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October 28, 2007
Littlefield Gives Middle Finger To Citizens, City Council & Logic.
Folks, I've always assumed that those reading these web postings have a certain level of knowledge about the workings of their government, because why else would you be reading a web site about a government official.
So, I assume when Ron Littlefield says that he's giving Marti Rutherford a job for two days to sort out the issues of extending Hamill Road in Hixson that you automatically know he's saluting you with a Bronx Cheer.
But, maybe you are unfamiliar with how the inner-workings of a city operate, so pardon me if I offend, but believe me when I tell you that residential realtors have nothing to do with road planning or building. There are no transferable skills between the two professions.
Highly-trained professionals at the Regional Planning Agency work with the Dept. of Public Works on those matters. You may get upset when your daily commute takes too long and think that you could do a better job of designing the roads. You couldn't. Me either.
The professionals at the RPA have years of high-level education and real world experience under their belt before they start working on complex matters like road-building and infrastructural connectedness.
To propose that Marti Rutherford is just going to jump into the Hamill Road extension project and give any meaningful input in 16 hours is beyond insulting. It's beyond ludicrous. It's uncharted territory for brazen, backroom Chattanooga politics.
You might be able to say that Marti is willing to get involved for her constituents. I'll give you that. Of course, only the ones she particularly likes (there are Brainerd Road merchants who could tell you stories on this matter). But no one who's involved in city government will say that she's whip-smart or a quick study. Or anyone you'd want in a planning capacity. In fact, everyone who knows her knows she's just a busy-body (this word stands in place of another 'B' word) in a mu-mu who thinks that if she pushes hard enough she'll get her way. The last two months of newspaper headlines will back that up.
Of all of the fake jobs for Ron to throw up as a sham to cover for his attempt to cheat the system to help a should-have-been criminal*--this was a bad choice. It's the capper of the monumental mistakes that he's making with his city hall career.
But still, unless someone credible steps up to run against him, the disgusting games will continue into his next term at city hall. And our city continues to tread water with no champion at its helm.
Of course, we still don't have the real reason Ron is doing this. Perhaps someday he'll think us worthy of an explanation.
*Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the city attorney should have moved forward with a legal case against Marti for the crime of deception that she intentionally committed? Something feels fishy about stopping the proceedings just because she resigned. I wonder if she'll try to sue and we will regret not letting a judge and or jury sort this out.
Comments to:
Posted by Billy Blades at 10:34 PM | TrackBack
October 25, 2007
Spiteful, Small & Mean.
Man, this just keeps getting better. The speculation as to why Ron Littlefield, known far and wide as the Worst Mayor Ever (and thanks to this little web site, it's getting farther and wider), would re-ignite this ridiculous Rutherford residency ruse is all over the map. City hall, the gym and my email are abuzz and the guesses are all over the place. It's well known that Ron and Marti can't stand each other and that Ron's involvement in gerrymandering Marti out of District 6 is what led to this to begin with. Everyone keeps asking if I know what Marti has on Ron. No clue. He wants to take care of disgraced ex-polilticians. Maybe he's hoping for the same treatment one day.
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"Spiteful, small and mean” and “vindictive.” If I had to pick four words to describe Ron Littlefield, and couldn't use hyphenated vulgarities, those four would do just fine. The unbelievable, truly stupefying thing is that he called the city council--the whole council, mind you, because that vote to block the Mayor's gifting of benefits to Rutherford was unanimous--those names. Called them names in the media, no less. I don't mean to break this down too far, but when you're the mayor, nothing happens for you unless you have five votes. Five votes from the city council that you just called, "spiteful, small, mean and vindictive." Well, done. Good luck getting anything done now, you hotheaded [hyphenated vulgarity meaning moron that rhymes with truck-tard].
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You may have noted in yesterday's WME entry on this subject that I mentioned that Ron Littlefield giving Marti Rutherford unearned access to the city's group health plan was 'no small gift.' Well, I chose my words carefully because of a question that lingered in my mind. The issue is this: We all know that Marti isn't an employee of the Mayor's. City Council people are not hired, they're elected. And they certainly don't report to the mayor (especially not this one and especially not now). So how do Ron and Dan Johnson simply extend benefits? Hire her as a temp? City Hall has been buzzing, but basically, we think that it will have to be officially classified as a 'gift' in the budget. However, there are very specific rules in the state code about gifts. I don't think that Littlefield can do this legally. But, I'm not a lawyer, and Roger Dickson is a damn good one. We'll find out soon enough.
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On August 30, Ron Littlefield said, "I've never questioned where her legal residence was. I don't desire to get involved in that."
Today, Ron said, "As this issue began to unfold a few weeks ago, there were a number of individuals – myself included – who attempted to work between the various interests to try and resolve things."
Which is it? You weren't involved, or you were? I'm no longer sure if Ron knows the difference between how things happen and how he wants them to have happened. It's a lie either way, but he does it so much, I wonder how he justifies the lies in his mind when they're so easy to google.
On the same note, I'm so glad that no one is falling for Ron's attempt to take the moral high ground on this issue where he's actually down in the gutter. Every time he says, 'It's the right thing to do,' I am exasperated at how dumb he thinks we are. Cheating the system to help a liar is not the right thing to do. He said he was ready for the fallout of his actions. I wonder if he'll regret that arrogant attitude.
Make no mistake Chattanooga--this is the man you elected mayor. These are his ethics. This wrongheaded abuse of the system that he's been trusted with is his true heart.
Comments to:
Posted by Billy Blades at 1:00 PM | TrackBack
October 22, 2007
Oh. No. He. Di-int.
Oh, yes he did! Ron Littlefield is, quite simply, giving Marti Rutherford access to group health insurance and we all will be paying for it for years. The fact that she broke the law and his own attorney put together a rock-solid case against her is irrelevant to him. He thinks public servants deserve special treatment. This is no small gift. I don't know if you've shopped it lately, but individual insurance is not cheap, and this action gets her into the city's group health plan.
Ron Littlefield, the Worst Mayor Ever, claims that it is only a three day extension of her benefits. As usual, he's really wrong. No, Ron. It's a three year extension, because she committed a crime by intentionaly lying about her residency, deceiving her constituents and falsely representing herself as qualified for office. SHE SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD THE BENEFITS TO BEGIN WITH! Does anyone remember Randy Nelson using the term 'felony' regarding her actions? Is that investigation ongoing?
Ron is perpetrating a scam on Chattanoogans, just like Marti did and he should be ashamed. But he isn't because he believes there are different rules when you are in public office. Which is why he loves being in public office. It sure beats workin'.
The other reason he's doing it is because he doesn't care what you think. Or more to the point, he doesn't think he can be beat because of the power of incumbancy in America. Therefore, the outrage over this will flare up, die down and go away with no lasting harm to his re-election chances. And the sad thing is that he's probably right. And that is a shame on us.
The only good news is that the Council, whom Ron thinks he controls, is appalled that Ron would inflame this issue that stopped our city government in its tracks for a full month. The Council was very deliberate and they did the right thing. Now Ron has completely disregarded them by taking this highly unethincal action. He's just going to declare it and so it shall be. So says King Ron.
Didn't the ethics legislation that was passed a couple of years ago address this? If not, remember how Chris Newton admitted he'd committed a crime and refused the insurance, because he felt he didn't deserve it? I happen to think Chris Newton is scum, but he's a scum with a conscience. Same can't be said of Ron.
Comments to:
Posted by Billy Blades at 10:24 PM | TrackBack