One of the prerequisite talents for elected office is maintaining a straight face when telling jokes like this:
“But the fact is that main streets across Minnesota are again being hit by State cuts because the State has not addressed its long-term structural financial problems,” said Mayor Rybak. “One thing Minneapolis will not do is take a page from the State’s financial practices and make a short term fix to address a long term structural problem. That’s not how we operate.”
Really? Have you read your own budget, Mr. Mayor? It’s all a huge shell game of interdepartmental transfers, shaky “investments”, and bond issues to shift the cost of today’s mistakes onto tomorrow’s residents.
But R.T. isn’t the only State bird in City Hall:
“The cut made today by Governor Pawlenty amounts to about one-third of the payment Minneapolis was expecting to receive in less than a week,” said Council President Barbara Johnson. “This represents the equivalent of paying for 130 police officers, or 150 firefighters.
Or 262 water fountains. Or six 2.5 green roofs.
Governor Kettle anticipated the caterwauling at his press conference:
Any City Councilmember, any Mayor, any City administrator that says their first course of action is going to affect public safety, I would politely suggest to them that they have misplaced priorities.
I make the same suggestion, and since NRR suffers every time the Council makes such a vote, I have no time to be polite.
Cut the frivolous feel-good crap, Mayor. Provision of core services are the primary responsibility of government, Council President. Everything else, by definition, is non-essential. There are no acceptable excuses. Govern as prudent adults with mature priorities, or get your whiny mismanaging butts out of office.