Elections Are Here, and So Are Some Truth Bombs
We’re hitting the homestretch of this year’s municipal elections. Early voting starts Monday, and Election Day is just a couple weeks away. Numerous thoughts and questions swirl in our collective heads here at InfuseSA.
Is it too much to ask candidates to respect the process and their (prospective) constituents?
Several don’t seem to know that they’re campaigning for citywide office rather than national, state, county, etc. Or in District 2 Councilman Jalen Mckee-Rodriguez’s case, a spot in the next Nicki Minaj video. Several don’t attend forums held by district leaders, like churches, homeowners/neighborhood associations, etc.
Worse, District 1 candidate Sukh Kaur (that’s “pedigreed Dr.” Sukh Kaur to us common folk) has shown an affinity for racially pandering. She can’t make up her mind whether she wants to speak shaky Spanish, or play identity politics by campaigning to give Indians a seat on the dais.
Is it too much to ask that they not mislead voters? Fellow district 1 candidate Jeremy Roberts claims a long-time residence in the district, though official records show otherwise.
If your council person claims to have “consistently worked to lower taxes and protect taxpayer dollars,” like District 6’s Melissa Cabello Havrda does, consult the September 15th council session where all but one voted to raise property taxes.
Not to worry though, as District 9’s John Courage pointed out; they didn’t raise rates (nudge nudge, wink wink).
Is it too much to ask then, that local officeholders defend us from bad decisions made at the county, state and/or national level?
In addition to organic market signals, the Bexar County appraisal district is also responding to poor money policy coming out of Washington D.C. when assessing property values. That doesn’t mean however, that the county, ISDs, city etc. have to take advantage of it by taking more from us at tax time.
Alas, considering they leveraged the pandemic to strip us of our basic human freedoms, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Moreover, is it too much to ask that politicians not so blatantly covet the property and livelihood of others by taking it via eminent domain? Playing the board game Monopoly with friends and family would be a cheaper, and less destructive outlet for their uncontrollable impulses.
Is it too much to ask that elected representatives reject campaign donations from individuals or organizations with business before the council? Is it even too much of a stretch to simply recuse themselves from the pertinent vote?
Mayor Ron Nirenberg, District 8 councilman Manny Pelaez, Mr. Courage and Mrs. Havrda are plenty guilty of this.
The act of voting “yes” for a city contract for donors is malodorous and obscene enough on its face. It’s also another way government keeps the little guy down.
While he/she is struggling to get their business afloat, and surviving, they don’t have time, or the ability to afford, a line item in their budget for “lobbying.” Meanwhile, wealthy donors are given a fast-pass to the front of the line, or at least the impression of such.
Aiding them with confiscated taxpayer funds on the back end, rather than promoting a free, fair, competitive marketplace on the front-end, is insulting.
Finally, is it too much to ask for real leadership from supposed leaders? Case in point, Prop A.
This is the petition-led effort to “decriminalize” marijuana (mostly against federal and state law) and abortion (mostly against state law), ban chokeholds (banned at the state level) and no-knock warrants, codify the “cite and release” program, and create an office of justice director. It’s no secret we firmly oppose it.
We and guest contributors have written numerous times about it, which leads us to our first complaint: this proposal has been floating for months. We’ve known about it at least as far back as October. Why are leaders just now taking a stance?
The San Antonio Express-News has also known as long as we have. But yet, they needed to rake some candidates over the coals regarding how wide the class C misdemeanor freebie is before coming around to oppose it as well?
We know that for control purposes the editorial board’s contact with the newsroom is somewhat restricted, but don’t they read their own paper, and do some research? If they did, perhaps they’d have come out against when we did.
They’d also stumble into some real community leadership and expose folks like Mr. Roberts much earlier. Maybe that would have been reason for the San Antonio Police Officers Association to pause before endorsing him rather than a staunch defender of the police like district 1 candidate Ernest Salinas.
In addition to the standard drawbacks of unionization (shielding the weakest links, artificially inflated compensation, etc.), unions are overtly political. While the top priority of its members is keeping the peace, that of their reps is making sure they have the most likely, friendliest votes on the council.
Public safety should not be confused with this collectivization, which is arguably a stain on the force.
And finally, hizzoner the mayor. The cynic might see two possibilities in his Johnny-come-lately stance against prop A.
One, he played Act4SA for his own political gain. There’s virtually no plausible scenario where he did not know this so-called ‘justice charter’ was in the works.
Though Act4SA Executive Director Ananda Thomas was reportedly frustrated that the mayor didn’t get directly involved, he couldn’t have communicated his reservations through other channels?
The other alternative is that, like the Express-News, he’s leading from behind like many of his council colleagues.
Our supposed luminaries in the Alamo City can, and many times do, hide behind “what my constituents want.” While an open door and ears are of paramount importance, leaders should also be firm on principle, and be prepared to elaborate and stand by it.
When that’s lacking, and leaders go into political mode, we get divisive debates like we’re currently having. That may produce quality red meat for activist grievance hustlers, but it’s not conducive to a peaceful, prosperous society.