Washburn: Here We Go Again

Ronald Reagan recognized the serious condition our country was in and appointed the Grace Commission to look at government efficiency or lack thereof and make recommendations. It came back with a well-reasoned blueprint. Tip O’Neil was speaker of the house and promptly shelved the report. Obama appointed the Simpson-Bowles Commission to do the same. Initially, Obama favored the report but when Bernie Sanders and the AARP objected to the proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid he folded like a cheap suit.

Trump has appointed the most accomplished African-American of our times, Elon Musk, and equally accomplished Vivek Ramaswamy, to head up the Dept. of Government Efficiency. I know, Government Efficiency has got to be the biggest oxymoronic terms ever created. With the Republicans controlling the Senate and barely controlling the House, their report will not be totally ignored but at least the public will view what can be accomplished if Congress is so inclined. With our ox being gored, the mid-term elections will determine what is doable and what will be business as usual.

With decades of declining school enrollments and annual budget increases and staggering middle school proposals is the concept of an efficiency committee as the school level that outrageous?

Not to be left out of the picture, the Concord City Council is in dire need of a common-sense infusion also.

The private sector has come to realize that funding DEI is just the latest scams they have to contend with and are cutting back since there is no substitute for competency. Biden never got the word and staffed up with exclusively DEI appointees. With the sole exception of the Secretary of Commerce, their collective performance has been disastrous.

The school board first fell victim to this scam and hired a DEI coordinator. The school administration has grappled with this position and has recently reassigned him to do something. At the January city council meeting, the agenda calls for the appropriation of $40,000 ostensibly to fund the new DEI consultant selected by the mayor, mayor pro-temp and a councilor. SCOTUS has ruled in its Havard decision that reverse discrimination is still discrimination so what is this “much needed” consultant to do?

January 2 is the date of payment for your quarterly property tax payments. It started out as an annual payment but when it got too high it became a semi-annual payment. When that got too high it became a quarterly payment. Do not be too surprised if in the future the city administration recommends making it a monthly payment.

Back in the day when we lost the Vietnam War and the war on poverty resulting in unheard-of inflation resulting in mortgage rates approaching 17%, municipalities were allowed to charge 8% on late payments, and when the taxpayer reached the point in time when a lien was necessary, the rate jumped up to 14%. Bare in mind these people weren’t protesting the tax bill by failing to pay, they were experiencing financial difficulty and municipalities were allowed to pile on by increase the rate to 14% before sending the properties to tax sale.

Where to start dialing back on unnecessary local expenditures and when remains an elusive date. Several local communities have started the painful process. The thought of someone losing their home so that the school board can fund a DEI coordinator or the city council can fund a $40,000 DEI consultant is unfathomable in my way of thinking. Tune in to the January Council meeting to hear those who support this expenditure if you can stomach it. As for me, I will watch, listen, and shake my head in disbelief at this continuing circus whose majority has lost all sense of the plight of the taxpayer who foots the bill for their folly.

As an aside, it came to me as no surprise that neither the mayor nor any city councilor would comment on the listing on the city’s diversity calendar, Nakba Day, which celebrates the eradication of the state of Israel. The one who actually did it will, of course, be swept under the rug. Perhaps our new diversity coordinator can report back to the council who the perpetrator was. But then again, what was I thinking, this too will never happen.