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Health & Fitness

From Apathy to Advocacy

Good afternoon.  By now most of you following this blog know who I am (I am not June Wick, believe me), but in the tradition of Benjamin Franklin and other Founding Fathers I prefer to write in the pseudonym of Wake up Kennesaw.  Those of you who enjoy history know that Benjamin Franklin used several pseudonym's such as "Silence Dogood" and his earlier name of "Publius".  Obviously there were reasons for that but you can draw your own conclusions!

Today I want to explain why I am so jacked-up about City Hall and the appropriate name for this blog being from apathy to advocacy.  During the recent City Hall meeting I was, in a small way, ambushed by those seeking to intimidate me and my views.  I'm beyond being intimidated by anyone and those that seek to intimidate have personal agendas that must not be completely altruistic.  But I digress.

My journey from apathy to advocacy started when I threw my hat into the ring to fill Bill Thrash’s position upon his death.  Simply trying to do my civic duty and learn a bit more about the inner workings of the City.  I was not chosen and that was the end of that.  Until I was approached by a number of people who thought I should run opposite Matt Reideman.  I entertained the thought, proceeded to “bone up” on important issues and that is when I decided to print-out the financials of the City.  What I found is now public record in my blogs.  Distasteful might be appropriate.

Up until that moment I was apathetic about City Hall figuring the people we elect are good people at heart and know how to run a business or organization.  What you find out is that politics takes a certain person with no ego to do a truly effective job.  You have to be able to make unpopular choices, sacrifice for the greater cause (i.e. do not stay at resorts for a week while attending functions in Savannah) and avoid pettiness.   What we have in many of our elected officials is the opposite.  Hence my switch from apathy to advocacy.

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We have a voting bloc led by the Mayor, supported by Reideman, Killingsworth and Duckett who are unwilling to restrain themselves from the teat of government.  They could easily vote themselves out of receiving health care benefits and pensions, and could vote in restraints upon themselves when it comes to entertainment and travel expenses.  They could shore up the finances of the pensions and address the future liabilities known as “OPEB”, but prefer to spend money on a Museum and Gardens that drain resources from the future promises of City Workers.   Is it any wonder that the City supports the Museum to this extent when the Mayor is a Trustee of the Museum?

Allow me to once again digress.  Someone obviously knew I was coming to speak at the Monday night City Council meeting because they had Mr. Chastain, President of the Museum Foundation, ready to level me with personal insults, or try to intimidate me.  I had never met the man, but he did proceed in “tossing a blood clot” with his presentation.  I do not intimidate.  Mr. Chastain was quick to outline the fact that the City owes its commitment to the bonds and that is not in dispute.  I would never advocate that anyone renege on a promise, especially a City that must maintain its credit ratings in the public debt markets. 

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Now, I had just happened to have with me at the meeting the Form 990 for 2010 (filed 2011) for the Museum.  This is their tax return they file with the IRS.  Unfortunately the Foundation doesn’t seem to be run much better than the Museum, which I mentioned during the Public Comment section.  I had this with me because another member of the Foundation had called me the prior week to tell me my comments were being hurtful to the Museum.  Since a Foundation member was calling, and the City was funding a lot of the costs, I was curious why the Foundation didn’t take matters into their own hands?

Turns out they cannot because they lost money in 2010 and 2009 and their fund-raising efforts from the golf tournament and other functions yielded very little in the way of donations (after expenses).  In one case a fund-raiser was retained by the Foundation, paid $22,000 and raised about $68,000.  So for every dollar the fund-raiser claimed as his, roughly 30% was kept by him.  If I was a donor I would blow my top.  They ended the year with about $450,000 in cash.

If you want to check me on this go to www.guidestar.org, register for a free account, then search for “Kennesaw Foundation”, you’ll find the information in the 990.  Just page through, you’ll see it.

So, in conclusion, we have a mayor and “political cabal” unwilling to make unpopular choices on behalf of our City Workers and dedicated policemen and women.  They are willing to feast at the teat of government but feel no compunction for those that put their lives on the line for the citizens of Kennesaw each and every day.  If for nothing else do you not want to give those that protect us the decency of a fully-funded pension?  Should not that be, in part, a measure of the Community’s commitment to help those who protect us?  Is it so important that you receive your pension; you get health benefits from the taxpayers and then have the audacity to not even control yourselves by instituting simple travel and expense reimbursement policies?

Citizens of Kennesaw I ask you is this what you wish from your apathy?  Is this how you want your tax dollars spent…by individuals who will not control themselves?  Is this what you teach your children about their personal responsibility and commitments to others?  If so, then continue to “let it ride” because nothing changes without changes.  Change from apathy to advocacy.

Wake Up Kennesaw!

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