Unenforced Ordinances

Someone with the City was noted for openly pondering why anyone would pass an ordinance that would go unenforced. Perhaps this was rhetorical. Perhaps it was just a thought, meant to remain unspoken, that escaped. Perhaps it was a sincere though naive question from someone new to government in the U.S. and this burg in particular. These ordinances are being used by politicians and bureaucrats to create a totalitarian government destroying what our country's founders intended as a free society.

In his book, The Permission Society: How the Ruling Class Turns Our Freedoms into Privileges and What We Can Do About It, author Timothy Sandefur identifies the radical innovation our country was founded upon: personal liberty derived from inalienable rights and bolstered by self-evident truths.  He then spends the rest of the book chronicling how politicians and state bureaucrats have whittled away at these liberties creating an authoritarian state King George III would envy. One of the most powerful weapons in the statists' arsenal is the at-will enforcement of laws, regulations and ordinances. The ruling class attacks their foes, including you, cutting with both edges of this sword.

At-will enforcement pushed the power of judge and jury to the edges of the ruling class allowing officers and bureaucrats to punish or persecute those who meet with their disapproval. Look no further than Dunwoody's Police Department with a Driving While Black policy so egregious it put the City on the losing end of court cases. Or the City lawyer who took it upon himself to berate and threaten a taxpayer who hired goats to clear his property of weeds and brush because by the lawyer's assessment the property owner infringed on government dictated right-of-way. The other edge is the "don't ask-don't tell" approach to ordinances espoused by at least one member of Council. This allows members of the ruling class, Staff, Mayor and Council, to curry favor with Friends and Family in private and business sectors. The potential for filling campaign coffers or securing personal wealth is no disincentive to this practice.

If you believe the deflective ruse that at-will enforcement is really on-complaint then put it to the test.  Report speeding in school zones expecting serious, effective enforcement and you will be disappointed. Try that with trucks in a no-truck zone and you'll get a dismissive email about insufficient infractions to justify police attention. If you get anything. Try as you might you will find nothing but a City devoted to destroying what our fathers brought forth on this continent.

'S No White

Ignoring pleas from The Other Dunwoody, DeKalb's most notorious Unnecessary Combatants refused the "Name Writ Large" contest afforded by our recent snow event and have instead continued to regale us with more public pissin' contests. Once again it involves Miz 'Laine's Termite Hatin' former Chief of Staff and yet another Ethics Board member. While the termite trauma involved Ethics Board Chairman John Ernst this time we're treated to belly buckin' with Robert Blackman. Why wait for the Fourth of July for fireworks, eh? Or so sayeth the AJC:

The spat occurred when Blackman questioned Lundsten about his allegation that Board of Ethics Chairman John Ernst had failed to be impartial.

Then Lundsten accused Blackman of being biased against him and said the ethics board member called him “slick” at a previous meeting in December. Blackman denied Tuesday he had called Lundsten any names. Lundsten responded by saying Blackman was lying, using a vulgarity [TOD: thereby doing exactly what he accused Blackman of].

That’s when Blackman said Lundsten could meet him outside.

Really? You sometimes have to wonder if everything local politicians need to know they learned in the high school cafeteria.

YO! Youse! Meese! Tree o'clock. Unda da bleacha's. Be DAHR!

No matter the source of this early onset Civility Alzheimers, this food fight slung some of the slop over to the Cool Kids' table where it has splattered all over Snow White. Miz 'Laine's successor ran on a commitment not only to the Big T but to also clean house, replacing all existing staff with her own. The naive amongst us assumed this meant not only riding into office on a White horse but also with a full set of Pink Slips. But the AJC report indicates the Chief of Staff is only on administrative leave, was not dismissed but has submitted his exit paperwork, end date undisclosed. 

Commissioner Nancy Jester placed Lundsten on administrative leave Thursday after an internal review. Lundsten has submitted his resignation papers to the county. He had already been planning to step down after helping Jester, who was elected in December to replace Boyer, transition into the job.

It is nice to know that the Chief of Staff is the one who is really in charge though the stated intent of "job transition" is baffling. What can Snow White possibly learn other than how not to do things and there is now sufficiently detailed public record that color commentary is unnecessary. Or perhaps having tasted of the poisoned apple provided by DeKalb's other wicked witch she feels inoculated and immune to the effects of even a full barrel of similarly tainted apples. Surely she's not channelling her inner Turing... Still it seems more prudent to sanitize the barrel and start over with fresh apples. Or maybe we misunderstood, jumping to the conclusion that cleaning house would be first order of business and should have known that removing the existing staff "after I take office" could well have been "quite a while after." No matter where this is along the political line that includes "it depends on what 'is' is" it is on that line nonetheless.

It didn't take much time in the political sun for Snow White to pick up tan lines. 

Mr. Watson, Come Here

Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you.

The first intelligible words spoken over the telephone. Too bad that there are not many intelligible words regarding our very own Mr. Watson--County Commissioner Stan Watson. Bell's utterance was reportedly about spilled battery acid but the feds are calling after Stan because he seems to have spent some quality time with some unsavory characters who now find themselves in federal court facing corruption charges. The allegations (they are just allegations--for now) implicate our Commissioner in a payola scheme.

But Stan has long been estranged from exemplary behavior. He is one of the most egregious (ab)users of County P-Cards currently in office though he faces some severe competition. Stan is known for using his P-Card to fund his private cell phone service all the while retaining his County-funded cell phone. Perhaps he uses that for a "burner phone." Or perhaps he thought using his personal phone meant that his personal phone records would remain personal in spite of his "I use it for county bidness" rationalization. Turns out that line of reasoning isn't to be confused with logic. He became entangled in the AJC's investigation of P-Card (ab)use drawing their attention not just because of the overall amount P-Card spending but also because of his rather large phone bills. The AJC logic of "if the public pays then it is public record" prevailed making his call detail records subject to open record requests.

Oooops.

Ultimately he handed them over to the AJC, but he self-redacted calls related to the federal case underway in South Carolina. This is probably because he had previously denied, on the record, having any unsavory relations with the defendants in that case. Or...well...maybe.

It gets better.

He used a non-so-black marker to redact the incriminating call records made all the more incriminating because he felt so compelled to obscure them. Not only did he miss a few entries the marker he used did not effectively blot out those embarrassing stains and the AJC was able to recover the call information.

We don't need to call for "Watson" nor do we need a lot of words to describe what is going on in this county. We only need one.

Hubris