Why Arnold's City Council Doesn't Want You Involved.

Glenn Beck had a great monologue a few months ago about political games that are played:

 

It seems that local politicians in Arnold are calling plays right out of the Obama playbook.  Two weeks ago, City Councilman Paul Freese proposed a subsidizedfree trash ordinance to save the poor citizens of Arnold 7 dollars a month on their municipal utility bills.  Freese campaigned for "Free Trash" earlier this year, even going so far as to add the slogan to his campaign signs.  Freese was City Treasurer from 2008 until this year, the same time the City of Arnold incurred a 1.5 million dollar budget deficit due to out-of-control spending and lack of the expected sales tax and red light camera revenue.  He should understand the reasoning behind the City having to charge for trash service in order to balance the budget. 

Maybe that's why Mr. Freese waited until AFTER the budget discussion at the last City Council meeting to try and ram his free trash ordinance through in the "New Business" section of the meeting...without the public having a chance to express their opinion.  Freese was convinced that the City and it's estimated $4 million in reserves was "doing pretty good" and could support the estimated $500,000 it would take to offset the loss of trash fee revenue.  Councilman Bob Lindsley was a voice of reason that night, stating that other cities charge $25-35 a month in trash fees, and that residents in Arnold are getting a pretty good deal. Councilman Jason Connell echoed this belief as well.  Still, Freese pushed forward with a motion, and even had Councilman Jim Edwards second it before common sense returned and Interim City Attorney Frank Vatterott informed them that voting on an ordinance that is not on the agenda is illegal. 

So now, instead of waiting for the work session meeting on September 9th, Freese is once again trying to ram it through this Thursday, September 2nd when it is on the agenda along with 9 other ordinances and resolutions.

So what is the real reason behind all of this?  Remember the Glenn Beck clip above, where he shows that politicians in Washington are clogging the system in order to hide their real agenda?

Lost in the shenanigans two weeks ago was a comment made by Ward 2 Councilman and local sign-installer Bill Moritz.  Moritz asked City Administrator Unrein to look into adopting Rosenberg's Rules of Order instead of the much-used Robert's Rules of Order for Arnold's City Council Meetings.  In case you are not familiar with it, Rosenberg's is the self-described "Simple parliamentary procedures for the 21st Century". It goes into detail, saying "the rules must be simple enough that citizens feel they have been able to participate in the process." and "In a democracy, the majority rules. The rules must enable the majority to express itself and fashion a result".  Also quite alarming is the lack of checks and balances.  It seeks to lessen the role of the "chair" (mayor) by saying "the chairperson should take a back seat in the discussion". Much of this language reeks of progressivism.  Of course, anything endorsed by SEIU can't be that bad, right?

So why would Moritz and others want to change the way City Council meetings are conducted?

Power and control.

You see, for a while, the wheels have been rolling on a plan to have the red light camera contract with ATS renewed in December 2010.  The cameras are very profitable for ATS, and ATS has funneled thousands of dollars into Arnold's City Council elections through third-party sources for the past few years.  Whether it's the Jeffco Labor PAC, Jackie Etling (business associate of Joyce Aboussie) or Jane Dueker and Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP (the lawyers for ATS), Arnold's politicians have been bought and paid for for a while now.  Their plan was almost derailed last year with the death of longtime Arnold public figure Al Ems.  Replacing Ems was Karl Shoenbeck, which gave the council enough votes against ATS' cash cow to keep them out of business after the original contract expired.  That's why ATS funneled money to the Political Action Committee Citizens for a Better Arnold, which in turn spent over $17,000 in opposition to former Councilmen Matt Hay, Jerel Poor and the aforementioned Shoenbeck. 

In May, Councilman Randy Crisler sponsored an ordinance to remove the authority to fire the City Attorney from the Mayor and give it to the Council.  Subsequently, two months later, the Council would do just that by firing Dennis Tesreau.  It was odd at the time considering Tesreau was charging half of what previous City Attorney Bob Sweeney was.  And now, Mr Moritz wants to change the rules of Council meetings to something less strict. And if there is one thing history has shown us, it's that if you give politicians an inch to bend the rules, they will take a mile.

Most of the pieces are in place to assure ATS gets their contract renewed. 

They have a Council that is bought and paid for.

If approved, they will have a procedural system in place to end debate and pass an ordinance without a majority (under Rosenberg's Rules of Order, a quorum can be whatever the Council decides).

Now all they need is a City Attorney that will give them a favorable opinion of Arnold's Red Light Camera ordinance so they will not be personally sued if they defy a legal opinion and vote for an illegal and unconstitutional method of law enforcement.  Jim Edwards has publicly asked for Sweeney to be the choice for Attorney.  This is after Sweeney publicly campaigned for Edwards, which on the surface appears to be unethical and illegal. 

Make no mistake - while they are making you look at the left hand (free trash, iPads, etc.) the other hand is methodically putting the pieces in place to bring back a camera system that is illegal, unconstitutional, and something people do not want in their town.  All in order to pay back the special-interests that helped them get elected.

All politics are local.  And the only way to ensure that your voice is heard is to speak up.  The next City Council meeting is September 2nd at 7 pm. Please attend the meeting and speak out against this special-interest takeover of Arnold.  Edmund Burke once said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".  It's time we all start to do something.

 

 

 

Comments

[Can't wait till Nov.]

This is by far the best article I've seen on this site. I will be contacting my state Rep. and Senator to try and get these under control.

[Jim]

Arnold is clearly a place we need to turn our attentions too after the November election. I've been disgusted with what I've seen, and will be making calls myself.