From Anonymous:
I usually agree with you on many subjects but not this one. You minimize his wrongdoings as if they were petty and try to wish them away. I want honest, open government in my Village. You are way off the mark. The community doesn't need corrupt politicians to move ahead.

My answer:
To this point we are dealing with unproven alligations. None of these alligations have been proven true by a judge and jury! We are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law! No one is guilty of anything. Any attempt to discredit a person of an offense that has not been proven true by a court of law is in my opinion, not an honorable thing to do! Unfortunately the media does this all of the time! God help us!


Local Official's Compensation
Local government should absolutely be viewed by the general populous as a business. For some reason we the residents of "Hometown USA," have lost track of the fact that our local officials, retired or otherwise, have a family to support, and bills to pay. Do yourself a favor; find out how much money your local officials are being paid for their services; you could be surprised! Now consider how much money you would charge to work 60 hours a week, if you were a local official!


On the average, the amount of money that one could make as a local official could be 60 to 80 percent lower than it should be. Yes in certain areas of government, the compensation may be too high, or at least questionably high! That is a separate issue that should also be addressed.


In the case where a local municipality cannot afford to pay its public officials a competitive salary, some municipalities offer "valuable considerations," as an alternate means of compensation. As an example, In some western towns the elected official and his wife are allowed to drive an official car 24/7. Official presence has the same effect as the "neighborhood watch;" someone is always looking! With perks such as this, both the elected official and the community win! Valuable considerations can take many forms, but should be issued and controlled by an advisory committee of resident taxpayers.


With the current atmosphere of political volatility, we must be sure that we retain our qualified local officials. Retaining qualified local officials to run our town, "Hometown USA," has not even been on the Radar Screen. There is a direct one to one monetary correlation of the value of our home, and the appearance of our municipality; an aloof local government can destroy the value of your home and property. Bad government can turn your $300,000 dollar investment in your house or property, into $125,000 dollars, before you realize what happened! Amazingly enough, even the landlords realize this to be true!


We must do everything possible to retain quality elected officials!


OK.....We are on the right track.... We are moving forward.....guess we won't get run over!


(modified quote by will Rogers! Ha! Ha!)



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