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September 26, 2007

Arrogance: Personal and Corporate.

I couldn't help but make the connection yesterday between Marti Rutherford's arrogant lawsuit against the city (which is the same as suing the people of Chattanooga) and Comcast's arrogant lawsuit against EPB (which is the same as suing the people of Chattanooga).

Marti believes that a city council seat is her birthright and doesn't see why she shouldn't be able to perpetuate a scam and get away with it. Did you read the details of Randy Nelson's filing against her? Dude has nailed her to the wall--even involved the dog and cats! That Marti doesn't bow her head, apologize to the citizens she's deceived and resign is a shame that will follow her name from here on out. But her arrogance, pride, and not a little bit of delusion, have caused her to file a lawsuit. A lawsuit that we, the citizens of Chattanooga, will pay to defend.

Comcast believes that an unfettered monopoly is their right and refuses to acknowledge that the law now allows someone else to offer 'cable' service. A unanimous vote of the city council has allowed EPB to bring us electric, phone, cable and next generation broadband. So Comcast (through their lobbying arm) is suing the City of Chattanooga (sure it says EPB on the papers, but it's really the City and that means you and me) to keep their monopoly.

The arrogance of Comcast is astounding. Even if what EPB is doing were illegal, what's it to them? If their service is so comcastic, all they have to do is undercut EPB's price by a few bucks and problem solved. It's clear that Comcast knows that their service is going to be far inferior and this is the beginning of the end, unless they install fiber as well. How in hell they think they can sue the citizens of this city and then expect them to continue to buy their service is a marketing technique that is ill conceived, to say the least.

Marti Rutherford and Comcast: arrogance in the face of common sense--which we will be paying for in court. I predict that the citizens of Chattanooga will be victorious in both matters. I hope a judge makes Marti and Comcast pay us back when we win.

Comments to: worstmayorever@aol.com

Posted by Billy Blades at 11:26 PM | TrackBack

Marti, Money, Missy, etc.

Time to dip into the old mail bag, and as usual, you people have a lot to say.

Mu-Mu-Move On Down The Road
We've gotten a butt ton of email asking about Worst Mayor Ever's take on Marti Rutherford's run in with an angry electorate (that's equal to two metric ass-loads). What is there to say, really? Everyone in Brainerd knew she never left Hemphill. Her competitor said it everytime she spoke during the campaign, "I'm the only resident of District 6 in this race," but our media never followed up on it.

It took Robert T. Nash to bring this about, and it all started when she was rude to him on the air. She's an embarrassment--has been for years--she thinks she's above the law and I'm glad justice finally caught up with her. I think you know I'm a fan of justice, even if it moves at a glacial pace. By the way, does this mean Julie Chamberlain won that election? She seems to be the qualified candidate with the most votes.

Oh, one other aspect of this worth noting is that the person working hardest behind the scenes to build the case in the community against Marti was none other than our favorite former city employee MichMich herself. The email on this matter was from a source so rock solid that every Chattanoogan in the know would acknowledge this persons credibilty.

I'm not surprised MichMich and Marti didn't get along--they're the same person, separated by 30 years and a pink floral mu-mu. If you know both of them, you know what I mean. The important thing to note here is that Ron Littlefield maneuvered behind the scenes after the '01 elections to get Marti jerrymandered out of his district, just in case. Which 'drove' her to establish this non-residence residence in District 6. And he's the one that has been feeding MichMich her ideas to get the citizens to file their petition. The way you can know for sure that Ron is behind the move to oust Marti, is that he said he's not. But to be fair, many people came together in a moment of cleansing synchronicity to bring this beautiful moment into being. Just enjoy it.

Campaign Finance Questions
Now, the serious stuff. Another writer with credibility wrote to point out another bit of suspicious Littlefield campaign accounting.

The essence of this story is that at a crucial point in the campaign, Ron was out of money (but not out of tricks). The call went out for money and Steve Leach made a 'large donation' to the campaign. The letter writer reports that the donation never showed up on a Littlefield financial report. Of course, the punch line is that Steve was then made head of the Public Works department, because that's how you get a job in the Littlefield administration: quid pro quo.

But irregularites about Ron Littlefield's disclosure form came up during the election, protests were filed and nothing happened. Why would it now? Wonder if anyone affiliated with that campaign will grow a conscience and step forward at any point in the future?

Shampoo Shakedown
OK, fine, a third e-mail (from a variety of sources) has put me over the edge on this. I'd held off, because it's really quite serious and hard to believe that someone could be so arrogant and stupid.

So, according to several e-mails, Missy Crutchfield went to her 'glitzy' hair salon in Brainerd in the not-too-distant past and declared that she wouldn't be paying the usual $120 fee for doing her hair, but that she would be paying $60 and leaving these tickets to events at the Tivoli theater to make up the difference. Go ahead, pick up your jaw and we'll continue.

Honestly, I didn't believe this when I got the first email. Or the second. But, three's a charm here. Clearly, this is a serious abuse of her position, and I suspect that those auditors that Ron's got running around need to take an accounting of the ticket distribution to city events.

Obviously, it's an appalling abuse of power if it's true. But, how, after her father's conviction, could she actually do this? I mean making a soft-core movie in your early 30's is dumb, but this is just stupid. And wrong.

Etc, etc, etc...
Another letter writer felt that Ron's cozy relationship with the unions immediately after his election is what chased Toyota away. While it's true that Japanese automakers are anti-union (Nissan has been fighting UAW here in Tenn. for years) and Ron's union-sluttery can't have looked good but, I think there was more than that involved.

Finally, one writer found it impossible to comprehend that Ron Littlefield could utter these words:

China is a growing and expanding country and just as we have had product recalls in this country, they are learning how to have product recalls there. [Aw! Isn't it cute when a burgeoning manufacturing economy learns to recall? I just love 'em at that age! BB] We've certainly had our share of breakdowns of process of production [but we don't have any manufacturing base left Ron, what can you mean? BB], and they are establishing safeguards in China as we have in this country.

Since when does particpating in a Sister City program make you an apologist for communist China and a lead paint controversy affecting millions of toys nationwide? You seriously need to work on your 'no comment,' Ron.

Well, that's just a handful of letters, but that'll do for now.

Comments to: worstmayorever@aol.com

Posted by Billy Blades at 09:31 AM | TrackBack