You Get the Government You Deserve

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Citizens of Nitro — you were warned!

For at least two years, and I believe longer than that, some citizens of Nitro have been trying to get the word across that the city government was in shambles and the finances were a wreck.  But, the Nitro City Council successfully deflected the accusations claiming those individuals were trouble makers trying to disrupt the city.  Outspoken critics of the government were harrassed, followed and denounced in the media.

Nitro goverenment was all rainbows and butterflies.  How dare anyone claim the kings had no clothes!

In a pretty good account of the latest news, the Charleston Gazette tells us this:

“…the city’s true debt [is] nearly $1 million.”

For some time now there has been a small, but vocal group of citizens warning that Nitro’s finances were in shambles.  These citizens, primarily Nitro residents Karen and Ken  Fritz, have been mocked, ostracized, followed, harrased and god knows what else, by the very people responsible for the proper oversight of the city funds.

The escrow accounts have been raided, monies diverted, bills unpaid and yet, new positions hired, salaries increased.  The mayor has been in place for about 12 years, I don’t know about the other council members. 

In most administrations, the mayor is the executive who is responsible for the day-to-day operations and functioning of the government.  The council is the oversight group with varying degrees of authority.  I am not a resident of Nitro, so I do not know the details of their government functions.  But this I do know, there is plenty of blame to go around. 

Now, the citizens of Kanawha County are being asked to bail out this failed government.  To that request I say no.  I say no because there has been more than ample warning of this problem, and the people ignored it.  I say no because the people felt no duty to investigate the claims of those who challenged the budgets and reports. 

The call for metro-government is being whispered as a cure-all for this type of situation.  Those who are whispering do not really understand the process of metro-government, or any government for that matter.  In a metro-government style, there are still regional leaders, elections and the potential for curruption.  Hell, there are claims of financial corruption at every level of government, to include the President of the United States.  Metro-government is primarily a cost-saving measure, a way of forcing unincorporated areas to conform to additional government regulations, and method of screwing the federal government out of money by keeping populations above 50,000, thereby qualifying for key federal grants.

The sad thing is, when the alarm was being sounded, the citizens in Nitro chose to believe their elected officials, instead of their fellow citizens.  What happens when you take that to the county, state and federal level?  Some of the very same people who squal that the federal government is corrupt are supporting the expansion of government at other levels.  No level of government can be completely trusted.  That is why the invovlment of the citizen is so important.  This may well be a great example of the need for mandatory, written term limits.

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