Politicians Are Ass Clowns

Politicians have two fundamental responsibilities in terms of governance.  The first is simple:  to spend tax revenues wisely to meet the proper and necessary requirements of their constituents. The second is more difficult and controversial:  to wisely determine appropriate means for raising that tax revenue.

Unfortunately, being ass clowns, politicians often fail on both accounts...

Take Salisbury, MD for example.  I am NO fan of the political leadership in Salisbury.  I think that Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman (cue music from The Crying Game here) is in way over her head, and that she tries to rule Salisbury like a little grupenfuhrer (see the Bill Reddish episode at WICO for a good example of this).

Mayor Tilghman, with her new BFF (best friend forever) Council President Louise Smith has proposed a 17% property tax increase for the city of Salisbury. She has even gone so far as to threaten that the promised COLAs for police officers will be threatened if the increase does not go through.

Now, to be honest, a 17% increase in the property tax amounts only a $40 per year increase per citizen in the city.

But the big issue here is that no sane resident of Salisbury actually trusts the Mayor.  Why is that?  Because the Mayor has failed to make sure that she wisely spends the tax revenues.  And having failed to accomplish that, she has failed to make a reasonable argument about why that $40 year extra is necessary.  She has failed to connect the dots in a way that her constituents understand and agree with.  She doesn't lead in this matter, she dictates.  It's her way or the highway.  Of course, being Salisbury, that highway hasn't been paved in years...

Salisbury has tremendous issues that require serious, thoughtful leadership.  Their tax base is shriveling even as I type this.  They are far too dependent on residential property tax revenues, having given away the farm in the Florida-style development sprawl that has occured in the last 15 years.  Their city infrastructure is crumbling.  In fact of matter, a serious fire at the fertilizer plant on Mill Street would probably consume a large swath of the city up through New Town straight up to Deers Head because of a lack of adequate water resources.

Merely pushing through a tax increase will only exacerbate the problem.  In fact, the problem may be intractable. It might be that abolition of city government is the only thing that can save the city itself.

But Mayor Barrie Tilghman has a responsibility to lead and educate on why the tax increase is necessary, why the increased spending on attorney's fees is necessary, why a new Admin position is necessary (other than Shanie Shields thinks so), and why increased funding for the Zoo -- which charges no fees -- is necessary.  Necessary, not desired.

Until she does that, she will remain an ass clown, and will not be fulfilling her two key responsibilities.