We will begin with a little County Council 101 for those who don't have a full understanding of the process. For those who do, please be patient. A Committee, such as Finance, consists of all members of Council. One member is the Chairman of that Committee. The Chairman does not have a vote on his/her Committee. There are four Conservative Republicans on County Council, Cathy Davis, Philip Farley, Tim Callanan, and Dennis Fish. There are two Liberal Democrats, Steve Davis and Caldwell Pinckney. There are two RINOs, (Republicans In Name Only), Bob Call and Jack Schurlknight. The Supervisor and Chairman of County Council, Dan Davis is, also, a RINO.
The two Liberals and the three RINOs have formed some sort of unholy alliance in order to control County government. This is how it works. Supervisor Davis comes up with an idea, usually one that wastes the BC taxpayers' money. At the regular meeting, the four Conservatives vote against the proposal while the two Liberals and the two RINOs join forces to vote for it. Presto! A tie vote. Then, the Chairman, Supervisor Davis, is forced to break the tie. Surprise, surprise, Mr. Davis gets exactly what he wants and there goes your money.
A logical question to the thoughtful mind would be, "Why would the two Liberal Democrats cooperate in such a deal?" We cannot even suggest the reasoning of these Liberals. We can only state the facts as they happened. After Dan Davis was elected, there was a $2.4 Million water line, that Mr. Pinckney had been screaming about for over a decade, installed to Mr. Pinckney's front door. There are less than 10 tap-ins to this line at a cost to the taxpayers of $300,000 per tap-in. Of course, we would never suggest that there is any connection between these two occurrences. In the 2010/2011 budget there is a tiny bit of spending for a new library and other facilities in Mr. Steve Davis' District. Can anybody say Millions of dollars? Again, there is probably no connection between the this and Mr. Davis' support.
As to the two RINO Councilmen, we have no theory about them. We have opted to avoid the frightening prospect of getting into Mr. Call's thought process. Concerning Mr. Schurlknight, to quote one of his relatives, "Jack hasn't had his hands on the football since kickoff". So GE&P has no thoughts as to why these two have aligned themselves so closely with the Democrats and the Supervisor's efforts.
Now, let's get back to the happenings of the May 24th Council meeting. The meeting was uneventful until the Finance Committee meeting. When Mr. Schurlknight brought up Bill No. 10-20 for second reading, the popcorn hit the fan. This Bill is an ordinance providing for the 2010/2011 BC budget. In this budget, Supervisor Davis has, for the third year, pilfered 29% of our property tax relief from the proceeds of the Local Option Sales Tax.
When Mr. Schurlknight began third reading, Mr. Fish moved to reject the budget in its entirety. The motion immediately received a second. Mr. Schurlknight seemed prepared for this motion and immediately began reading off a litany of items in the budget which absolutely, positively, with out a doubt, had no other source of funding except from the proceeds from the 29%. He repeatedly ignored Mr. Fish's call for the vote. As Mr. Schurlknight read off each item, Mr. Callanan would ask where the funding for that item came from previously. Each time he was told, "From the general fund". Mr. Callanan kept asking, "Where did that money go?" He never got an answer.
Mr. Schurlknight continued to vigorously go about the work of his Little Daddy and defend the continued confiscation of the property tax relief promised to the citizens of BC. Finally, a committee vote was allowed and the budget was rejected. (Remember, Mr. Schurlknight is the Chairman of the Finance Committee and didn't have a vote on this issue in committee) The vote was 4 Conservatives, Fish, Callanan, Farley, and Mrs. Davis against 2 Democrats, Pinckney, and S. Davis and one RINO, Call. The result of this vote SHOULD have been a recommendation from committee that the budget be rejected. But, when the item came up during the full Council meeting, Mr. Schurlknight did as his Little Daddy told him and referred it out of committee. This move puts this item, the budget in its existing form, on the agenda for third reading at the June meeting. Mr. Schurlknight's action, in effect, nullified the wishes of half of Council.
Once again, the Tax and Spend RINOs joined with the Tax and Spend Liberals to defeat the efforts of the Conservatives to save the taxpayers' money. Mr. Fish, Mr. Callanan, Mr. Farley, and Mrs. Davis did everything in their power to prevent this money grab but the unholy alliance, Liberals plus Democrats, had five votes. That was the end of the story, for the time being.
This is where you, the voters have the ability to influence, dare we say control, YOUR county government. In case you dozed off, we would like to tell you there is an election coming up on June 8th. There are several positions in County government up for grabs in this election. We would encourage each and every one of you to take these races very seriously. Your and the county's financial future depend on the outcome. If you are impressed with the tenacity and the conviction with which Mr. Fish and Mrs. Davis have defended the taxpayers' interests on Council, please go out and vote for their reelections. They have both fought the good fight and deserve your support. But, the ultimate success of the 4 Conservatives on Council depends on having more Conservatives elected to Council. These four Conservatives cannot defeat the big spending RINOs and Liberals with a 4 to 5 vote. (Remember, Dan Davis breaks a tie vote)
If you have had your fill of the RINOs on Council with their self-serving big spending, replace Mr. Schurlknight with Mr. Terry Hardesty. Mr. Hardesty has a proven record of fiscal conservatism on the BC School Board. He has consistently voted to control costs and reduce spending. You can check his record. Mr. Hardesty was instrumental in locating and hiring a School Superintendent who is a true Conservative. The combination of this Superintendent and a Conservative School Board has made great strides toward eliminating wasteful spending in the School District. Mr. Hardesty will bring these talents and efforts to County Council.
There is an old country saying that, the easiest way to kill the snake, is to cut off the head. In the case of our County government, the easiest way to change the outcome is to replace the leadership. The future of Berkeley County depends on replacing its leadership and this means replacing Supervisor Dan Davis. Over the last three and a half years, this man has proven himself to be unworthy of his position. His ineptness and lack of judgement has been astounding. His financial decisions have defied logic. Through all the controversy of the last three and one half years, our concerns would not be as acute if any of us could believe one word that emanates from this man's mouth. Unfortunately, for us, that doesn't seem to be the case. Our conclusions are based on his official statements made to the citizens of BC over the last couple of months. Being cognizant of the actual facts, it was very difficult, to say the least, for us to suffer through the fairy stories Mr. Davis presented to the folks as truth.
GE&P has heard the concerns a few of you have voiced about electing Henry Brown for Supervisor. Some say Henry has been in office long enough and we need new blood. Others come right out and say Henry's too old to hold this office. We are not going to argue any of the negative comments. We are going to state the unavoidable fact of the situation. This fact is pure and simple. BERKELEY COUNTY NEEDS RID OF DAN DAVIS. Four more years of his leadership and BC will be in a financial hole so deep we may never be able dig out.
In this election we have two viable choices. We either leave Dan Davis at the controls and gamble with our financial future or we replace him with Henry Brown. A huge plus for Henry is that he will return honesty and integrity to the office. If we are realistic, we will admit that honesty is the basis for good government. Also, Henry has the experience to gather and lead a solid second tier of department managers. Henry will guarantee that expertise, ethics and integrity will be of paramount importance in these choices. GE&P encourages everyone to put aside the petty criticisms and peeves of the past and band together for the good of the County. We ask that you vote to elect Henry Brown as our County Supervisor.
Picture this glorious day. It is June 9th. We have reelected Dennis Fish and Cathy Davis. We have elected Terry Hardesty. Combined with Tim Callanan and Phillip Farley, that gives the Conservatives 5 votes on Council. To add the icing to the cake, we have elected an honest man, Henry Brown, as Supervisor. Now, just let the remaining one RINO and the two Liberal Democrats try to steal our money. Thank you, Jesus.
Just as a side note, we have been pondering a puzzle. It seems BC bought a certain piece of heavy equipment this year. The paperwork says this piece of equipment is a 2010 model year and that we paid the 2010 price for such. As strange as it may sound, the serial number says the piece of equipment is a 2008 model year. Wouldn't the actual price of the older model be less than for the newer model if it was bought this year? Hmmmmmm Do we remember a big controversy where Mr. Davis insisted on changing from a lease/purchase system for heavy equipment to an outright cash purchase system? Thank the Lord there's no room for fraud here.
1 comment:
If other citizens have been tracking Dan Davis' and Jack Schurlknights' cumulative actions since they took office, they will agree with me that those two have badly failed us! I think, at a minimum, we need to use the election as a "teaching moment" (Woooo - where did that come from?)and defeat both of them with huge numbers!!
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