Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Balance Of Power
At the last Linn County Republican Central Committee meeting we were introduced to a New Paradigm.
Or, at least, something happened that had never happened before.
Six people presented themselves to be added to the Committee as members.
And the reaction of our leadership was.
Not yet.
In the past, they have always been accepted.
But, as we have come to expect, our present leadership does things the way THEY want.
Their rationale was, "OMG, we cannot add anyone as a member until WE check to see if they are really Republicans!"
It didn't matter that one of them had been waiting 6 months to join;
Or that another one actually had their Voter ID card on them and pulled it out.
Nope, the Secretary, the Chair and the bulk of the Executive Committee would not be shaken from their sacred duty to ensure that we did not add anyone to the Central Committee who was not register as a Republican.
So they will have to wait until our Secretary gets around to verifying that.
I decided not to confuse the Executives and the Secretary by pointing out that there was no assurance that any of the present members had not changed their registration since the last meeting.
I mean, if they started thinking about that, no one would be allowed to vote!
You might have noticed I mentioned that one person had waited 6 months to join.
That is because the Chair and her supporters have, for most of the meetings, insisted on adjourning before the "Add New Members" item on the agenda came up.l
They have been very adamant about ending the meetings at 8:30.
It does not matter to them if there is work for the Committee left undone.
Well, it doesn't matter to them if there is work left undone that OTHER people care about.
They will insist on adjourning.
If an attempt is made to alter the agenda to remove the 8:30 deadline, it often fails with one of those 22 to 21 Votes.
However, if there is something left undone that THEY want to do?
That is another story.
In that case, they will entertain a motion to extend the meeting, and the rest of us, not being hypocrites, will vote to do so.
And THEY keep accusing US of not being willing to work together?
So this person showed up for 6 months waiting for our leadership and their supporters to allow a meeting to last long enough for new members to be presented;
Only to be told to "come back next month."
I mean, they really know how to recruit volunteers, don't they?
Yes, we have now a New Paradigm. Forget Moving Forward.
Of course, the reason might be just a matter of political manuevering.
Recall, if you will, that sometimes what the Committee decides to do is decided by votes on the order of 22 to 21.
Six new members might alter the Balance of Power.
So maybe they are trying to stonewall until the new bylaw changes go into effect.
And unless the new member is filling a vacancy in a precinct,
They will have NO VOTE.
Reguiem In Pace
At the September LCRCC Meeting we Laid To Rest what has for Decades been one of the Stalwart Supports of the Linn County Republican Central Committee.
That does sound much better than saying that the majority stepped up behind a faithful servant of the Body and Slit it's Throat,
No matter how you view it what has in the past IMO been THE Member Engine of the LCRCC is Gone.
We must hope that what has replaced it will do as good a job.
I would not hold my breath waiting though.
We had what was called Assistant Committee Persons. They did not have votes but could be heard from the floor ie make motions and engage in debate.
AND if one of the Two Permanent Committee Persons happened to be absent during a meeting they could vote in their place.
We now have Associate Committee persons, Originally they were NOT to be allowed to make motions, but could engage in Debate
The Body did amend the proposed Change to the By Laws to allow the new Positions to make Motions.
They have no Voting privileges Period.
Notice the transition since our present Chair and Executives came to Power.
The previous sub Committees were Purged and replaced with Teams with a few changes
Only 5 members of a Team have voting rights and the Executives filled the Teams with members they approved of to give them voting control.
People who previously were very active in the Sub Committees were shut out if the Executives did not approve of them.
I had one person who said that they had been active on 3 Sub Committees but were not asked to be on any Team and saw no reason to bother because they would not have any say in anything.
Since our present Chair took over a Central Committee of about 200 members attending meetings
Somewhere around 90% of that membership has been Purged ie alienated or disenfranchised.
So that now with a very important political year pending the results of our Present Leadership has been to diminish the LCRCC to a shell of what it once was.
And to wipe out any ability of half of what is left to trust them,
Which WILL impact volunteer levels for the 2016 Caucuses,
But that will be another Story
Monday, 9 November 2015
The Jim Conklin Roast
5:30 Cash Bar opens
6:15 Buffet is started
7:00 Roast Begins (Moderator to be announced)
Friday, 6 November 2015
Our Caucus Is Going To Be WHERE??
Whispers on the Wind have relayed to your chronicler...
That the residents of the Cottage Grove Place senior living area discovered during the recent city election that their 2016 Republican County Caucus will NOT be in the usual venue in their neighborhood.
And...
They are NOT pleased.
Traditionally, Iowa Caucuses were assemblies of neighbors gathered together in their neighborhoods, where they decided who their representatives would be in the local party structure.
It seems now to have been altered into a media event for the glorification of a few members of the local party.
The precinct that Cottage Grove Place is in has quite a few elderly Republicans.
They prefer these events to be in their own precinct, as they do not like doing a lot of driving at night.
They also do not feel safe downtown at night.
Now, some may dispute this attitude and claim downtown is "in no way unsafe."
However, the possible truth of that claim cannot alter the fact that many of these people do not feel safe there. Nor does it alter the fact that their feelings were apparently neither sought nor taken into account.
In the past, we have had no problem organizing individual Caucuses in almost all of Linn County's 86 precincts. (There is a case for consolidating a few that don't seem to have as many registered Republican residents.)
But the current Linn County Republican Central Committe Chair and Executive Committee saw fit to purge the people who previously were heavily involved in the Caucus process, and replace them with their own allies.
For those who might be interested in how this will affect them, I have obtained the proposed Precinct Caucus locations, which have not, as of yet, I'm told, been reviewed by the Chair, so they are "preliminary."
You can see them HERE. I am sorry that the first page is almost illegible, but this was the best sample available.
Maps of the County and Precincts can be found HERE.
(And, if you need to know your local precinct name, you may find that information HERE.)
At least we did not end up with their original plan, which we understood to be all precincts in one location.
Having heard that the original plan would have surely cost a lot more than we have in the treasury, my understanding is that they have adopted a modified plan that will, by comparison, only take almost everything we have in the treasury.
Then, in addition, there was the rumored desire to link all the sites together with closed circuit TV for a media event.
Last word was that a closed circuit TV system would cost an additional amount almost equal to everything we have in the treasury...so that might not pan out.
Another function of our caucuses is for those who wish to be delegates at our county, district, and state Republican conventions to sign up and pay their delegate fees to the county.
Our county is allocated 167 seats at the District and State Conventions at $50 a seat.
We have to pay for ALL the seats, or NONE of the delegates from Linn County will even be seated at the District and State Conventions, let alone have the opportunity to speak or vote.
So, REGARDLESS of how many people sign up at their Caucus to be delegates at the Conventions, and regardless of how many pay their convention fees, the Linn County Republican Central Committee will be required to remit $8,350 to the Republican Party of Iowa for convention fees.
If Linn County does not have the funds to pay, the largest county in the district, and the 2nd largest county in the state, will NOT have representation at District and State Conventions.
Previously, that would not have been a problem. When the present Chair, Cindy Golding, took over from the previous chair, we had an attendance at meetings of about 200.
She and the present Executive Committee have, since that time, managed to alienate and/or disenfranchise about 90% of the previous membership.
This has resulted in about 40 attendees at our meetings, split almost 50/50 in opinion.
They, of course, label anyone pointing out these facts and their attending consequences as "divisive;"
When the truth is that THEIR "divisive" practices and tactics have virtually destroyed what was a very effective and active County Central Commitee.
At least, it was very effective and active until they got their hands on it.
In any event, we are facing interesting times.
Most people show up for Caucuses at the last moment.
I cringe to think how getting them checked in is going to work out with the few remaining volunteers who have not been driven away.
I mean, we are, after all, talking about a chairperson who once had a screaming fit at a volunteer who was putting more than 5 mints on each table before an event.
Such practices do not encourage volunteer involvement .
Bait And Switch
Some of us recall that in the Local Elections 4 years ago both City Hall, the Library and the Gazette
Were quite firm in their assertions that the Library could be run on no more why even LESS then in the past
Fact-checking in Cedar Rapids' at-large council race
Justin Wasson said the city is building a downtown library that is too big, too nice and too expensive. He said the city is getting a "giant" library downtown that is "significantly bigger than the older library" In the end, with the cost to maintain the building, "I'm going to be paying off this library for the rest of my life."
The Gazette's Fact Check Claim was
Determination: Mostly fiction
Why: The city's former downtown library at 500 First St. SE was 84,000 square feet in size. The new library will be 94,000 square feet, with more space for children and teens, library officials said.
The new $49 million library is being built without local property taxes. The money comes from a mix of federal disaster funds, a state I-JOBS grant, private donations and $4 million in revenue from the city's local option sales tax, which already has been collected.
Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, said Thursday the operational costs at the new library will not be any larger than the operational costs at the old one, and may be less.
That same claim was made during the online debate on the Iowa Conservative;Union's Facebook Fanpage
Vote No November 3rd
So WHY the sudden need for the maximum Levy?
Well it might be a case of the Old Bait and Switch because AFTER
they made those claims they decided they needed and INCREASE in Funding
City of Cedar Rapids Proposed Budget
- Page 5 of 12
- Library – Library submitted $1.5M in expenditure increases to support the downtown and westside libraries and $436K in revenue increases for a net requested increase of $1.1M. Already included in the Library budget for fiscal year 2014 is $277K in additional expenditure budget for wage and benefit increases for existing employees bringing the total net increase to $1.36M.
Note: Does not seem to be funds for existing expenses but they wanted an INCREASE
They must have chenged their minds about being able to run the Library on he same or less funding than the Old Library had
Makes it HARD to tell when and if they are tellingus the Truth doesn't it?
Try to remember this the NEXT time they bring up a Levy Increase
Which they will probably next Spring or Next Year sometime.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Follow The Library Road
When looking at Politics and/or Criminal Activity they sometimes Say
Follow the Money
That could be fitting in the case of the Library Levy or Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Could also be fitting
Because there does seem to be a lot of Smoke and Mirrors and Illusion involved.
In
Cedar Rapids Library levy fails, board to shift course
Mayor Corbett said the jump from a small levy to the request for a 27-cent one may have factored in Tuesday’s defeat. He said he could imagine a request of voters down the line for a library levy smaller than 27 cents, but larger than 4 cents.
Which leads to the question, Why? Why such a big jump when just a short time ago they said nothing like that necessity could be farther from the Truth?
In
Fact-checking in Cedar Rapids' at-large council race
Justin Wasson said the city is building a downtown library that is too big, too nice and too expensive. He said the city is getting a "giant" library downtown that is "significantly bigger than the older library" In the end, with the cost to maintain the building, "I'm going to be paying off this library for the rest of my life."
The Gazette's Fact Check Claim was
Determination: Mostly fiction
Why: The city's former downtown library at 500 First St. SE was 84,000 square feet in size. The new library will be 94,000 square feet, with more space for children and teens, library officials said.
The new $49 million library is being built without local property taxes. The money comes from a mix of federal disaster funds, a state I-JOBS grant, private donations and $4 million in revenue from the city's local option sales tax, which already has been collected.
Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, said Thursday the operational costs at the new library will not be any larger than the operational costs at the old one, and may be less.
That same claim was made during the online debate on the Iowa Conservative;Union's Facebook Fanpage
Vote No November 3rd
So where did the money go?
If the 4 years ago it was mostly fiction that we might not be able to afford the operating costs of the Library.
And it was TRUE that the new Library was going to cost no more, maybe less to run than the Old Library.
Where did all he Money go?
Why do they now claim that they not only need to raise the Library Levy but raise it 575% to the Maximum Legal Limit?
We now have new City Council Members along with the ones already in office.
It will be maybe a year before they can bring this back up.
How about those Public Servants answering this question?
What is the DIFFERENCE between the Old Library Budget and the New one that cause this drastic change in claims.
Where did ALL the Money go?
If the Wizard Corbett does not know.
Maybe one of the Flying Monkeys does.
A Bonfire Due to Vanities
Guest Post by Bill Dahlsten
Alas, poor Hypatia. Some would be led to believe the voters of Cedar Rapids had again burned down the Great Library of Alexandria. The Downtown District is in tears.
Library levy advocates spent approximately $100,000. Much of that funding could be tied to Cedar Rapids' Downtown District. The recipients of so much taxpayers' largess lost. The library levy was not defeated by ignorance. The library levy defeat was not done to advance ignorance.
"Shey and Vernon said the new library
likely will be the most significant city
building built in their lifetimes in Cedar
Rapids, and great thought and care needs
to be taken on its placement so it
captivates people, draws people to the
downtown and, as importantly, serves to
drive private-sector investment around it.
Vernon said what is absent from the library
board’s work is the concept of “city
planning.” She said she wants the experts
who have worked for the city and know it
well to try to measure what interplay a
library location might have with the area
around it." The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 2-
11-2010.
Cedar Rapids' post flood library has little to do with the advancement of knowledge. Cedar Rapids overbuilt library had everything to do with advancing the value of Downtown District real estate on a flood plain. Knowledge defeated the library levy. Voters remembered.
Whom will the few who have profited from the taxes of so many blame?
The Downtown District's shenanigans with disaster dollars largely defeated the library increase. Those so enriched will point elsewhere.
The Iowa Conservative Union (ICU) ran a pop can deposit by comparison guerrilla campaign using social media. Cheap Facebook post boosting reached almost 20,000 in the Cedar Rapids area. It is hard to measure the ICU's impact. The ICU influenced perhaps a few of the points on the ten point spread.
If those who squandered disaster dollar millions of local, state and federal taxes wish to blame the ICU, thank you. The folks at the ICU revel in their recognition.
Will Cedar Rapids' Downtown District call it quits?
"Over the years, city voters had been willing to approve a library levy of 4 cents per $1,000 of taxable assessed property valuation to buy books, but the small levy lapsed in 2014.
Corbett said the jump from a small levy to the request for a 27-cent one may have factored in Tuesday’s defeat. He said he could imagine a request of voters down the line for a library levy smaller than 27 cents, but larger than 4 cents." The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Nov. 4, 2015.
Get ready for round two. Vote again. Vote until you impart knowledge and wisdom upon those ruling Cedar Rapids.
Government must learn to live within the taxpayers' means.
Monday, 2 November 2015
If You Care About The Children
This is one of the most commonly used tools to convince people that they should vote for something without looking at the details or the fine print,
I mean really? Who doesn't care about the children
And without having to show any proof or rationale they can demonise those who do not agree with them with NOT caring about the Children
We see this yet again in the online debate furiously going on HERE
Like · Reply · Commented on by Bill Dahlsten · 2 hours ago · Edited
In responce to another commenter she also asked, "How many Families have Wi-Fi?
Yes it is true that not every family has Wi-Fi but I believe most Hy-Vees do,
Why would anyone drive all the way downtown to use something that they can get at their neighborhoold grocery?
Where the coffee and pop refills are free I might add.
No if you look at some of the details of the Library budget kindly provided by another commenter
You might see that in addition to traditional Library expenses there seem to be quite a few what I think of as NON Library expenses
Leading me to believe SOME of our Public Servants have been RAIDING the Library Budget
For things that might be worth doing but they have been going in the backdoor and skimming funds meant for the Library for their own pet projects and now have a problem.
They spent all the Library money,
Now they have to convince us not to just raise the levy but to raise it almost 600% to the maximum limit?
What will they want to raise next?
So if you want a healthy sustainable Library and you really care about the Children and the Future of the Library
Vote NO
Tell our public servants to send someone to Des Moines, a city that has twice our population.
But they manage to run their library without spending as much as we do,.
Maybe they have something to teach us?
Friday, 30 October 2015
Shaking The Taxpayer Tree
Tomorrow November 3rd, we will be allowed to go to the polls and vote to determine the shape of our local government
And as has been the case most of the time recently we will get to decide whether or not our Taxes will be raised.
The City has decided it can no longer run the Library on the Funds it has available and therefore needs to raise the Library Levy from 4¢ per $1000 to 27¢ per $1000
An increase of 575% in our Library Tax.
This is odd considering just few years ago they were telling us a totally different story.
I have a young friend who was running for a seat on the Town Council who made a few statements on the subject and the Gazette ran a Fact Checking Article which determined that what he said was
Mostly Fiction?
In a Wednesday evening debate, candidates Justin Wasson, 23, and Carl Cortez, 66, were generally critical of post-flood decisions made by the city council, while candidate Ann Poe, 58, defended the post-flood spending on the downtown library, saying, "you can't have a good apple if the core is rotten."
Here's a look at some of the claims made by the three candidates during the debate and whether the statements were fact, mostly factual, half true, mostly fiction or fiction.
Issue: Is the new library too big, expensive?
Claim: Wasson thinks the city is building a downtown library that is too big, too nice and too expensive. He said the city is getting a "giant" library downtown that is "significantly bigger than the older library" In the end, with the cost to maintain the building, "I'm going to be paying off this library for the rest of my life."
Determination: Mostly fiction
Why: The city's former downtown library at 500 First St. SE was 84,000 square feet in size. The new library will be 94,000 square feet, with more space for children and teens, library officials said.
The new $49 million library is being built without local property taxes. The money comes from a mix of federal disaster funds, a state I-JOBS grant, private donations and $4 million in revenue from the city's local option sales tax, which already has been collected.
Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, said Thursday the operational costs at the new library will not be any larger than the operational costs at the old one, and may be less.
Isn't INTERESTING in just a few short years the City and the Gazette have gone from the Library costs too much to run being
Mostly Fiction
To
We must Raise the Library Levy 575%
Now did they LIE to us?
Or are they just so INCOMPETENT that we should NEITHER believe a word they say NOR let them touch any Tax Payer Funds.
There has been a furious debate on the Iowa Conservative Fanpage in responce to this ad
You should go there and put YOUR 2¢ in and see what others have said
One thing I learned was that the
" CR Library has a budget that far exceeds that of
Des Moines. "
Which makes me think that we HAVE the answer.
We don't need to Raise Taxes
We just need to send someone to
Des Moines
To find out how to run a Library
Monday, 21 September 2015
Breakfast With Carly
I received requests from a couple of the LCRCC Executives to help spread the word about this event.
There are two things to take into consideration.
1. This lady is always well worth listening to.
2. The breakfast is being held at the Kirkwood Center, and THEY have a great reputation for cuisine!
Go Hear and Enjoy!
Tickets can be
Obtained HERE
One Week Left to get Tickets
We must report to the vender
how many places by
Wednesday Oct 14
They start at $25
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