Smith's Coup or Two

Dear Friends:

The King has always enjoyed a good coup or two. Especially when our side wins and your side loses. Such as the end of that Chilean dastard Allende or the overthrow of Greek President Georgios Papadopoulos in '73.

So I have continued to follow with great interest CAO Doug Smith's continuing circumvention of the laws and City Council.

If yesterday's Capital newspaper editorial is to be believed, then Herr Smith's effort to suppress the democratic process remains at full tilt. The editors report that Herr Smith is 'considering cutting', 'raising fares' and 'ending' contractual obligations of the citte (read: lawsuits are a comin'). He also wants to install Pay and Display parking machines across the citte. How these could get paid for at ~$10,000 a pop he does not say.

Maybe he'll sell us some magic beans.

The Capital also doesn't understand there isn't a public transit system in the world that makes money. And Annapolis' does better than most, with city taxpayers picking up only around 20-30% of the operating costs, depending on the route. If you drive a car in the citte, government subsidies pay much more of the road costs. Like 100%.

(The Capital, proving yet again they never met a fact they could not twist, also erroneously reported in the same piece about parking meters "whose revenue sustains the transit system". Oops, wrong again boys. Parking meter monies go into the general fund.)

Although it is a new discovery to The Capital, these ideas of Herr Smith have been around for ages. Some go back to ancient times before the Ward One Sector Study. That Herr Smith has repackaged them and sold them to The Capital is a jolly good farce!

Of course, Herr Smith has no power to do any of this. A fact The Capital editors only obliquely reference. Only the Council can take these actions. The question is: how much longer will Council members allow their authority to be diminished?

His management circumventions have become even clearer as some of the pay-for-silence consulting arrangements have begun to end. These are the payments made to some senior city officials who were let go but had agreed to 'consulting' payments being made to them for up to 4 months. For doing no consulting. (see: Silence Can Be Golden, 5 April)

So the cone of silence has begun to lift. It turns out Herr Smith cannot hold his temper in check, say some of these city people. Threatening one 'don't make me mad' and treating others in demeaning and rude ways. He has even back doored the Mayor, turning off a second chance program for offenders that Mayor Cohen campaigned on.

We understand all of this. Coups are never pretty. But they are necessary if we are to re-establish our rule-by-elite in the citte.

Bully for you Herr Smith. Your time is almost done.

But the damage you've done will keep on giving.

King of George