"Call The Question"

With those three words, Democrat Laketa Cole displayed a stunning abdication of the city's most basic responsibility: public safety. With the strong support of the Mayor and the one Charterite on the city council, Ms. Cole shut down any debate on whether the city should spend $471,000 of our tax dollars to buy more ankle bracelet/electronic monitoring units to track those who should be in the jail but can't be because of our county budget mess.

The Democrats who run the city with the help of the only real Charterite have played every trick, used every parliamentary tactic, and maneuvered procedurally to avoid a public vote on whether our federal tax stimulus monies should be used to help the county purchase more of these units. Once forced to deal with it, Ms. Cole shut down debate with virtually no debate at all. This is irresponsible and hurts the city.

The city's argument, "it's not the county's money" is wrong. It demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding on how government ought to function. It ought to function for the people, not for the politicians.

Kudos to Leslie Ghiz and Chris Monzel for standing for public safety.

We have a chance to make a difference in the city in 2009. Let's embrace it.