The Mayor's Faulty Rubber Stamp

Jacob Sullum | December 22, 2004

What irritates me about the aborted effort to scale back the taxpayer subsidy for the Washington Nationals, aside from D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp's quick surrender, is the way Mayor Anthony Williams and other supporters of the stadium plan reacted to the critics' objections. They acted as if the city were reneging on a done deal, as if the council's only function was to automatically approve whatever package Williams negotiated with Major League Baseball. "I am deeply troubled about what's happened," Williams said after Cropp introduced an amendment requiring partially private financing. "We have not lived up to our commitments." Given that a mayor is in no position to make commitments on matters that require legislative approval, that sounds an awful lot like a royal we.

Comments

|12.22.04 @ 12:18PM|#

I can't wait for this sorry tale to replay itself here in NYC in the near future - on an even grander scale, of course. At last count, we are going to be raped for $600,000,000 - will any politician stand up for us?

|12.22.04 @ 1:12PM|#

Oh, please.
The only time a politician will stand up for you is to bend you over.

Shirley Knott

|12.22.04 @ 2:18PM|#

From what I understand, the DC Council is trying to push through a parliamentary measure that would forbid any further voting on this issue (after the decisive 7-6 mandate). This is due to an upcoming switchover in their ranks of three new council members who are opposed to the stadium.

My head hurts. Someone. Please. Explain.

|12.22.04 @ 2:36PM|#

The explanation is fairly simple, Mr. Nice Guy.
It is: the purpose of the government is twofold -- enlarge the current scope of government while
- preventing any reduction in scope of the government (even though this might require recourse to subterfuge by way of defunding one program so as to partially fund 2 more).

Pay attention, this is always on the test!

cheers,
Shirley Knott

|12.22.04 @ 7:47PM|#

What irritates me about the aborted effort...

Shouldn't that be "the chosen effort?"

Oh wait, wrong thread...