Good Old Boy Network orders Status Quo for City Council

The Good Old Boy network fears change and reform.

Why else would a number of "concerned citizens" send out a mailer this week telling you who to vote for?

The letter, signed by : Madeline Liebsack, Terry & Linda Bellander, Maie Carrick, Mark Bassett, Shane Bybee, John C. Gianoli and Elaine Smith, endorses both incumbents in seats 1 and 3, and endorses Don Purintan for Bybee's seat 5.  Yes Virginia, Term Limits are a very good thing!

(Sidebar:  Isn't the fact that Mark Bassett, executive director of the Railroad Museum, writing such a letter a conflict of interest since he answers to the city?)

Quoting from the mailer"

It is still VERY SCAREY financially out there!
As a Voter Do You Want Rhetoric OR SOLUTIONS!

Amusingly, it is Scary out there.  (No one can say education or spelling is on top of the Good Old Boys agenda; power is! )  But rather than demonize the city's critics for what they say, how about responding to what they HAVE offered -- viable solutions for Change.

Bruce Setterstrom has offered some solid ideas on how to stimulate our economic base.  Of course, the City Council and City Hall has done the bidding of their Good Old Boy network masters and tried to stonewall every effort to build business.  One only needs to look at my WhitePineNews.com and see how they don't want us in business.  $135 in business license and home occupation permits for a business that will gross less than $400 this year!  Other businesses can't grasp this problem but when it's time to write that check, they have to stop and consider whether it's worth keeping the doors open.

The Good Old Boys mailer mentions in passing the population of Ely.  4288.  That's a significant decline.  Yet the TOTAL county population INCREASED.  Not ONE PERSON in City Government of the Good Old Boy network will tell you why that's a bad thing.  I will.  The continuing exodus from Ely means that, just like Hamilton, this community will be a ghost town, or like Austin, a shadow of itself.

Quoting again from their marching orders:

With forward-looking City Council members, Ely has the potential to market itself to many existing and potential new businesses, many of which are looking to move out of their current cost-prohibitive locations.  Ely offers a productive work force, low crime area, and a quality rural living environment.

Then why haven't they marketed themselves?  BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT THE COMPETITION!  Time and again, the hostile business environment created by our City Hall, encouraged by the Good Old Boys, and ignored by much of our existing City Council (Sidebar:  At least one incumbent has been involved in Civil Service his whole life where budgets mean little.  Just saying.)  The City of Ely keeps it's light under a bushel basket.  Primarily because when people come here to check out our beautiful city and wonderful people, they find a poisonous business environment from City Government.

One other amusing thing mentioned in the article is:

The traffic signals and street lights were converted to LED to save on maintenance and electric cost.

Well, that, and the fact that the older lights are becoming harder to acquire since the Federal Government mandated the discontinuance of incandescent lamps!  And isn't it funny that the Good Old Boys tout a Government Mandate as a good thing, when one incumbent and a lame duck continue to rail against following EPA Clean Water mandates?

This letter, signed by Madeline Liebsack, Terry & Linda Bellander, Maie Carrick, Mark Bassett, Shane Bybee, John C. Gianoli and Elaine Smith, are your marching orders to go out and vote for the status quo.  If you believe as I do, that Ely cannot afford another term of the Status Quo, vote for ANYONE but their recommendations.


Do NOT vote for Robert Sedlacek;

Do NOT vote for Romolo DiCianno;

And do NOT vote for Don Purinton.

To do so puts your city at risk.