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It's wonderful time for reflection
(by Dave Lange - December 22, 2010)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
It's wonderful time for reflection
This being the time of year for reflection, among other wonderful things, I'm reflecting on some of the wonderfully outrageous things I've written in this space over the past 12 months.
In January, regarding the so-called "transformation plan" announced by Cleveland schools Chief Executive Eugene Sanders, I wrote: "Cleveland has been on the 'leading edge' before -- with school vouchers, charter schools, the mayoral takeover of school leadership and various other gimmicks in a growing stack of bureaucratic failures. Has anyone told Dr. Sanders that his check's in the mail?"
On Dec. 11, just six months into his new three-year contract and with the "transformation" being more talk than action, Dr. Sanders told the school board that he's skipping town.
Also in January, regarding the move by former state Rep. Matthew Dolan, R-Russell, to Chagrin Falls in order to run for the newly created position of Cuyahoga County executive, I wrote: "Whether Mr. Dolan calls himself a Republican or a Democrat won't matter nearly as much to Cuyahoga County voters as whether his family's baseball team, the Cleveland Indians, wins the World Series."
The Tribe finished the season with a lowly 69-93 record, 25 games behind the American League Central Division champion Minnesota Twins. On Nov. 2, Mr. Dolan received a lowly 30.65 percent of the votes for county executive, more than 57,000 votes behind the winner, Lakewood Mayor Ed FitzGerald.
Still on a roll in January, regarding the intention of state Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chester, to vacate his Senate seat and run for the Ohio House of Representatives, I wrote: "The geniuses who dreamed up term limits don't seem to care that this is the way it works -- what with politicians hopping around from one seat to another and back again and with political parties appointing cronies to empty seats when duly elected representatives hop around."
In November, Mr. Grendell was elected to the Ohio House. In December, hopping around like a chicken with its head cut off, he announced that he didn't want the Ohio House seat and would keep his Ohio Senate seat instead.
In March, I compared the planned $400 million "high-speed" rail line for Ohio to the planned $450 million one-way inner-belt bridge replacement over the Cuyahoga River: "Hey, a big bridge across a narrow river must be worth more than 250 miles of rail service from Cleveland to Cincinnati."
Following his November victory, Gov.-elect John Kasich refused to proceed with the rail project, saying he wanted to spend the $400 million on road construction instead. As promised, the federal government is sending the money to other states that see the future in mass transit, and the new governor killed an estimated 16,000 jobs for Ohio.
In September, following the primary elections for the ballyhooed Cuyahoga County government "reform," I wrote: "By all indications so far, it's more politics as usual."
On Dec. 3, six of the 11 newly elected County Council members, all of them Democrats, held a secret, albeit perfectly legal, meeting to choose their leadership team, sending the heady reformers into an apoplectic frenzy.
While politicians and money worshippers may be laughing all the way to the bank, I'm wishing you God's true blessings for Christmas and every day, peace on Earth someday soon and good will toward humankind everywhere.
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