"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Friday 16 November 2012

The Game That's Played

I've deleted   personal remarks  about Councillors recently. 
I don't mind receiving them but I don't intend to share. 
may not always be successful but I  try to be tidy.
I don't claim to be virtuous but  being fair is a laudible  objective.
A political position is fair game. 
Things are getting  jittery at Council meetings these days.
The  Mayor seems to be on edge about what I might say and ever anxious to stop me before I get there.
It's disconcerting for both ..
I have no interest in regularly challenging the authority of the chair.   What a waste of time that would be. 
Neither am I inclined to support staff  recommendations  that lack the essentila ingredient of common sense in my view. 
I represent  those  who pay the freight.
I am not there to protect the sensitivities of  those  whose advice presents without rhyme or reason. 
I tell folksey tales to deflect attention from the fact.I know it robs my point of argument. 
Yet  I have to play this game of dodge- the- ball  with the Mayor who apparently obviously perceives his role as different to mine.
Dammit, my job is not to cover anybody's  posterior. .
It  is to ensure the taxpayers' interest, from my perspective,  comes first.        

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That does seem odd. I would think he would be more concerned about the direction of another couple of councillors. You usually present your arguments and manage to quit with a grin- even though it must be tough. There is generally a cost factor behind them. The other barbs lack any unity of purpose and are totally missing even a semblance of humour. Those he should be heeding in terms of his ' political position'. IMO

Anonymous said...

Just of Interest
Canadian Press
" In a political rarity, Montreal gets an anglophone mayor "

Anonymous said...

This tobacco thing is simply none of Council's business. We already pay to enforce existing laws. There is important business that is not being dealt with in good time. Someone give the man a list of all the referrals to staff that have vanished into a deep dark hole.

Anonymous said...

If there is one thing that I've come to realise in my middle age... we all need to be true to ourselves and the best policy is the truth as you know it, even if others on council or off of council, may not agree. It's the best we can do.

Anonymous said...

If there is an article planned to unveil this great idea next week in the Auroran, there might just be time to yank it. Otherwise, it is not looking too good.