This blogpost is designed to inform the Whitehall citizens of what is going on at City Hall, with their government and the people elected as stewards of their government. Its main intent is to expose wrongdoing of those elected leaders at City Hall. If there is nothing to report, nothing will appear here. If wrong is being done in the citizen’s name, my intent is to alert you to it so the citizens have the information needed to put a stop to it. I am the messenger, if the citizens choose to do nothing then the continuation of the problem is in their hands. Citizens always have the right and ability to respond in several different ways; call the Mayor/Council members, write letters/emails protesting actions by them, organize to stop their behavior through campaigns of picketing, resistance, etc. The choice is really in the citizen’s hands. You are responsible for what ultimately is done in your name at Whitehall City Hall. Their actions, lack of them, etc., are a reflection on you. What you allow ultimately speaks of you, not them. People are only willing to get away with as much as what they’re allowed to, the same holds true here in Whitehall.

I’ve found that people who want to run for office fall into two categories: One are those we expect to, the person who wants to help out, actually serve their civic duty and do the right thing by their neighbors and citizens, the genuinely helpful person who wants to assist in the good health of their community, in all ways. Then there is the other type: They’re there for themselves, either through what the power the office brings them and their ego and/or their party too. The authoritarian and/or the fevered ego. These sorts love lording it over others, the ‘my way or the highway’ type. They want control and don’t mind inflicting it on the public. This sort falls into any party type. The fevered egos love the power and attention the role brings. The truly troublesome are the ones who refuse to let go of power, particularly in our democratic Republic. The authoritarians with fevered egos. There are several in City Hall. ‘No one can do it better than they, they are the end-all, be-all and its best they stay there forever and ever’. A job which was designed as part of the civic duty we’re all supposed to be serving, in one capacity or another. Sadly, when the citizenry don’t pay attention to whom is serving them, these unsavory characters are both allowed in and allowed to stay in. Again, that is on the citizens. Its imperative the citizens keep an eagle eye on who they’re electing. Truly decent people or just people pretending to be decent in order to win your vote, get in office and start their disrespectful service. Our city hall is rife with this second example. If you can’t tell when someone is bullshitting you, do us all a favor and don’t vote. Character is everything. They too often sell you a bill of goods through their skimpy literature that sells you on them as surely as diet soda manufacturers convince you of weight loss. Buyer beware. Now, when you go to nearly every meeting, like me, and watch them and their character like a hawk, you come to see the truth of them. That is me. That is what I do and what I’ve been doing since 2009.

***Why do I do this?   I live here in Whitehall, born and raised. I could fight down at the Statehouse or visit D.C., but I believe that the tapestry of our nation is a huge piecework done in all corners, which includes Whitehall. I believe it is not the large things which cause the integrity of the tapestry of our government to weaken the whole but rather, the small holes allowed to appear and spread across its breadth and width. While a hole which Whitehall governance has made to appear may seem small in the larger scheme, it, along with many other small holes allowed to appear, have the ability to start the fraying, the tearing, the decline of the work as a whole and before you know it, the tapestry rips apart. That is where you and I come in, for it is we who have the responsibility to the tapestry of our Republic, we the people. To stop the hole from appearing and/or spreading. To understand what tears it, try to stop it from appearing initially and if it does, repair the damage done. Its really as simple as that and more important than you may realize.

So, when decisions are made that cause a rip in that tapestry, when fevered egos get in the way of our rule of law or authoritarian types decide that your rights are less important than their ego-driven schemes, it is an incremental assault on that which binds this country together. An assault on America itself. We are all defenders of this great country and while we’re looking outward for enemies of our Republic (and sending troops to go fight them), too often they come from within, more concerned with their need to rule over others and feed their egos than be genuine stewards of this great countries tenets. I for one refuse to allow it. That is why I do what I do here. When it comes to the uncorrupted integrity of the tapestry of our shared Republic, we must all be diligent needle workers, here, now.

I welcome everyone and thank-you for visiting.