The Mayor and Mr. Lang should be held accountable!

In the last few months I have been forced to be more direct than I would have wished. When government and its leadership treat the common citizen with disrespect, dishonesty and intimidation it angers me. Then when this same group attempts to manipulate the truth by gossip and speaking behind others back, with partial truths, there is only one way to cope with bad government and poor leadership.

During this past week at the last city council meeting the issue of precedence came up and the mayor displayed at best a speech out of both sides of his mouth. At worst, he demonstrated justified dishonesty. At least this was his attempt to justify his dishonesty. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Lang and Mr. Oakes have an agenda to discredit and eliminate the police force.

Precedence is used in government so that the government treats all people in a like situation the same. Precedence is not every time a new mayor is elected he gets the choice of establishing a new precedence. A new mayor does not have the right to pick and choose what precedence he wants. All precedence should be maintained to insure honesty, integrity and predictability in government.

In the recent controversy regarding the Chief of Police, the mayor claimed that precedent, established by two other city attorneys and at least one previous mayor, using the police commission before the city council was not guiding in the current situation. Then he said precedence was important when examining if the Chief’s attorney fees should be reimbursed. WOW! In the same meeting the mayor spoke out of both sides of his mouth and then asks that we respect the dishonesty.

We need accountability in government and this mayor refuses to hold Mr. Lang or himself accountable for the sleepless nights, the terror placed upon the chief’s family and then cowardly hiding behind precedence. Now he pretends to worry about the city coffers.

The mayor and Mr. Lang are absolutely wrong. What they have done is not an issue of precedence it is an issue of accountability. To put my money where my mouth is, I am willing to reduce the attorney fees to Mr. Horman to $100.00, on condition that the mayor and Mr. Lang contribute $250.00 each to the city coffers.

This makes a politician pay for what he wants the public to believe, was an honest mistake. It will make Mr. Lang think twice about what template he decides to use the next time. Come on men; put your money where your mouth is. I did! Why should Mr. Horman pay? He was found to have conducted no wrong doing?

Now we should require the Mayor and Mr. Oakes to pay for signing a contract with Mr. Lang that has costs this city thousands. Come on Dan, cough up the bucks for your mistake. Or has the mayor promised you immunity from poor decisions when he appoints you on Monday?