Be Careful What You Wish, er....Vote For!

Before I go off today to participate in the local political process I want to tell you this.....
I have a dilemma of sorts.

Our little township(which is 1/5th of the legal entities that comprise my "town")is run by an elected Board of 3 Supervisors. Other elected officials are 1 Zoning Officer, a Tax Collector and 2 Tax Auditors. Other employees of the township are the Township Secretary and a Police Force of 2.
Nice and small limited government.
Just the way I like it except for when it doesn't work right.

Ya see, our Board of Supervisors use to be the "old boys club".  The same group of people ran and were voted in year after year.  And they hired their friends and nothing much got done or changed for the better around here.
Except we had an awesome Secretary.  She did a lot, picking up the slack for the BofS members who did nothing of note to better our community.  She also was an experienced Grant Writer who was able to snag Federal funds for our township.

Well 2 years ago, things changed around here.
New people ran against 2 of the 3 supervisors who were up for reelection.  People who actually called out the old BofS members and detailed what was being done wrong and/or inefficiently with the finances.  They actually cared about spending taxpayer money when it went to no good purpose or was wasted due to oversight or redundancies.
Somebody who said they cared about how our money was spent.....gee, that spoke to me!

So Sluggy voted for these 2 new people who weren't part of the OBC(old boys club)that ran things.
And they won.
And the way money was handled by our township government around here got better.
As a result, taxes didn't go up and services didn't go down.  What is not to love about that?lol


Then these new Supervisors decided to fire the 20 year veteran Secretary who basically ran things here for 20 years when the "old boys" weren't minding the store but still collecting their paychecks and hanging out at their hunting cabins or down at the bar.
They trumped up charges to get rid of her.  Maybe because they considered her part of the old regime, or because she stepped on their toes when they tried to make her do things their way.

It soon became clear they fired her without just cause because they wanted their crony to have the job.
And then they appointed another crony to take over the Zoning Officer job when the old officer quit during his elected term.
Soon after 2 more cronies were put into Tax Auditor positions mid-term when the old ones resigned.

A change in leadership is good.
Except when the 2 new Supervisors install their friends and then proceed to abuse their power.
Monthly Board Meetings have become reminiscent of Nazi Germany around here.

If you have a gripe with how things are run around here, you go to the meeting and air your grievance or ask qustions.
Good for the political process, right?

Not anymore.
Seems people who go and complain or question this Board end up having problems.

They become targets.
They get surprise visits from the Zoning Officer who proceed to fine said property owners for any violations the can trump up.  Even when nobody has called the Township to complain about anything this owner did or is doing.
These people also get visits from the Police Force and get pulled over while driving township roads, just to be harassed and intimidated.
Their bags of leaves get conveniently forgotten when the municipal truck goes around to collect them in the Fall.
The roads near their homes get plowed last in the winter and not kept up and repaired in a timely manner.

So I got what I asked for(the finances to be right), but I also got mini Muammar Gaddafis in the process.

Luckily some people who see what is going on and care to be part of the Board have stepped up despite the wrath of the current BofS and are running for one of the 3 seats, the Zoning Officer position and for the Tax Auditor positions.

And what is driving these 2 Board Nazis crazy is that the former Secretary is running for a seat on the Board.  No, she is not taking this lying down!

There is also an initiative on the Ballot to enlarge the Board from 3 to 5 members.
While this will cost us more(more members=more tax $ for salaries) and goes against my Limited Government ilk, in the long run, it may keep anybody else who wants to be a Board Dictator from being one, or at least slow them down in their campaign for Ultimate power.
Because it is harder to get 2 other Board members in your pocket than just 1.

So I have to make some hard choices.......voting against what the current Board wants is the easy thing!
The hard part comes with the Ballot Initiative.
Larger government=less likely to have a mini Nazi-ish leadership.
Smaller government=less taxpayer money spent.

Wish me luck that I don't get more than what I want!

In other news, we get to vote for new County Judges too.
Oh, how I could go on and on on this subject!
We are, after all, the  Seat of Corruption in this country(outside of D.C. that is!), here in Northeastern PA.
Home of the recent KIDS FOR CASH Government Scandal.
Move over Washington....here comes Luzerne County PA!

Make your voice heard.....go vote today!

Sluggy