The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government.
— U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren,
Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
42 comments:
If they are Americans they need to step down and run as a candidate.
After all this is what America does.
We the people elect our government.
Government does not appoint it.
Cody
On objective tests of cognitive ability such as the SAT, ACT, GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and Armed Forces Qualification Test, teachers score only around the 40th percentile of college graduates.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504576655352353046120.html
arrogance [ar-uh-guhns]
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: exaggerated self-opinion
Synonyms: airs, aloofness, audacity, bluster, braggadocio, brass, cheek, chutzpah*, conceit, conceitedness, contemptuousness, crust, disdain, disdainfulness, ego, egotism, gall, haughtiness, hauteur, high-handedness, hubris, imperiousness, insolence, loftiness, nerve, ostentation, overbearance, pomposity, pompousness, presumption, pretension, pretentiousness, pride, priggishness, scornfulness, self-importance, self-love, smugness, superciliousness, swagger, vanity
Antonyms: humility, meekness, servility
Pretty sad that the people running our city care less about the actual city than they do themselves, every one of them knows they are breaking the law in order to what, sacrifice the good of the city? Prove our lack of morals? This town doesn't have morals. and no one cares about the good of the city, they care about the good of themselves, look at the people they appointed into the council 75% or more of this town is low income or even strictly government income (really low) , yet the people on the council act as if this town is full of wealth and prosperity and the citizens can handle anything they throw at them. What happens when the government finally defaults? Half the citizens in town wont be able to pay the ridiculous rates of this town. but why would anyone on the council care? Its not like they have to care about voter opinion, or voter rebuttal or voters in general since I sure in the hell didn't vote them in office, or Lance Fucking Masters as Mayor? Are you kidding me? The guy that knew less than me in the government class he tried to teach me? He has no since of democracy, the constitution, the bill of rights, i bet he can't even name the 3 departments of the goverment. Let alone tell you why there is a check and balances system within the government to make sure not one jurisdiction has to much power. O wait, he does know that, thats why he manipulated the entire system to give him power. What a peice of work. Fuck it just watch him screw the city out of nestles money, that's all anyone wants, we all know that, lets see where the funds get appropriated. haha what a joke Enjoy the show everyone
Jeremy E
Eva and Jeff Helfrich are just as guilty, they participated in the scheme that got Lance into the office he has been dreaming of.
Lance believes he's playing "political survivor", he has no morals or ethics and will do literally ANYTHING to wield POWER. He is morally and intellectually BANKRUPT and has repeatedly LIED to the public from the council chambers.
Lance Masters is an example of an educated idiot, he memorized the words to get past the tests, but he has no understanding of what the words actually mean.
We are already getting screwed. $150.00 electric bill this month ? If you lived in Stevenson it would have been $90.00 (and you would have fire fighters who aren't terrorists and extortionists).
I guess that's why everybody loves Stevenson, and nobody loves Cascade Locks.
I wish we had a like button on here just as on facebook. dig dug, whoever you are, I love you.
The Scheme, in case anyone doesn't know, was to have Jeff Pricher resign as fire chief in order to give the extortionist, chain saw stealing, gang an excuse to quite responding to calls. As they had threatened to do on many prior occasions.
It's called manufacturing an emergency in order to create a "reason" for change.
It's one of the sickest games I've ever seen played.
How desperate to be in charge do you have to be?
Lance Masters desperate.
Lance is one sick puppy.
Maybe if the overweight idiot would stop explaining every little thing to his puppets and if Gale Lewis would stop acting like he was actually elected, I wouldn't be quite so nauseated.
I swear he puffs up even bigger every time Mr. Koch calls him Mr. Mayor
So how long will it be before Lance Masters steals your rights like he stole power?
Lance Masters believes that us citizens have way too much power over our lives and pocketbooks. He believes that bureaucrats and council members have not nearly enough.
I'm sure many have forgotten what changes Lance Masters tried to ram down our throats when Bernard and Brad appointed him chair of the Charter Review Committee. The charter Lance Masters created REMOVED your right to challenge the actions of YOUR elected leaders through a referendum. That's right, ALL 600 REGISTERED VOTERS IN CASCADE LOCKS COULD OPPOSE A TAX INCREASE, but Lance could still do it. Does that sound like the kind of city you want to live in? Sounds a bit like a police state doesn't it. Well here's a big surprise, Jeff Helfrich was part of that charter committee, he supports removing your rights and lightening your wallets. Big surprise.
Do you see any irony in the fact that Lance and his brain-dead cohorts used a citizen referendum to finally gain power we wouldn't elect them to?
Lance also wants to make the City Administrator the un-elected commander-in-chief of Cascade Locks. He wants, with Bernard at the helm, to make this office all powerful, with no checks or balances and no citizen oversight. That will allow Lance and Bernard complete control of YOUR CHECKBOOK. They will be able to increase fees and taxes at their whim, They will be able to use your money to build political support base by spending your dollars on their friends and political allies.
Sound far fetched? It's already happened.
Bernard Seeger, on several occasions, used city funds to purchase items directly from Brad Lorang's gallery. These purchases were made without council approval or oversight.
City resources were used to do traffic studies and utility upgrades that in my opinion favored only one property owner.
Lance Masters in power is DANGEROUS!!!
You all saw him deceive his peers on council to get the mayor's gavel. What a slime-ball. He has no morals, he is above the rules that govern the rest of us.
You all saw him LIE to the public, how arrogant is that? Lance knows better than you whats good for you. You and I are too stupid to spend our money well, Lance and Bernard know better.
Lance Masters is up for recall in 5 months. Lance has to go.
Dig Dug
Where are you coming up with this Lance Masters is up for recall in 5 months?
These protections you speak of are for elected officials.
Lance even lost protections he earned when he won the recall the minute he resigned to be appointed mayor.
Start by reading the constitution and the laws concerning recalls and you will see only elected officials have protections of any kind.
There is no waiting period for appointed officials.
We could recall the four appointees along with the appointed mayor tomorrow.
Cody
Dig Dug
Article II, Section 18 of the Oregon Constitution. Recall; meaning of words “the legislative assembly shall provide.” (1) Every public officer in Oregon is subject, as herein provided, to recall by the electors of the state or of the electoral district from which the public officer is elected.
The key word is elected in all the laws. Nothing about appointed by the electors now is there?
See what I mean? Now read the laws and you will see yourself.
Now these appointees may do well and be good at it. But in America we elect our government. Government does not appoint the government.
So let the recall begin and we can cast our votes for our government.
Cody
I'm all for getting Lance the Deceiver out of office as soon as possible. The $500.00 offer stands to any PAC that forms to remove this leach from our asses.
I believe that Eva has shown her own "integrity" as well.
Don't really see a reason not to get rid of them both.
I think a direct mail campaign should be the first step, then a town hall where we get to filter the questions answered. The port has a building we can rent, and Hood River County will provide free crowd control.
Lets get started, this could be fun!!
Oh, we need a psycho bitch to run around town making obscene gestures at Lance and Eva, any volunteers?
The number one problem is we continually elect persons to office on popularity, not for any ability to govern or their ability to engage in communal decision-making. I include appointees.
These persons arrive at City Council with the mistaken belief that the voters have given them carte blanche to do what they want, what their friends want, not what the voters want. They spend our time and money further feeding their egos with the imagined perks that come with their self-derived importance.
They are not chosen for ability to compromise, their awareness of infrastructure support, any people skills. They lack basic knowledge of budgets or even basic humility. They lack the concept that another person’s opinion has the same weight as theirs, in other words, democracy. What counts is if you are friends and/or related. What a moronic mind set. Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way & expecting a different outcome. This town is insane.
We end up with retired men who underneath are annoyed that the world doesn’t need them anymore and displeased that anyone would question them, their past achievements should stand as testimony. We end up with housewives who act like the budget for city is just like the one at home or the office only needs them to tell them to clean up or to save their husbands’ jobs (The Port Commissioners can be included on any of these points). We end up with exasperated businessmen who are used to being the only one making decisions and suspicious about committees including uncontrollable people, aka citizens. And, worse of all, we end up with vendettas worthy of Shakespearean Venice.
I’ve seen Councilors’ who treat the citizens like idiots, like servants, like students, like children, like opponents, like a mob, like an audience. I don't see them treated as a vital part of the decision process
This is why we end up with city staff waiting an hour while the Council conducts an executive session. What did that cost? Include the resentment of staff being treated like toys for the council – again!
We waste time and energy on discussions of bio-waste, reversing any previous work by the hated rivals and have a water system that is falling apart. And I only mention recent acts of what should be called treason.
Our Councils continually act as though they just defeated the other gangsters in town and they have wipe out the previous work, whether or not it accomplished something good and piss on it at the same time – just to be sure town understands who’s in office now. What a waste of town time, energy and money. What does it take for everyone to realize we live here and are automatically on the same side, the town’s side? There really is no other side. Just people acting like there is.
P.S. Can't we rent psycho bitch? She is just too good at what she does, that combination of (supposed) professional standing combined with puerile behavior is perfect.
Here is a sad fact, right now you can't survive in government in this city and not be a back stabbing, lying, vindictive, selfish P.O.S.. If you "play by the rules" you put yourself at a disadvantage that is impossible to overcome.
Only amoral people, those who truly lack the ability to differentiate right and wrong, have a chance here regardless of their politics. Political expediency has entirely replaced sound judgement.
A case in point. The MAJORITY of the people who voted in favor of the recent recall did so with the full knowledge that the fire hall debacle was a manufactured affair. They supported Lance, Brad, Bernard, Jeff and Jeff with the full knowledge that they created the situation in order to overturn the last election. They support this city's image being DESTROYED in the press, to them it was the right thing to do. You do get the government you deserve.
Jeff Helfrich and Lance Masters make decisions based entirely on what their ego's tell them to do. They are truly so stupid and amoral that they are dangerous to your immediate safety and well being and the long term survival of Cascade Locks.
I said all that to say this, who's to blame?
The voters.
Ignorant?
Indifferent?
Selfish?
Amoral?
The mayor and his cohorts certainly are, and they didn't get into power without a lot of help.
Those who represent you, REPRESENT YOU.
That scares the *&^% out of me.
Jeremy's post brought this to mind,
Why does the fact that Lance Masters screwed us, the city's taxpayers, rate payers and owners out of $18,000.00 matter?
Because it shows he's more than willing to screw us to "help an friend".
Why does it matter that Lance Masters has repeatedly lied to us and repeatedly broken his oath of office?
Because it shows his complete lack of ethics and morals.
Why does it matter that Lance Masters is an egocentric amoral pig?
Because this is the person you are going to TRUST to negotiate a multi-million dollar contract.....
Why was "someone" interfering with the previous council's attempts to hire a city administrator, literally repeatedly calling candidates and telling them "It wouldn't be good for you to come here"?
Is it possible that the dishonest, inaccurate, biased press coverage that supported the recall was more intentional than just stupid, so these dishonest buffoons would be "in charge" at the right time?
I haven't seen any actual evidence, but more evil has certainly been done for less money.
I can see it now, you and I get 100 trucks a day belching diesel smoke through our collapsing infrastructure, Lance, Jeff-N-Jeff, and Bernard...they get to retire early.
P.S. Oh by the way, Psycho Bitch...Fuck You too.
If you wanted to get the best deal for your company, who would you rather negotiate with:
A. An experienced expert known and respected around the world who has done over a billion (yes, with a b) dollars in deals.
B. Reprobate Masters and Mace-em-all Helfrich.
Gee...that's a tough one. Can I have another clue?
Who does this remind you of:
"NOT ONLY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF A WHO'S CITY OUR CITY BLOG, SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO POST THERE TOLD ME NO SUCH BLOG EXISTS".
Sorry for Bogarting this blog, but this is kinda funny.
Brad Lorang lost the mayor's race by like 3 votes.
I'm sure, like me, many people wondered who cast those three votes that cost the incumbent Brad Lorang the election.
I believe Lance's appointments to his council lets us know who made Brad Lorang lose.
Lance Masters appointed Gail Lewis, also a LOSER in the mayors race, instead of Brad Lorang, the first LOSER in that race. I'm sure Lance's "Bernard brain" told him who to appoint, which tells me where Lance and Bernard's "loyalties" lie(no puns intended). And where Lance and Bernard go, their faithful dog(s) Jeff-N-Jeff is sure to follow. The fact that Lance appointed a person who isn't even eligible to run for office (because he's lived here for like 2 days) instead of Brad says even more.
There's 4 votes people, Brad could'a won, he should'a won, he could'a been a.....Oh well.
Hey Brad, did you believe 'em when they told you they couldn't believe you lost by THREE VOTES? Did they look and sound sincere?
Ha,Ha,Ha. You lay with dogs..... you know.... the flea thing :)
Oh, you never really wanted to be mayor, okay ;)
Dig Dug, FYI Brad is still pulling strings in the background. He & his wife, Brostoff, Hesgard, Tina, Shauna, Lamonts, etc. were all involved up to their eyebrows in the recall. The only difference is that Brad did not put his name on anything. He got others to do his dirty work. This "appointed council" is a sham. The reinstatement of the fire department volunteers who left us in the lurch (if true) is an insult to the citizens of Cascade Locks. If allowed, it won't be long before they want something else & threaten to strike. I say get rid of them & good riddance. As far as the reporter goes, he is a joke. He has mentioned the recall in every article and named those recalled. Does he feel justified to rub salt in their wounds? Just wait, the truth will come out. Guess what? Oh, there really wasn't any money, etc. etc. Perhaps their lies against the budget, charter, etc. will bite them in the ass. The sooner the better & I hope people open their eyes to the truth & feel ashamed that they followed the liars like cattle to the slaughter house. At least the former council was not giving money away behind citizens back. Just wait, there are going to be a lot of people with egg on their face.
The reporter and the whistle-blower
The reporter, RaeLynn Ricarte wrote stories that included accurate information. Her stories included facts that Bernard, Jeff and Brad didn't like the rest of us knowing about. They managed to get her "reassigned", too much accurate information is a dangerous thing.
Now only "approved" information, accurate or not, makes it into the newpaper, an example,
Jeff Pricher installed a radio tower without a building permit. Not only did he not have a permit, he installed it on someone else's property without the owner's permission. The Hood River County Building department discovered Jeff's illegal actions and informed the city of Cascade Locks. These facts were brought out in a public meeting. How do you think these facts were reported in the Hood River News?
Kirby Neumann-Rea
September 19, 2011
"Pricher acknowledged that he acted as "whistleblower" when he asked city elected officials about improvements made without permits to the KOA campground owned by Council Member Kevin Benson.
A true hero.
Dig Dug
Not only did he install a tower without a permit, he installed a tower that did not belong to the city and he put it on property he did not have an easement granting permission to use that person’s private property.
This revelation was admitted to in the last City Services Committee meeting by our Interim City Administrator as well as it is going to cost the city upwards of $20 to $25 grand possibly more to resolve.
Can anyone tell me how the fire department is going to pay this as the city had to take a contingency from the general fund and 3 grand from tourism just to pay Hood River Fire for ambulance service till we get the fire department back the five alarmer’s shut down?
I do miss RaeLynn. This recall would never have happened with a real investigative reporter unlike Kirby.
Cody
It's all just a coincidence I'm sure.
So just another $20,000 to $25,000 to go with the $75,000 he overspend plus the $450,000 that hasn't been paid for plus the rest of the liability from the 911 radio debacle, and the there's the tens of thousands he manages to rack up in "overtime", while responding to less than 1, 3 hour call per day. Not to mention the missing equipment and tens of thousands wasted on his little man compensation vehicle. The lost revenue via billing incompetence.
Ya, this town can't survive without him. Great call Kirby, your a true genius.
Dig Dug
After watching tonight’s meeting and it ending in an executive session under ORS 192.660; (e) To conduct deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to negotiate real property transactions.
Do you think that this executive session may be a way to hide the easement to place the antenna on another person’s private property screw up Jeff made?
It is more than clear that our interim city administrator had permission from someone to negotiate something. As before the camera operator had time to cut off the feed, the ICA was passing out a report concerning the matter this executive session was called for; being negotiating a real property transaction.
Can we all say easement screw-up?
So my next question would be when did council authorize to designate any person including Paul, to negotiate any real property transaction?
Or do we have a mayor once again, who was not elected by the people who just authorizes without council approval, in a public meeting, like our elected mayor from 2 councils ago did all the time in violation of the law?
If this was for the tower easement, I wonder how much money they spent tonight under the shield of executive session.
Cody
Jeff, Bernard, and Lance PROMISED that this 911 project wouldn't cost the city ANY extra money.
Jeff PROMISED he would bring the project in on time and on budget. "I am a professional" he said.
Is it PROFESSIONAL for a public safety officer( a Fire MARSHALL and CHIEF in one no less) to endanger the public's safety by ignoring the REQUIREMENT for building permits FOR CITY BUSINESS ?
Tina promised that everything was fine, "the project is substantially complete...15 minutes of paperwork" she said.
Liars.
This is just the tip of the iceberg with this project, the real money pits are yet to be brought to light.
"Not only have I heard nothing about a vote not to respond, several people told me no such vote took place".
Lance Masters
Self admitted liar
All facts you'll never see in the Hood River News, as long as the Petshow Kirby show duo decide what news is okay for you to know.
The second, the most marginalizing issue with Cascade Locks is fragmented communication.
If you cannot afford to buy cable from the city, as about half the households in our community cannot, you do not receive channel 23. The only other way you have to watch the Council meetings is in person. This is difficult for many reasons. The room is small, cramped, has uncomfortable chairs and poor heating/cooling. The meetings are long and too often contentious. Anyone not entirely or easily mobile cannot get over the catwalk into the building, let alone sit for long in those chairs or approach the podium. So many of our citizens are not home until later and even then are occupied with the family at the time the meetings are held.
Perhaps, like me you only know what will be discussed if you went to Columbia Market or the Post Office that day and glanced at posted agenda. Your only computer access is through the Library that is only open for 4 hours the Saturday before the meeting.
A private citizen runs a blog that posts videos of most meetings, the City website does not. Why not? As the minutes from meetings are not approved until the next meeting’s packet is placed online - two weeks or more later, they are not readily available to us without making extra work for an already beleaguered City Recorder.
So most of what the people hear is filtered through phone-calling outraged friends and relatives, they are emailed copies of correspondence with bit and pieces of information gleaned from the City Administrator or from the Attorney or a councilor-friend, chance meetings at the grocery or wandering into a certain local business for your daily dose of outrage or smug satisfaction, depending on recent occurrences. Each one of these sources is tainted by hearsay and prejudice.
Even the newspaper is filtered through prejudiced eyes. What IS IT about the Shalalians that a lousy 163 feet of elevation puts them so far above the rest of us anyway? Attitude through altitude?
Councilors don’t talk to the citizens they don’t like, hell most of them don’t even answer their emails, let alone phone you back unless you belong to their clique. Election or a recall happens? Poof, you are now nothing. Nice way to disenfranchise one-third to half the town in one swell foop. Which happens every damn time around here. A guaranteed way to never get anywhere, just run in one direction for so long, whistle blows, run the opposite direction for awhile.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams
"There they are. See no evil, hear no evil, and...evil."
Bob Dole
Apparently he has met Lance Masters,
Crimes and Misdemeanors;
162.257 Interfering with a firefighter or emergency medical technician. (1) A person commits the crime of interfering with a firefighter or emergency medical technician if the person, knowing that another person is a firefighter or emergency medical technician, intentionally acts in a manner that prevents, or attempts to prevent, a firefighter or emergency medical technician from performing the lawful duties of the firefighter or emergency medical technician.
(2) Interfering with a firefighter or emergency medical technician is a Class A misdemeanor.
So, locking Chief Zerfing out of the station is what?
Giving the codes to others so they can lock the chief out of the station is what?
Who's suing who?
Oh, we are past all that now, forgive and forget, right?
Ya, I'm sure that's gonna last about 3 seconds.
Lance Masters is a liar.
Have you noticed that in the last Council packet it was admitted that fire dept. employee files went missing? Goddam amazing how long it takes confirmation re: the truth to come out to the community, isn't it?
The files are right next to the two chains saws that were "misplaced", which are next to the vote not to respond.
You forgot the chief’s password that logged in after he resigned and changed records concerning those chainsaws.
Am I cynical, or does anyone else find it hypocritical to run around town, asking for donations for the Christmas baskets from the same households that you have first voted to not respond to and secondly took a leave of absence so as not to respond?
Wouldn't it help the poor more to assist them when they are injured, sick or their house is ablaze rather than a basket of food once a year?
The ones that came to my door were the new volunteers, those willing to step up when the local mafia went on strike.
The county humorist, Kirby "facts are too much work" Neumann-Rea, published a hilarious editorial 11-19 were he praised the council he helped seize power on their openness and accomplishments. Kirby gave the self appointed mayor, Lance Masters and his group of dishonest election riggers, credit for a mutual aid agreement with H.R. Fire. A grand achievement except for the fact that the agreement was established by Mayor Fischer and repeatedly editorialized against by none other than Kirby himself. Kirby's praise for Liar Lance seems unusual as well due to the fact that Liar Lance and his 5 alarm election law violators, along with the "we lost our backbone" clan vociferously opposed any agreement that didn't include Pricher.
Way to be consistent Kirby, your ethics are something to behold.
In fact wasn't Liar Lance, No conscience Kirby, and the non-responder's mantra "No Pricher, No Peace"?
Were the *&^%'s is Pricher Kirby?
Things can't be okay without him, can they?
Unless.....
Hey Everyone:
Off-topic here but a lady just came my front door. She is part of an organization that helps find lost dogs. Someone was dog sitting a 12 lb Mini Australian here in town and the dog was lost. This happened on Nov. 21st, but she was spotted yesterday around the airfield, possibly with another dog.
Trigger is very shy and they ask that you not try to catch her but you might be able to lure her with food. They have posters around town with her picture on it. If you have seen her, the phone numbers are either 503-929-2875 or 503-502-6703.
I know a lot of us have our own pets and I can only imagine how her family feels.
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