on WMOM, Round Two

[XLFD]

Earlier today an old-style debate was held between the Ludington City Councilor at large candidates, Kaye Holman and Tom Rotta and that audio is recorded here:  11-7-11 Debate, Holman-Rotta.

 

Some comments from the latter candidate on the incumbents statements. 

 

1)  She states over and over that Truth in Taxation hearings are mandated by State law each year, irregardless of whether the taxing body (in this case the City of Ludington) wants to raise tax rates or not.  That is not true, as illustrated by this Michigan treasury document and this law that the previous document points to MCL 211.24e (note sec 3). 

Most every municipality throughout Michigan allows the millage rates to get rolled back via Headlee without ever resorting to Truth in Taxation hearings.  Kaye Holman is the chairperson of the City's Finance Committee.  For her to not have the understanding that she is not forced each year to raise taxes is a sign of why the Ludington citizens are overtaxed and will continue to be so with four more years of her annual summertime gorging on your savings.  

Personally, I think its an obscene practice, and if they want to find whether the citizens want more government revenue at their expense, put such requests before the electorate in the November elections.

 

2)  As regards the water tower and its painting, there was never any case made in the public utility committee's minutes, the pre-contract paperwork, or the contract itself that said that either water tower needed painting in 2010.  From the FOIA information I got, it would have to be presumed that a salesman from the Utility Services Company contacted the city and sold them on the concept of spreading out payments over time, so as not to have a blip in the budget when the towers needed painting.  So instead of getting them both painted for $300,000 in one year, they decided to spend nearly $1.2 million over ten years as a way to get the job done.  That just sounds dumb to me. 

The maintenance plan is a joke-- our water guys have to drain the tower, they (USC) come in and inspect it, maybe rinse it out, and go back to their far away place.  I much rather would have our own water guys do the inspecting, after all they and their families and friends have to drink and bathe in it.  They have a vested interest in it being hygienical and up to the health code.

 

3)  Kaye Holman boasts about how well she does her job, and how she is so available to her constituents.  I disagreed today.  She votes over and over again to impinge on the citizen's rights, over and over she votes to raise fees and taxes.  Over and over, that extra cash is thrown to corporate welfare (tax abatements, 'economic development'), ill-thought projects (water tower painting, marina 'improvements'), and keeping the municipal employees salaries high and their fringe benefits exceptionally high. 

But she was shown to be little more than a fraud when she was reminded that I had sent two letters via the mail, ten E-mails and had no response from her at all.  And that 'Eve Alone' had sent eighteen E-mails to her inbox as well, without any response at all.  Not even a "Call me." response.  No reply at all.

I was told that I always used half truths in my communications.  I know that when someone sends me half truths, I try to correct them, but maybe that's the teacher in me.  My last E-mail to her described the basis of a FOIA appeal in involved terms.  Previous E-mails this year asked about marina hiring practices, and city councilor salaries in a respective manner, hoping for an answer.  Yet, contrary to her insistence that she will find answers for you if you contact her, she doesn't even reply, just to say "You're wrong" or "You deal in half-truths."  Pay no attention to the gentle woman behind the curtain.  What a humbug.

  

I only want to get the full truth, and that is why Kaye has been doing one terrible job, and needs to be replaced.  Don't forget to vote tomorrow if you are a resident of Ludington.  Send a message to Kaye that she will get loud and clear, and definitely respond to.

[AQUAMAN]

If the Voters of Ludington have any resolve to make a first step for an obvious necessary change, they will come in larger numbers than expected, and punch the Rotta slot to elect. Otherwise, it will just show the apathetic and uninformed public doesn't care. Your opponent stumbled several times today, yet remains aloof and arrogant when actually having to think and act on her answers. Half-truths or whole-truths, either way, that's a cop-out answer. If she truly had the voters' and Ludington's best interests in mind, which she repeatedly boasts of, she would be informative and proactive in her conduct. Instead, she relies on her incumbent status as "hey, I'm already an elected official, who are you to question me"? "plus, I'm too important and busy to answer any voters questions that I don't need to reveal to outsiders not in my clique" attitude. To me, that's just wrong, and NOT in Ludington's best interests. Then there's all the dirty tricks of the LDN collusion, stealing signage, having the code enforcer remove and steal more signage, and in general, just kicking the ball around for the time being, now that she has to defend her precious seat, again. How many years does she need to accomplish some unanswered, un-pledged goals? What are they? What's her most important accomplishment in 8 years? These are some of the lingering questions I'd ask her, and demand an answer to.

[Willy]

I couldn't get the recording to play. Thanks for the coverage on the debate. Good luck tomorrow X.

[AQUAMAN]

Even poor little Todo knew fakes from real people, nice. And who could argue with Phil Collins expertly crafted music, never lacking in true original songs with a message to remember. You probably need an update to your adobe or some such Willy, if it gets too old, it ceases to operate properly for some reason that Bill Gates doesn't want us to know about.....lol.

[XLFD]

I'll see whether I can load the file differently so you can hear it later, Willie.  My CD drive isn't working so I had to transfer it from a borrowed computer onto a flash drive and then to my computer and the Torch, and I had difficulty myself getting it to load on my normal computer-- which has its faults. 

Thanks for the kind words, and a special thanks to Aquaman for being able to place my latest flier on the pages of the LDN today at no cheap cost, and land a well thought out letter to the editor that helped explain what my 'sideshow' would entail.  It looks like rain tomorrow starting around six AM (making plan C effectively worthless, Aquaman, ha ha), and continuing all day.  Button up your overcoats and get out there and vote if you can. 

[XLFD]

City Councilor at-large-elect Holman was on WMOM this morning with City Councilor elect Tykoski.  No debates, they're both on the same page. 

I heard her tell us that our possibilities here in Ludington were basically unlimited, with the only limit being money.  In other words:  Be prepared for the introduction of new and increased fees and taxes disguised as fees in the next couple of City Council meetings.  Then more truth in taxation hearings to raise the tax rates this summer. 

Just in case you don't understand how this is improving your lot in life, she is prepared to come in each Thursday at 9:00 AM and explain how she and the rest of city hall is doing what's best for Ludington and its citizens.  Liberal/progressive  talk radio doesn't have a good history, but I wish you luck, Kaye in getting the message out.

[AQUAMAN]

For a person that just served 8 years, is the chair of the finance committee, knows the state of financial affairs in the state, town, and country during the worst recession in our lives, she sure seems lost and out of touch in her civic position. How she conjoled her way in and continues to get reelected is beyond me, and should be for anyone else that is awake and cogent of the facts of her reign on city council. I predict this openess and radio appearances will fade soon as she gets over the shock that she has any supporters left nowadays.

[XLFD]

As the chair of the Finance Committee, you have to be concerned as a citizen that she could not add up the numbers for the water tower contract and she tried to spread the lie that John Shay cited in April 2011 about the Utility Services Company being held to paint the water tower again in this contract.  The contract holds the City of Ludington to have these guys paint the towers in ten years. 

But this contract expires on December 31, 2019.  And I cannot emphasize enough that since the Gaylord water tower was painted in the fall of 2010, having this water tower painted again in ten years, 2020, will mean that the City is entitled to enter into another contract (likely for over $2 million for ten more years) with this overpriced out-of-state company that year as well. 

This is madness, and when you add the numbers yourself, see that there was no documentation on file that required these towers to be painted immediately (and that the Danaher towers still seems to be doing fine without being painted these two years, even though we've paid well over $100,000 on its contract), and that she deliberately puts out misinformation in a public forum on the terms of this contract without basis or shame, you have to wonder about her competency as the Finance Committee chairperson. 

You also have got to realize that our city is going to now be in some serious trouble, as Pete Engblade, the CC who sometimes catches boondoggles like this, is forced to retire.   

[Willy]

I don't think Pete was on the ball. Why didn't he discover what you had to file a FOIA on. The information was right under his nose and he either missed it or intentionally let it float by him. Good riddance Pete.

[AQUAMAN]

Hey, Pete is a stand-up guy, a better man than any there, the last straw in the camels back that we had there to use common sense and represent the locals, irregardless of his oversight on this one. In fact, he praises this contract. But, he's got some info. that is tainted, force-fed, and that is what too many there rely on, not the first hand facts they need time to gather and digest. When we are finally rid of the "Hendy-Brady bunch", Pete will likely be our next Honor to make a great Mayor, but, don't quote me just yet, that's just a locals wish right now, not a fact yet.

[Willy]

Here's the problem as I see it. Did Pete stand up for X when he was banned from City Hall? Did he stand up and argue against any of X's uncovered corrupt acts by local politicians? Did he stand up when the Mayor and others hired relatives to work at the Marina instead of hiring some of Ludingtons non related citizens? Did Pete stand up and question or try to block the boondoggle painting of the water tower? Did he question and look into the no bid contracts that seem to be the norm for local Government representatives? In my opinion Pete may be a nice guy but he is a handsitter. If he were on the ball then X would not be going thru his ordeals with Shay and City Hall. Pete would be the go to guy that would be raising and questioning the practices of local politicians. And this goes for everyone of the Councilors. Those that stand by and do nothing about corruption are worse than those that perpetrate that corruption. That's why Joe Paterno is no longer the coach at Penn st.

[XLFD]

I think Willie hits on a lot of salient issues here.  Pete's a stand-up guy, but he has been on the council for twelve years, and that has been the problem of the good people that get City Hall jobs, elected or appointed.  Expediency becomes more important than ethics after a while of serving.

Pete was active in his first couple years on the council, he was the driving force in establising a local Board of Ethics (which has become just a directionless figurehead that doesn't even do its minimal job of reviewing financial disclosures of public officials), and established himself as someone who was unabashedly, fiscally conservative. 

Nowadays, Pete sometimes offers a vote against tax or fee increases, but I do see him offering only token resistance and passing an awful lot of legislation that betrays fiscal conservative principles.  Like Kaye Holman who came to the Council with some fresh ideas, his has gotten stale as of late, and he has fiddled while the Constitution burns in Ludington.

[AQUAMAN]

Very good counterpoints guys. Expediency is not the best route for big decisions, but, sometimes the pressure is over the top without knowing what the committees information was because you were on a different committee. For sure, haste makes waste. Just a final thought.