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August 21, 2005

So Much to Cover..So Little Time

Dangit if I didn't wish I could forego sleep and just blog all night instead. However, my family and my health and, oh, a few other things (one of them spelled J-O-B) come first. And I haven't played a guitar in WAY too many days -- that's sure to be unhealthy.

Let's take a quick walk through some of the recent news and opinions, and maybe your calendar will allow you time to submit substantive comments that round this out to more than a mere "executive version."

I commend the staff writers of the CTFP for helping to expose the discrepancy between campaign contributions reported by lobbyists and those reported by the recipients. (Sunday, August 21, A1 -- because of their website and practices, I only manually cite this source, and BTW I don't care that I'm making up my own citation methodology.) In case you didn't hear, lobbyists reported giving roughly a quarter million, while candidates reported receiving over half a mil. This needs to be known -- but the real story, and one that I hope the paper will include in its "occasional series" -- is that this under-reported $309,396 is chump change compared to all the other types of spending that lobbyists lavish upon our elected representatives: types that are not currently required to be disclosed at all. Also worth noting: the lobbyist who tops the list for unreported campaign contributions? None other than Charles Love.

The top front-page story, though, in the same edition, is that Hamilton County Commissioner Richard Casavant -- uh, that would be Doctor Richard Casavant, educated and educator, and no socialist he -- will propose a [hopefully modest] property tax increase tomorrow morning at 9:30, at the County Commission's special meeting. County Courthouse, Fourth floor. Be there. I will, if at all possible. It almost goes without saying that the uneducated Commissioners are lining up to vote against this proposal, and are leaning heavily on poor Greg Beck (since it appears they may have given up on Larry Henry). 5th District residents who agree with "biting the bullet" for our schools, Commissioner Beck needs your support, and in a big way. Oops, I guess I've just shown my hand. Oh, well. The wife and I discussed it, and even though Kathleen Baydala quotes different figures than I did, we agree that anywhere between 5 and 12 dollars a month more is worth it, if the money is spent wisely to provide quality education for our neighbors' children.

Speaking of educating our children, electing responsible Commissioners, and playing guitar: all three topics come together wonderfully this coming Thursday, August 25, at Eastgate Town Center, where a Back-to-School rally is being held. 5:30 - 7:00pm. Bring school supplies to donate, and, if you've got it, money to support John Bailes in his bid for office. Yours truly will be among those supplying music for the event. I'm working on a setlist, but as a special bonus to Civic Forum readers, if you'll supply me with some lyrics on the subject of opposing Curtis, supporting John, or both, I will do my best to set them to music and sing and play them back at you Thursday. Just leave 'em in the Comments here. Do so no later than Tuesday evening, please, as I'd need a little time to work something up.

And, with that, I'm going to have to leave. I'll blog the other stuff later. There's so much, but in the immortal words of Milne (through Pooh), "it's nearly eleven o'clock... time for a little smackerel of something."

Education , Government , Guitar Blogging , Sunday Drive | By joe lance | 10:58 AM