The Cohen-Smith Era

Politics makes strange bedfellows.  That was my pickup line to get Mrs. Politics to give me her phone number.  But I believe it was also said by a famous person.  (Or maybe not so famous.)  In any case, I'm confident that at least 3% of people recalled this quote upon learning that Doug Smith was appointed as the City Administrator and leader of the Cohen Team.

As with many things, I have thoughts about this matter.  First, the unavoidable hypocrisy from both Smith and Cohen cannot be ignored, and critics are right to point it out.  I mean COME ON!  YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING.  I would describe Cohen and Smith as no less than (policy) enemies during the campaign.  If there were 2 knocks against Josh, it was that he was too opportunistic / never finished anything, and that he was too closely tied to Moyer and the other Democrat higher-ups.  If there was another knock against Josh, it was that he didn't support city manager.  The latter was more of a strategic problem than a qualification problem--as Doug Smith chaired both the City Manager effort and Ward 1.  And since Ward 1 is an important voting block, there we were.

Josh made efforts to appease the city manager folk because he knew his policy stood to lose their vote.  I could be confusing candidates, but I doubt it, and I'm almost positive Josh promised to hire a 'credentialed administrator', assuring CM supporters that his CA would be just like their CM, and imploring people not to confuse Moyer's lack of leadership with a breakdown in our structure of government.  Focusing on the one department head that excelled under Moyer rather than the 15 that would have done better with a CM, Josh emphasized that only he could promise to retain the services of Chief Pristoop, as the other mayoral candidates would be subject to the police chief chosen by the CM.

By all appearances, Josh was Doug's last choice to endorse.  McFall was his candidate in the primary, and an endorsement from the ABC City Manager group was withheld until Cordle "suddenly realized" that a "change a language in the bill" was the only thing separating his lifelong view of the role of Mayor with the CM structure that Smith wanted.  I don't know if Doug would have ever supported Chris Fox, but I do think that Chris' support of CM from the get-go impressed Smith, as Doug was quite helpful throughout the campaign.

It seems that Josh was the only one not surprised by this appointment.  In Doug's own words:

Josh did surprise me by asking me to come in as city administrator. We were on opposite sides of the city manager issue, but I said from the time he announced for the primary that I thought he would be a very good mayor. The issue of city manager was always about structure, not about personalities.  And while we might disagree on one issue, that doesn’t mean we can’t work together. More importantly, there is a long list of things where we do agree.

Normally in politics I would suspect cynical motives: money or power.  In Doug's case, I am actually entertaining the possibility that he is most concerned with bettering the city.  WORA Pres. is a pretty pain in the butt job that does not guarantee future elective or appointed office, and Doug spent his own money on the CM issue which is like the ultimate proof of dedication to an issue.  In the end I think Doug just decided that he could better help the city as its administrator than fighting for an issue that the incoming Mayor would surely  fight against.  It will be interesting to see how vociferously the CM people continue the fight, and if/how Dough would support a measure that threatens his job and his boss' power.

Josh could only have 2 possible motives: political strategy or improving the city.   A quote from Josh's farwell letter to his county council constituents might shed some light: Politics is like water -- they both tend to follow the path of least resistance.  Rather than resist Ward 1 and the CM people and lose their vote in the next  election, have them involved in the process. 

I read a book once (actually I read it twice, going against all my bedrock beliefs) that talked about the "tyranny of the OR" and the "genius of the AND".  If you could only pick one motive OR the other, knowing Josh, you'd be forced to assign political strategy and get really mad.  There is no doubt that he created political value with this appointment.  The genius happens if Smith was appointed because of his political value AND his skills in running operations.  In that case, Josh is a good politician AND a good public servant.  

Mayor Cohen Has A Blog!

This is gonna be great!  http://www.mayorcohen.com/ is the official blog of Josh Cohen.

Come to think of it, there are many reasons why this will not be great:

-It will inspire more people to become "blog stalkers", sucking otherwise productive people out of the private sector.

-It is much harder to take someone's words out of context and use it against them when the entire context exists in print for everyone to see.

-There are more blogs to read each day, reducing the number of people viewing this blog and the amount of time each person who does visit can spend here.

What I would love to see is an official Twitter page where Josh tweets his activities at several points during the day.  "Visited a sister city today", "My pen ran out of ink while signing the union contract", "Stressed out cuz expenditures exceed revenues".  Technology at work.

Update: I can't believe it.

The Future Of Democrat Leadership

Normally I avoid driving home in rush hour traffic on Fridays, but yesterday I found myself unavoidably stuck in agonizing traffic, so I decided to double up on the agony and ponder the future of the local Democrat party.

Here's where we find ourselves.  A former Democrat county councilman is Mayor, creating a vacancy in the County Council since the city elections are offset.  By law, the county council itself can decide on who fills the vacancy.

The spot must be filled with another Democrat, and there appear to be 4 leading candidates: sitting Ward 3 Alderman Classie Hoyle, sitting Ward 4 Alderman Sheila Finlayson, county board of appeals member William Moulden and former Mayoral candidate Trudy McFall.

Fortunately for you, rush hour traffic on a Friday simulates the experience of psychotropic drugs, allowing me to think like a Democrat, and I'm happy to report that I'm now confident I can predict who will be the next county councilman from the 6th disctrict.

It will be Classie Hoyle, and here's why.  The Republican majority on the council will not want a Democrat that would run a strong race in 2010.  Of all the candidates, Hoyle would likely best satisfy that requirement since she already lost a county council race for this seat and she was on the wrong side of a nasty issue that came up during the election.

The real genius of this prediction is how everything plays out after Hoyle's appointment.  I envision the Democrat bosses sitting in their gardens sipping Perrier and zinfandel, tickled that the Republican plan crafted in a smoke-filled back room will actually bring about exactly what the Dems want!

Hoyle's appointment to the county council only 14 days after being sworn in for another term as an Alderman leaves a vacancy on the city council for Ward 3.  There would have to be a special election, which is not as good as an appointment by the central committee, but not to worry--it appears to be impossible for a non-Democrat to win in Ward 3.  Guess which Democrat Cohen Transition Co-Chair and Primary Election Winner lives in Ward 3???  You got it.  With residency requirements rendered irrelevant and financial troubles addressed, Zina Pierre wins the Ward 3 seat.

Moving right along, the only direction for Cohen is up, up, up!  The bosses expect a victory from State Senator Astle over E.R. doctor and overall handsome fella Ron Elfenbein.  Little do the voters know, it will be Astle's last election.  Cohen won't want to run an actual campaign in District 30 because of the pesky Republican voters in Arnold and Edgewater.  Too risky!  Remember, we* need a sure thing.  So, Astle resigns in 2013, creating a much more direct route for the start of the Senator Cohen dynasty.  And wouldn't you know, Pierre will have completed 3.9 years of paying her dues as an Alderman, ready to receive full machine support for her run for Mayor.

(*The use of "we" and other stylistic writing in this post does not represent my personal wishes or beliefs, but rather is an attempt to put you, the reader, in the mindset of a Democrat strategist trying to ensure the burial of Republicans for 40 years.)

Ironically, the person who this works out worst for is Hoyle, who may or may not win reelection in 2010, and is left out of the long term plans.

If you find this post difficult to follow, just read it while in traffic on the Beltway and I assure you everything will be perfectly clear.

The Soon-To-Be-Famous Cohen Postcard

It might be hard to see, so I'll summarize. It's a Cohen piece with Obama's picture that says "continue our progress by voting for the following candidates", then shows Cohen along with the African American Democrat candidates running on Tuesday. Noticeably absent are the Caucasian Democrat candidates, prompting obvious cries of racial politics, divisiveness, the same old story, and certainly NOT the politics of change and bringing people together.

Democratic Process Influenced By Failure of Journalism

This is a continuation of this post. I could have included all this info in the same post, but the more posts you make, the more hits you get on your blog. And the more hits you get on your blog, the more likely you are to win the lottery. Why do you think people write such drivel on blogs?

(Note to bloggers: just kidding. Just trying to entertain the masses.)

(Note 2.0 to bloggers: don't write drivel.)

So, everyone likes to make fun of the media, and for good reason---many media outlets are terrible. In Annapolis, we have the misfortune of having only one major newspaper, The Capital, which is particularly infamous for inaccuracy. This blog named itself to point out the shortcomings of the newspaper. The bumper sticker "End Capital Punishment, Cancel Your Subscription" serves the same purpose. On the rare occasions in my life when I have spoken with people important enough to have their names/stories told in The Capital, I've heard horror stories of quotes that began as "Mrs. Politics is a great girlfriend" and ended as "Mayor Moyer kicked me in the rear end".

The Capital totally missed this story. The Post and The Sun missed it too, but they have an excuse because they actually have other real stories to write about. The Capital should have uncovered this long ago. I would have uncovered it myself, buy my legal team advises me that the farther away I stay from the court system, the better.

Imagine how different the campaign would have been if Zina's legal history was reported a year ago when she entered the race. Sam Shropshire, a sitting alderman, is facing highly publicized legal troubles....and he received 9 votes. NINE. VOTES. Before this campaign, Zina Pierre had no name recognition in this town. If somebody that nobody knows was labeled as having such problems, would their campaign have even gotten off the ground? Probably not. Instead of (essentially) a 3-person race, would it have been Josh vs Trudy? Who knows what the outcome would have been?

As it is, the media missed the story, Zina was elected, and now has withdrawn. The Democrat central committee gets to pick the replacement. Cohen certainly has to be a front runner. Will McFall lobby for the nomination? I would. One can't help but think that if the media did its job, she might not have had this burden.

Pierre Withdraws From Race; Central Committee Can Choose Replacement

Whenever something confuses me in politics, I always look for the most cynical explanation possible. Such an approach is usually accurate in ascertaining the truth, and has served me well on several occasions where suspension of total disbelief was a good quality to have.

One day after Zina Pierre was officially certified as the Democrat nominee for the Mayoral election, details of legal problems surfaced. The Capital sent out an email confirming that, in the face of these revelations and citing personal reasons, Zina had decided to drop out of the race. I believe The Sun will run a story tomorrow.

To quote a poker promo from ESPN: this is beyond fairy-tale, it's inconceivable. So what now? You're going to like this. Section 4.20.150 (C) of the city code allows a candidate nominated for office to decline their nomination within 10 days of receiving that nomination. And wouldn't you know it: it's less than 10 days since Zina received the nomination. And wouldn't you also know, section 4.20.160 allows the central committee--in this case the Democrat Central Committee--to fill the vacancy with WHICHEVER CANDIDATE THEY PICK.

Here's the email from the chairman of the Democrat Central Committee:

Dear ADCC Members and Friends,

Zina has withdrawn her candidacy after the revelations of her legal
problems. We in no way urged her to do so and left it to her judgment. We feel
sad for her and all her supporters.This puts a great deal of importance on
the ADCC, that by city code is charged to name a successor by October 2. ADCC is
under no City Charter/Code restraints in our choice and we then must establish
the procedures for our choice.

We will have to meet shortly. Our meeting for September 23 is still on.
Let me know if these dates are available to the elected members: Sept. 24, 25,
26, 28, and 29. In the meantime, consult with Democrats in your wards, our
elected officials, and your own thoughts.

Still, Victory in ‘09!
Nick

The statement that "we in no way urged" Zina is of course believed by everyone to be fucking bullshit. I'm sorry to cuss but it's such an arrogant attitude that one is left with no other articulation of one's feelings.

The email chatter has been off the charts on this issue, so I'll pass that along to you. In addition to the email chatter, I've had several verbal conversations about what's happening. My promise to you, the blog reader, is that I will plagiarize equally the thoughts I heard from emails and those from phone conversations.

I enjoy email chatter, because it tends to offer the most cynical and far-fetched explanations of any given event. And as we learned at the beginning of this post, that makes it correct. Even the most amateur politico could follow the storyline. The "chosen candidate", Josh Cohen, gets in the race because he has the backing of the machine and thinks he can win with their money and influence. The "machine" is defined as Mike Busch, John Astle, Ellen Moyer, and the Democrat Central Committee. The machine got Sam Shropshire elected in this manner, and they're at it again.

I guarantee this info about Zina is not new. The machine likely dug it up when Zina jumped in the race, but sat on it in hopes that Josh would win straight up and they wouldn't have to use it. When Zina won, they sprung into action--and they worked quickly because they knew the code says Zina would have to resign within 10 days of winning the primary. I mean, think about it....Zina knows politics. She worked for Bill Clinton, and runs a lobbying firm. She had enough expertise to beat Cohen--despite his machine backing; and to beat Trudy McFall--who ran a perfect campaign for 2 years. You mean to tell me that one setback would be enough to convince her to drop out of the race for personal reasons?? Shenanigans!! I call shenanigans! The legal problems seem to deal with economic circumstances. So Zina is facing economic hardship...just like half of freeking Annapolis! A clever candidate could spin that in their favor...not bow out of the race.

You know what else is interesting?? People always talk about "ending the partisanship"...the bickering between Republicans and Democrats. But this wasn't the Republicans sticking it to the Democrats--this was Democrat skulduggery all the way!! "Incest Partisanship" is what I call it--don't be surprised if that term catches on. Heck, the Republican candidate hasn't done anything political in, like...8 years! It's not enough for the machine to retain power for their party; they have to retain power for their lineage.

Now, as far as I know, Josh has not yet been officially selected as the replacement for Zina. I know Josh on a quasi-personal level, and I will say that he's been pleasant on the few occasions we've ordered beers from the same bartender. He's commented on this blog before, and is more than welcome to offer an explanation. But this whole thing reeks of a sinister plan executed as designed.

Edit: After posting this, I spoke with someone who I consider to be reliable and knowledgeable, and that person swears the machine had no prior knowledge of these issues. It's hard to believe but I guess it's plausible. Could it possibly not be Cohen that is chosen by the central committee?

There is still much to consider. First, as the first commenter says, what a failure of journalism. If the Capital spent as much time researching their candidate profiles as they do the Home of The Week, we would have known about Zina's problems long ago.

...which brings me to another point--Zina deserves blame. The charges against her, if intentional, represent characteristics we don't want in a mayor. There were questions--including on this blog--about Zina's candidacy when she entered the race. And for every question answered, we have 3 new ones in its place.

Cohen To Make "Special Announcement" on Tuesday

Greetings!

Please join Councilman Josh Cohen, candidate for Mayor of
Annapolis, for a special announcement this Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 12 NOON
at the Court House, 7 Church Circle, Annapolis. Take a lunch break and
show your support for Josh! Please let us know if you
can join us.

I once made an off-color joke to Mrs. Politics that she didn't find so funny, prompting her to deliver a "special announcement" of quite another sort. Let's hope Josh has better luck.

I'll try and report on what he says.

Mayoral Debate Last Night

Paul Foer hosted a debate for Mayoral candidates last night, and you know the rule--when more than 1 candidate is in the same place, we write about it! Paul, realizing that writing about his own debate would constitute "100% bullshit", asked me to write a bit about the event. In return, I promised to keep the BS level to between 20%-44%.

All of the candidates were repeatedly invited. Six of the nine attended: Cohen, Fox, McFall, Pierre, Renaut, and Shropshire. Don't know where Cordle was. Don't know where Sears-Deppa was. Word is that Wayne Taylor was hosting his own meet and greet somewhere.

The debate was much more moderated than the recent HACA forum. Paul asked questions, either of his choice or submitted by the audience, and would interrupt candidates if they answered something that was not the question, or if they exceeded their time, or if they were "grandstanding". (Josh Cohen requested permission to grandstand, to which Paul replied "don't you always?"). The candidates were all able to practice avoiding a question when an audience member asked what they knew about "corporate memory" and "city employee hiring practices". Now, I switched from the business school to the behavioral & social sciences school halfway through college, but I have never heard of 'corporate memory'. The person who asked that question must have been some kind of consultant.

I thought the debate went well, with the first half focusing on general things, and the second half focusing on transportation. The candidates reaffirmed their positions on the city manager, and the budget woes. Regarding transportation, the general agreement was that the bus system, ADA compliance, sidewalk usability, and overall management of transportation was laughable. One could argue that Paul interjected a bit more of his own philosophy than was appropriate. One could more successfully argue that Paul has been building credibility on a wide variety of issues, and mentioned those issues to spur debate. One could most successfully argue that a bit of interjection made the debate entertaining, which is a requirement when listening to 6 people talk about the same thing for 2 hours.

Here's what I thought about the candidates' performances:

Josh Cohen:

Josh was characteristically somber and well informed on the issues. Perhaps in a reflection of his personality, he suggested that the reason the city and county haven't been able to get along is that the city has failed to approach the county in a position of humility.

Best Moment: Candidates were asked to distinguish themselves from the candidate sitting to their right, an apparent attempt to get them to attack each other. Josh was sitting at the end of the table, with nobody to his right, and Shropshire was sitting at the other end of the table. Josh got up and said "Sorry Sam, but you are not to my right". Get it? More liberal? Political humor!

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: Development, Spending, Attitude.

Chris Fox:

Chris is looking more and more comfortable as he participates in more events. He hasn't had as much experience in political-type events, which actually benefits him at these events because he hasn't had experience lying to the public or failing to answer questions. He stuck to the platform he has been developing: let's save money wherever possible, let's bring professional city management, let's bring common sense to government: such as equipping buses with air conditioning.

Best Moment: When asked how he is different from the other candidates, he looked at the other candidates, smiled, and said "I'm the only one here who's guaranteed to be on the general election ballot". The audience laughed, as did the other candidates--certainly a nervous laughter that reminded them of their tough fight ahead.

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: Common Sense Decisions.

Trudy McFall:

In 11th grade speech class, we could win our debates either on content or on "speaker points". I think Trudy did really well on speaker points. She smiled a lot, was engaging, and communicated her vision reasonably well. She made it a point to emphasize 2 things: her attendance and involvement in even the most laborious city meetings, and her experience running both public and private organizations.

Best Moment: "I started my business like most small businesses start--sitting with my co-founder at a desk in a small room with my entire life on the line, determined to make it work".

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: Experience Running Organizations.

Zina Pierre:

Zina does well at these events and this was no exception. She doesn't support the city manager, but made efforts to reassure voters that accountability would be maintained under her administration. She seems to keep locals in mind, making sure to oppose the idea of moving a city ladder truck nearer to Parole, saying that seniors in a nearby 6-story high-rise would be put in greater danger.

Best Moment: When talking about transportation, Zina went on a bit of a tangent. Paul interrupted her, reminding her that the question was about her experience with the bus system. 'Our bus system sucks' was her response, and then she sat down, realizing that no further elaboration was needed.

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: Reform, Revitalization, Reinvestment.

Gil Renaut:

Gil's style is what I envision my style would be were I to run for office. He answers the questions without a lot of flash or puff, and is able to convey vast knowledge of the issues and vast sense in approaching problems. He does well to position himself as a Democrat candidate somewhat unique from the other candidates, perhaps more conservative than his primary election opponents.

Best Moment: When talking about the city manager, Cohen said there would always be politics in local government, to which Gil responded 'I think we can take the politics out of potholes'.

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: Bring People Together.

Sam Shropshire:

Sam was certainly the most grandiose of the candidates, offering passionate and typically idealistic justifications for his policies. In some instances he seemed to stick to his rehearsed views on general topics rather than address the specific questions, even when abruptly interrupted by Paul for doing just that.

Best Moment: An audience member asked about the Market House, saying 'how did this happen? It wasn't just the mayor...the council voted on it', to which Sam replied 'yes, there were 7 or 9 votes for Site Realty, but we were 7 or 9 unprofessionals and we didn't know what we were doing'.

Three Word Summary of Closing Statement: No Tax Cap.

Cohen and Moyer To Swap Support**

**Rumor Alert.

It is common to describe a rumor as 'hearing something second hand'. This info is probably like fourth hand, but I've heard that County Councilman Josh Cohen and Mayor Moyer are collaborating to support each other in election cycles in the next year.

Cohen, a relatively recent (presumed) entrant into the mayoral race, would get the backing of the Moyer machine for the upcoming mayoral election. The return favor is a bit more curious. My understanding is that Cohen wouldn't have to resign from the county council until January (assuming a victory for him), which would mean that the county Democrat central committee could appoint his replacement. Cohen could then lobby for Moyer's appointment to that seat.

Chuck Weikel used to be the chair of the AADCC, but now the position is held by a person named Kory Blake. That's unfortunate, because Weikel was the Mayor's former heir apparent, but seems to have since fallen out of favor. It would have been awesome to see what happened if he had the power to appoint her to her next job.

Anyway, I know that Councilman Cohen reads this site occasionally, and he is certainly invited to respond. I don't know that the Mayor has ever read this blog, but I do know from one of her old employees that she knows of city political blogs, and she is invited to respond as well. In fact, everybody's invited. We'll have a party.

Josh Cohen Press Conference Today

FYI -- late notice, but in case any of you are interested, Ron Dillon, Jamie Benoit and I are holding a press conference this afternoon to present our amendment to the "SMART fund" stormwater management bill.

The press conference will be held at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon. Location: Darcy Road, Glen Burnie, 21060 The location will be at an eroded stream bed near Marley Middle School in Glen Burnie. You should park at the end of Darcy Road (ADC Map Book Map 8, Grid F-5).

Directions: From Ritchie Highway, take MD 648. Turn onto Marley Neck Blvd heading North, then right onto Spencer Road, Right onto Clover Court, then left onto Darcy Road. At 4:15 we will walk down the end of Darcy Road and turn head right where we will come across the severely eroded stream bed. Bring boots or sneakers that you don't mind getting dirty. It is a minor stream that might not have a name, but it ends up draining into Marley Creek.

-Councilman Cohen

Josh Cohen Re: Slots

I'm a little late to the party here because Josh sent this out several days ago, but I get to these things when I can, and after my other priorities* are addressed.

(*My priorities:
1A. Family
1B. Mrs. Politics
1C. Work
2. Non-Blogging Politics
3. Friends
4. Bowling (I have my own ball and shoes.)
5. Blogging)

Here's is what Councilman Cohen has to say:

November 2, 2007
House Ways and Means Committee
Senate Budget and Taxation Committee

Dear Delegate Hixson, Senator Currie, and Members of the
Committees:

I urge you to hold the line against slot machines here in Maryland.

As elected officials, I believe that one of our first
responsibilities is, as Hippocrates wrote, to “do no harm.” In other words,
whatever actions we take during our term of office, let’s not do anything to leave
our jurisdiction worse off than we found it. This is as true for protecting the
health of the Chesapeake Bay as it is for protecting the quality of life in our
communities.

Slots will do nothing to improve our quality of life. Their social
ills are well-documented. They encourage gambling addiction and lead to more child neglect, divorce, bankruptcy and broken families, not to mention prostitution, illegal drug use and organized crime.

Their economic ills are well-documented. They are a huge vacuum
that sucks up millions of dollars in disposable income, leaving less money to
support locally-owned small businesses.

To appreciate the impact of slots on local businesses, we need look
no further than the horse racing industry’s about-face. In the 1990s the industry
opposed casinos because they would lure betting customers away from the tracks.
Only more recently, when slots were proposed at racetracks, did the racing
industry become slots’ biggest cheerleader.

Just as the state regulates other so-called “victimless” vices such
as prostitution, alcohol and drugs, the state has every right to regulate and
restrict gambling. Not only does it have the right, it has the obligation.

The only reason the state is considering slots is money. But as
any small non-profit organization can attest, it is foolish and short-sighted to
go “chasing the money.” Non-profits and state governments alike need to stay true to their values and mission. Maryland is already a wonderful state with a
tremendous quality of life. It would be foolish and short-sighted to
knowingly start down a slippery path in which the state takes on a vested
interest in turning more and more of its own citizens into gamblers.

As elected representatives, we are hired by the people to make
tough decisions. I respectfully urge the General Assembly to “do no harm” and vote
down slots legislation in this Special Session. If instead the matter goes to
referendum, I hope the question posed will be a responsible one. Instead of a
partial question about support of slots in the abstract, the question should be a
responsible one about support of slots in one’s own jurisdiction.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I would say that I generally support slots in certain locations, such as racetracks or places where Maryland Lottery products are sold. But this is more of a fairness issue and not a 'we need a budget solution' issue.

I would like to discuss briefly the idea that slots are economic vacuums that suck up disposable income..

Disposable income, or discretionary income, is what you have left after you pay all or your required expenses. So after you pay your taxes, your mortgage, your car payment, food, etc., you hopefully have some money left to save or spend as you wish.

Mr. Cohen makes the argument that slots will attract much of this disposable money, which will leave less for local businesses.

The point should be made that this is a social argument, and not an economic one. Slots are roughly the same economic engine as any other business. They are one option for people to spend their money. You could say that movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, etc. are vacuums that suck up disposable income, and you would be talking about the same thing. (In the strictest economic sense, slots are probably a better economic engine than the average business, because jobs are created for police who have to deal with more crime, counselors to deal with gambling addicts, etc.) The vacuum argument neglects the full economic process. The places that have slots will need to hire more workers; those workers will make more money; the government will receive more tax income; and those workers in turn will spend some of their discretionary income on local businesses.

To say that slots represent an ill because they would take money from local businesses is perhaps true on net, but it is an argument for protectionism--for government intervention in the private market. I'm not fond of protectionism when it's this country's goods versus another's, and I really don't like the argument when you are protecting a local business against a bigger business that perhaps is headquartered somewhere else. Competition makes the economy thrive.

So, slots: fine. Reducing state spending: more important.

Resignation Timing

A recent post wondered aloud whether the timing of Mike Christman's resignation was politically motivated:

Rumor also has it that he is working closely with members of the City's Republican Central Committee to ensure that the timing of his resignation is the most efficient for getting another Republican elected. I have personally spoken with and directly asked a member of the City's RCC if this is true and they stated that it is not, and that the RCC has had almost no communication with Alderman Christman since his letter of intention to resign.

We have indeed not had much communication with Alderman Christman, but I can assure you that we would time the resignation strategically if we could.

I suppose the prevailing wisdom is that in most wards, democrats outnumber republicans, so as voter turnout increases there is a higher likelihood that the sheer voter demographics will prevail and we will lose, so a low turnout might benefit us.

But this is like a secondary concern at best. If Republicans for whatever reason go on more vacations then Democrats, then having an election near the holidays would really do us no good.

The real concern is the logistical planning. It takes a lot of effort to find a candidate, organize a campaign, and run a campaign--and once a formal resignation is given, we have less than a month for the primary election and less than a month after that for the general election. Frankly, it's just too hard when you add the stress of the holidays to that mix.

In an ideal world, we would work with a candidate who was thinking of resigning without making that resignation until the proper time as determined by our secret Ronald Reagan themed calender. In this case, the alderman has already announced his resignation, which makes any strategic delay rather inappropriate.

Josh Cohen went through these same decisions when he was elected to the county council, and I would consider it rather commonplace, although that observation is based on a small sample size. If Alderman Christman waits until August of 2008 to resign, the Republican Central Committe can simply appoint someone to replace him and we won't have to worry about any of this!

Don't hold your breath.