Part 1 of 4.
NA Confidential believes that CM Dan Coffey, while indisputably eligible for the post of city council president by virtue of a measurable pulse, is fundamentally unsuited for this position of visibility and responsibility, owing to what Thomas Jefferson once referred to as a “long train of abuses and usurpations,” ones that we have assiduously documented throughout 2005.
We propose to emulate Jefferson’s method of presentation by listing these examples of unsuitability, organized quarterly and in chronological order, as we have reported them here.
The viewpoints expressed in this series are entirely ours, and all quoted passages in the series were written by The New Albanian, unless otherwise attributed.
Unfortunately, many hyperlinks to local media sources have become broken during the months since the original publication dates, and while this is infuriating from an archivist's perspective -- the Courier-Journal's inconsistent articles-for-pay policy and the Tribune's web site revamp are to blame -- it simply can’t be helped.
As always, and subject to NA Confidential's procedures, reader comments are welcomed.
January 24: NA Confidential challenges both the Mayor and the City Council to improve communications with the people of this city.
At last week’s City Council meeting, a citizen speaker asked how many of the eight council members present for duty (Bill Schmidt was ill) had visited the city’s web site lately.
One member raised his hand. There was a half-hearted nod from another. Some looked down at the floor, while others eyed the ceiling. Dan Coffey stated publicly that he hadn’t looked at the web site for a couple of years. All members present looked uncomfortable at having been put on the spot.
January 28: Blevins, Laduke and Toran appear before the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association.
Furthermore, it was pointedly noted that concerns relayed by citizens to their elected council representatives also should be presented before the BPWS. To illustrate this point, Steve produced complete minutes from 2004 BPWS meetings that showed which council members had taken constituent problems to the board.
According to the minutes, only Bill Schmidt (numerous times), Larry Kochert and Donnie Blevins did so in 2004.
The message was clear, to the point, and buttressed by the presence of Donnie, who agreed that City Council members may or may not know correct procedures, and may or may not play by the rules when they do, for what might be political reasons – or, as Steve answered when asked by an audience member, for the sake of "power."
February 8: NA Confidential vs. NA Incontinent at Monday's City Council meeting.
Dan Coffey’s immediate, visceral and jarringly defensive reaction was as indicative of an ill-tempered, anti-progressive mindset as one is apt to find without running to the library for transcripts of Senator McCarthy’s 1950’s-era witch hunt hearings in the US Senate.
These hearings might be available on video for the benefit of those who feel threatened by the act of reading.
Coincidentally, Dan Coffey does not read Blogs because “anyone can hide behind the keyboard,” but by means of osmosis or the Vulcan mind meld, he purports to know exactly what is written in NA Confidential.
Dan Coffey, who sits as part of an elected body known as the “city” council, which is charged with matters pertaining to the city as a whole, sees no need to speak with anyone outside his own district, where he holds public meetings six times a year ... and ... hey, you ... outsider … you don’t live here, do you? … well, congratulations, you’ve just been invited not to attend!
Dan Coffey emphatically and abrasively possesses not the slightest intention to attend any town hall, public forum or revival meeting that is not organized by himself in the safety of his own fiefdom, especially if he’s invited only to listen to the taxpayers throughout the city who pay his salary (and whose money he spends) rather than speak himself.
February 18: “Steve, sometimes we have to listen to what’s going on.”
(Quote from Councilman Dan Coffey, who after three almost uninterrupted hours of listening to himself speak paused long enough to urge colleague Steve Price to do the same).
February 18: City Council seeks "leadership" transplant; donors scarce in New Albany.
Dan Coffey uses most of each meeting to prattle, pontificate and insert himself into every conceivable nook and cranny that might someday come in handy to further the pursuance of his partisan political agenda, whatever it is.
The same tired attack dogs are trotted out, meeting after meeting. Like some Pavlovian experiment gone haywire, the same stimuli prompt the same responses, meeting after meeting. Observers can predict almost to the second when the imaginary red light flashes, the salivary glands take their cue, and one or the other council member launches into their time-tested grandstanding routines.
February 20: If Muzak is playing but there's no one around to hear it ...
A StoneDeaf Band reunion at a benefit concert at the Trinkle Dome, and accompanying anti-porno telethon, with speaking slots for the Mullah Goebel and Councilman Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey … plenty of lemonade, weenies and elephant ears, and all proceeds going to buy a couple gallons of gasoline and a Bic to help send the evil pornographers packing.
Then, concerned citizen David Huckleberry could use the leftover flammables to roust the remaining bars and taverns downtown ... and we would be free to descend into a golden era of conformity, sterility and Third World taxation rates.
February 23: Floyd County Demos seek new leader.
Although Randy (Stumler) may have disqualified himself for a party leadership role by daring to express a progressive vision for the city of New Albany, and at half Nash’s age would undoubtedly frighten the stodgier party pillars, the thought of a bona fide teacher manning the controls of Floyd County’s Democrats is a pleasant one.
Consider the indigestion it likely would induce in Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey’s Anti-Thought Gang. That alone would be worth the price of admission.
February 24: On disappointment, epiphanies and progress.
All too often our political luminaries inform us that progress is bad, and stagnation is good – it’s preserving our way of life, we’re told – except that in the absence of movement forward, there is no standing still because the only constant is change, so instead, there is regress, and regress is the lifeblood of the populist political cadre that has dominated New Albany for decades, content to obfuscate progressive attitudes and impede the efforts of progressives because the atmosphere engendered by progress is incompatible with the retention of control by the traditional system.
After all, nothing scares the big fish in the little pond more than the pond becoming bigger.
Progressive or regressive?
Yesterday we considered the forthcoming Democratic Party leadership contest. A slate was provided. On one side are names like Randy Stumler, Marcey Wisman and Tony Toran.
On the other, one name stands out: Dan Coffey.
February 28: Although we can't spell "obscenity," we sure as hell know it when we see it ... by the way, is that item for sale?
Citizen Coffey is to be commended for belatedly swapping his elected persona for a more properly expressed private one, which places him firmly within the ranks of concerned taxpayers like David Huckleberry, whose recent suggestion that we do a better job of fleecing Caesar’s-bound motorists drew enthusiastic nods from Councilman Coffey.
However, Coffey is heartbroken at the sight of New Albany DVD, a rare “new business” that even the Wizard can see fits the bill of enticing transitory Louisvillians to spend money in New Albany, something that “local residents” assuredly won’t do … but these same “local residents” still must pay, either by pledging the money they wouldn’t spend on adult DVDs toward a crusade to uproot the store, or providing it indirectly to city government to atone for its botched campaign against the First Amendment.
All the while, whether through Coffey’s congenital grandstanding or the city’s mangled legal strategies, New Albany DVD is provided free publicity and maximum exposure (pun intended) far beyond what it could receive in paid advertising.
March 7: Weekend political recap: Floyd Demos, GOP select new leaders.
Over the past weekend, both of Floyd County’s mainstream political parties met to select new leadership.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment