Status Quo Crowd getting desperate?

By Bob Shannon Central Garage

Having attended the majority of the Board of Supervisor meetings the last 8 years, I can’t say until Land Use Exemption Programs came under threat, and the tax shifting game was exposed, do I even recall Mr. Mills attending these meetings.  To disguise why he is now showing up he portends that it is because these new Supervisors “ can’t be trusted “ ?

  I have read the 8 page protocol on how a Board  meeting is to be conducted so I might begin with pointing out a few FACTS, those annoying things that get in the way of propaganda, a tactic employed these days by the very folks who call out my behavior as intimidating or unruly.

Mr. Mills waxes poetically, longing for the good old days when as he states….. “ whereas in the past we trusted all of our Supervisors to do so, which is no longer the case” Translation: King William now has at least 2 Supervisors who won’t dance to the Oligarchs band.  He then states…… “ Their actions bear watching and their questionable decisions scrutinized” Translation:  Hansen & Ehrhart ( legally elected by the voters in their districts to do what apparently the voters agreed with) don’t mesh with Mr. Mills agenda………therefor can’t be trusted ?  The subtle message in Mr. Mills writing indicates his true colors…..unless your opinion and views align with his——you can’t be trusted ?  I would at least respect him if he was just direct and said what he thinks….. he is simply annoyed because he can’t control 2 of them as opposed to the past when Supervisors danced to he and his crony pals tune. Should any citizen share their opposing views/opinions with elected officials, well in Mr. Mills warped world that automatically makes the elected officials suspect ?

  Up to and including the meeting on Monday February 22,( the circus ) I have sat through no fewer than a dozen meetings where speakers during the public comment period were generously allowed to ramble on and on and on , well past any 3 or 5 minutes afforded them,  without a scintilla of objections from a single Board member……..until after the February 22 meeting when things clearly got out of control. I wrote the Board members that very evening offering the suggestion that they indeed implement the very controls afforded them in the 8 page memorandum outlining how a Board meeting is to be conducted. Odd that Mr. Mills and or Mr. Wagner NOW CALL FOR ORDER ? Mr. Wagner to the best of my recollection never objected when countless other speakers went well beyond their allotted time, but dare someone like me who refuses to cower go 15 seconds over the limit……we can’t have that now can we .. Hypocrites employ selective memory, and why …..because they just don’t like what I have to say.  Conservatives in the county begin to speak up, and all of a sudden protocol takes on new urgency.

Mr. Mills in his letter of April 20^th states that I ignored the Chairs direction that my time had ended. This is untrue. What I did was simply point out what I reference above, how this time limit has been totally ignored over many years, but now is a issue , now that an opposing point of view is gaining some traction in the community , the status quo wants to shut us up. My last words I spoke before walking away after speaking were ….“Thank you gentlemen for your time”.  Odd how Mr. Mills cites my lack of respectful manner but excludes the individual sitting in the room who said loud enough for everyone to hear “ shut up and go sit down”.   Equally telling is the lack of the Chair gaveling the person making those comments. I have often times bit my tongue when I sat in these meetings and had to listen to others make outlandish statements, or drone on and on ,but I always observed the common courtesies denied me on April 4^th.

As for me storming out of the building, I quietly and calmly returned to my seat, recognized what time it was and left because I start my day normally at 4:30 am, but heh ,what’s a little lie on top of the first one ?

“ Protecting our County”,  particularly telling that Mr. Mills didn’t say “ the county” —but our county…. what Mr. Mills and others of his ilk are protecting is the status quo. To assign nefarious motives to Hansen and Ehrhart ( who he is clearly referencing) is an insult to the voters who sent these 2 honorable men to that Board to do a job, cut spending and lower taxes. Apparently or conveniently Mr. Mills overlooks that the majority of voters in both the 4^th & 5^th districts have another point of view, one that he insults by implying their very votes for these 2 gentlemen somehow don’t matter.   It is the likes of Mr. Mills who has no respect for others point of view.  Just what did the election results mean to Mr. Mills ?  These voters and the opinions they expressed at the polls in November according to Mr. Mills are not valid ? News Flash Mr. Mills……you don’t run the show anymore.

Very few Supervisors of the past displayed any independence, often times jockeying to publically portray themselves as independent, but maintaining the status quo so as to not upset the delicate arrangement existing to keep the Oligarchs happy. Policy decisions told the real story. If revenue needed raised—go tap the beleaguered homeowner or small business owner who didn’t have the special status assigned to a very small well connected group .

Their game plan has shifted out of necessity…..turn the new Supervisors who won’t bow and a handful of out spoken members of the County into villains. The  only problem is we are not beholden or silenced with the pathetic & obvious form of manipulation these folks now employ. They lost at the ballot box so pull out the villain card. Rest assured Mr. Mills the only folks buying this are already in your corner, your reach  is restricted to the self serving crowd who want things to remain just as they are. Bloviating won’t change the minds of the folks with their eyes now wide open and tuned into how things here in King William have been run for far too long.