(Thank you to Gigi for the heads up on the banners)
Oh, Good Lord. Does anybody else find all of this to be embarrassing? How grimy and petty can the Hermosa Beach City Council Election get? I took this picture at about 2pm Sunday, Nov 1st.
I wonder who paid to have TWO AIRPLANES pulling anti-Keegan banners on this fine Sunday?
Why? Why is this necessary? If there were actual issues at hand, isn't it possible that there might have been a better way to spread the word than Uni-bomber style diatribes, and giant banners hung from strip malls and airplanes? What can we look forward to tomorrow, the day before the election? Will there be dancing bears and fire eaters walking in procession around Ralphs parking lot? Barbershop Quartets? 25 Clowns in a really tiny car?
What is truly pathetic about this, is that if he believed for a second that there were facts that needed to get out, and that these facts would defeat Keegan, then with the $10,000 or $20,000 or more that he and his 6 man Coalition, and any other unfiled coalitions have spent, he could have built a fantastic web site for the education of the Hermosa Beach Voters. The site could have listed every vote done in the last decade, and how every Hermosa Beach Councilman voted. It could have made available every Form 460 for every candidate and special interest group that has been active in Hermosa Beach, to disclose where all the money has come from. It could have had videos of all of the debates. It could have archived every letter to the editor and every political article by every Southbay newspaper. And it could have fact checked every claim by every candidate to keep everybody honest and put everything into the light of day. It could have been the sort of thing that Bacon would have received awards for.
But no. We get sky writers and dancing bears. Because Bacon doesn't want disclosure, or educated voters. He wants to stick more pennies in his sweaty little pocket.
I hope you choke on your pennies, Roger.
5 comments:
The airplane banner said: No! To Taxman Keegan.
It would be wonderful to see more educated voters. You’re completely missing the point. The issue is not Roger Bacon, nor is this about greed. The problem is that the taxes that Michael Keegan proposed will be passed on from the landlord to the tenant through triple net leases and then onto to consumer who actually pay the tax increase. This makes shopping in Hermosa Beach more expensive than shopping in Redondo Beach or Torrance. This only hurts Hermosa Beach and our residents and businesses. We already have too many vacancies and many struggling businesses. Your blog commentary shows your unsophisticated understanding of economics. Taxing businesses will not save residents money, nor will this “income” revitalize Hermosa Beach. Business taxes and landlord taxes have exactly the opposite effect; taxes will only stagnate business and ultimately costs consumers. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Remember, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually, run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher
I agree with Hermosa Keith. Get your focus off Bacon and on the issues he's fighting! We have one day left to educate people on who they should vote for - use your platform wisely!
JOY
Hermosa,
With respect to your model of the impact of taxation, I would ask if our current tax rate, which is much lower than that of Manhattan Beach, is stealing business from Manhattan Beach? If so, why are there so many commercial vacancies here? If not, then your argument is garbage.
But with all due respect, I know exactly what my point is. My point is that bullying and deceptive politics should never be allowed to win. These tactics are analogous to sexual harassment in the work place. They create a hostile political environment even for those who are not attacked directly, because if they succeed nobody will be willing to take on the harasser in the future. The existence of this sort of politics is corrosive to the entire democratic system. Eliminate this harassment, and give people the facts, and they will decide for themselves.
For this reason alone, I want Michael Keegan to win. If Michael Keegan wins, the incentive for anyone to spend tens of thousands of dollars on last minute political screaming and scare tactics goes away. Then next election, people can spend time and money putting together data and intelligent arguments in advance and making that material available to everyone.
That is my point.
Joy,
I know you care a great deal about all of this. But I disagree. The bigger issue is whether voters in Hermosa Beach will be able to control the political process in the future. If Bacon wins, we all lose, because there will really only be one voter in Hermosa Beach after that, and it will be Bacon, who does not even live in Hermosa Beach. The Hermosa Beach City Council will not oppose him in any way, lest they have to face ridiculous banners on buildings and behind airplanes, and junk mail, and full page newspaper ads. No voter will matter except non-citizen Roger Bacon.
That is the only real issue here. Everything else can be managed by our attention and diligence.
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