Sheriff Evicts Insiders - The First Victory in the Cleansing of Jackson County Legislature
First, big kudos to Sheriff Mike Sharp, who has taken a stand against the literal insiders who have used courthouse access to unfairly gain early access to getting their name first on the ballots. In prior years, incumbents would use their courthouse passes to get in and file for themselves and friends while the hopes for reform sat outside in the cold.
Finally, Mike Sharp has put an end to that odious and unfair practice. Using his role as chief of security for the courthouse, he decided to take names at the courthouse door starting at 5:00 yesterday.
I had written about the unfairness of the prior system before, when Theresa Garza Ruiz proposed a simple and fair fix to the insider game. Greg Grounds joined her in seeking to eliminate cronyism.
Heny Rizzo voted for special insider privileges.
Dan Tarwater voted for special insider privileges.
James Tindall voted for special insider privileges.
Scott Burnett voted for special insider privileges.
Dennis Waits voted for special insider privileges.
Fred Arbanas voted for special insider privileges.
Bob Spence voted for special insider privileges.
Not surprisingly, even under the new system, Henry Rizzo managed to find a way to use his position to engage in petty cheating. He loathes Theresa Garza Ruiz because she has consistently sought to bring openness and reform to the Jackson County legislature. With that in mind, he let Ruiz's opponent cut in line to get his name on the ballot before her.
Can you believe that? Most people grow out of that kind of behavior in 1st grade, but Henry Rizzo and his friend apparently did not.
Labels: Bob Spence, corruption, Dan Tarwater, Dennis Waits, Fred Arbanas, Greg Grounds, Henry Rizzo, jackson county, jackson county Ethics Crisis, James Tindall, Mike Sharp, Scott Burnett, Theresa Garza Ruiz
posted by Dan at 2/23/2010 07:17:00 AM
5 Comments:
Sharp may have violated state law, which deems today the start of candidate filing. Sharp was in effect allowing people to pre-file yesterday, since Jackson County still places names on the ballot in order of arrival. The County Legislature needs to change the law and not just expect the sheriff to find his way around the law.
Dan, I have an idea.
For one day and one day only. Don' screen the posts on this thread and see how much anonymous hate gets spewed at Garza.
I know you won't do it, and she doesn't deserve it, but it would be funny to see the garbage thrown her way by "Tammany Hall Midwest".
Craig - I'm really tired of anonymous hate, whether it's directed at Rizzo, Ruiz, Tony, Sharp or anyone else. You are quite correct, though, that the nastiness directed at TGR is kind of breathtaking in its stupidity, depravity and downright vileness.
I wonder how people feel when they write and post stuff like that. Do they feel like they've lived up to the better part of themselves? Do they feel good that they have sought to hurt another human being? Do they think they have somehow accomplished something positive?
Nice post Dan. I like most all the members of the JaCo Leg Republican and Dem, but it's clear that she has been getting a bad deal. But I have to ask, who honestly puts felon James Tindall Chair of the Justice Committee? Honestly, who? That's not a smack in the face to Garza-Ruiz, that's a smack in the face to voters.
I don't know why she even wastes her time and talent on the JaCo Legislature. Nothing gets accomplished there. She should be running for statewide.
Rizzo will run unopposed, again. Sharp did violate County law by making up "his own rules" but those words are mere suggestions as they were never officially voted upon by the legislators.
I bet they began Salva-ting as soon as the RAY appeared in the window. I remind you that several retiring State legislators are looking to continue to live on the public funding.
JaCo has protected their elected officials quite comfortably. Salva served on the Charter Commission ten years ago and he will likely repeat in that function if he fails to get the support of the hateful voters against Garza.
Hopefully, Curt Dougherty will unseat Waits so that the black tide can finally be rolled back. Rizzo has no real friends, they already know that Henry's only motive is to stay "in power" as long as he can.
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