Election Choice

To the people of Sidney and Cheyenne County:

Far be it from me to actually have my own thoughts on local government, but I really must stand up and give a strong opinion on two issues. The first item is to praise Mr. Bowers' letter on the progression of societies. Though the original author of the piece live more than 200 years ago, his thoughts ring true today. Liberal Democrats, determined to grant largess to any self-absorbed entity who will vote for them, resort to registering dead people, cats, novel characters and others in order to get what they want. So desperate for power they have become, that they have promised the financial ruin of America in order to extend the worst possible mistake in the history of this country. Johnson did this in the 60's with his "Great Society," and created the largest single growing entitlement in the history of the world.

The issue of the wheel tax (or vehicle tax) or whatever city council wants to call it, is a patent example of how the government spends your money like a child looking for another cookie in a never emptying jar. The premise of the vote is absurd. Normally a specific tax is placed on the ballot and that issue is voted on. They are asking you to allow them to consider the tax and how much. Your vote gives them too much power if the measure is approved and that is how they want it.  Once approved, all they need to do to increase the amount is to simply amend the ordinance (section 4, items a-c). The lack of fiscal restraint in this town/county has placed the citizenry on the brink of long term financial ruin. The city points the finger at the county, which is certainly culpable enough. The county does the same in reverse. Taxes and fees abound in every possible jurisdictional authority and people are refusing to live here because of it.  The marginal tax rate is increasing every year since 2003 and except for that year, every year since 1996. We have declining growth which makes me wonder why people love our touted economic growth. The next census in a little more than a year will show that the population is flat or slightly less than the last census. The only economic growth we have accomplished is to expand budgets, now done in the face of incredible economic pressures calculated to last 12 more months.  All of this and yet we continue to spend like the supply will never end.

My other issue is Kristine Cecava. We should all be on the "Kick Kristine to the Kurb if You Kare about Kids!" bandwagon. When criminals such as Richie Thompson are granted a slap on the wrist and the presiding Judge is given a failing grade by her peers in the Nebraska Bar, I find it hard to believe how anyone with children, or who loves children could vote to retain such a Judge. Where was Judge Cecava's compassion for the twice molested little girl? As the Nebraska Bar indicated, Cecava has a storied history of interpreting the law to suit her own purposes and it isn't just in Sidney. In one criminal case, scheduled for appeal in November, she is cited with of 23 different flaws in her judgement, including failing to suppress faulty evidence, recusal and sentencing the appellant to an overly harsh sentence. In that case, she didn't even allow the defense to examine evidence to a defense handwriting expert which could have been exculpatory. There appear to be so many constitutional errors in her judgment that even if the guy were guilty as sin, he should not have been convicted under the law.

My friends and fellow residents: Think carefully when you cast your votes on Tuesday. I urge you all to resist all attempts to pass a wheel/vehicle tax/fee and to vote Dr. Dave and Bob VanVleet. onto the council. Both of these men have shown themselves to be even tempered and have sacrificed of their time for the benefit of this town. Each has been mayor of Sidney and they are honorable men. I further urge you to not vote to retain Christine Cecava and thus promote her to citizen as well.  We need to have a judiciary that understands that people who cause violent crime, especially on children, need to face real penalties, not mere slaps on the wrist. We need stability and fiscal restraint and a hold on new spending, along with a top to bottom examination of our budget and cost needs. Until we get a handle on what we are doing, we should hold off on any new fire trucks for non-existent 5 story buildings.

Nearly two years ago, I spoke at council meetings and wrote in the paper about the fiscal irresponsibility Sidney was getting into. I warned of faulty financing on the front range and how people who could not afford houses were being lured into bad loans and how the subsequent foreclosure rate was climbing. Jordan Ball said at Council meeting, "Sidney is not like the front range." I also questioned the need for a 17 million dollar school for 425 children. I didn't question the need for a new school, but why we needed to spend so much money when we didn't even have the plans, nor a bill of materials to justify building a cardboard box (based on the drawings on the school website). My former position required me to look at the strategic implications of the choices I had to make. My education is specific to economic issues and how things in the larger picture affect things in the smaller one. I have been correct for each thing I have taken a position on. I urge you consider the facts for yourselves and not just take my word for it. Challenge the conventions that your leaders are putting in front of you. Do not blindly trust that City Council or the County Commissioners have your best interests at heart. They may be decent folk, who have businesses and farms and property here, but it is nearly impossible for someone to act against their own self interest. It is up to each of us to ensure that the plans they want to make are in OUR interest. The unrestrained government is the one which ultimately becomes self-serving and tyrannical in nature.

Sidney has the potential to do so much, but we have tried to please a very few at the expense of the many. Housing values are down, people are losing their jobs and we can ill-afford new costs or elected officials who cannot be sensitive to the very real problems we face as a community. We either stand and fight for each other, or we will suffer the same fate as happened when the depot closed up so many years ago. Imagine this town with hundreds (or more) of homes for sale. Mr. Bowers' history lesson was timely and stark. Complacency and a desire to grab whatever a politico panders to us are the seeds of our own destruction as a society. We must hold our government accountable and promote them to customer if they keep spending as though tomorrow doesn't matter. We have a chance to take back our town on Tuesday. I urge you to do so or risk losing it forever.