{"id":1095,"date":"2016-03-21T08:55:11","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1095"},"modified":"2016-03-21T08:55:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T13:55:11","slug":"when-i-demand-transparency-and-truth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1095","title":{"rendered":"When I Demand Transparency and Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I Demand Transparency and Truth
\n<\/strong>From My Government, It Should Not Be Labeled \u201cHate\u201d
\n<\/strong>By Susan M. Halpern
\n<\/strong>Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I was shocked a few months ago when I first became aware that those of us who have been vocal in challenging Addison\u2019s government had been labeled as \u201chaters.\u201d What was truly appalling was that the group so casually using this abhorrent tag included members of Addison\u2019s council.\u00a0 The fact that elected officials would reference their constituents using such distasteful names is reprehensible.\u00a0 The fact that this tactic is being employed to avoid addressing the substance of our grievances is unacceptable and is not, to say the very least, a sign of a healthy government.<\/p>\n

Of course the hope is that by labeling us with this derogatory term, Meier and his cadre can deflect attention from the substance of what we\u2019re saying. What they really want is to avoid addressing the important issues we continue to raise.\u00a0 Their latest effort is in the form of a letter being circulated that adopts this theme and, in an incredible twist of logic, begs for the \u201chate\u201d to stop.<\/p>\n

It is the responsibility of every citizen to fight for democratic principles, and I, for one, will continue to do so. Demanding accountability and transparency is not \u201chateful.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: I\u2019ve raised significant issues for a long time now. Having served on the council for seven years, I have been disturbed by what I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 I\u2019ve warned about the tax and spend habits of Meier and his cadre.\u00a0 Our taxes are up 28.8% in five years and this council has overspent the budget for two years running by almost $2 million.\u00a0 This is not a sustainable model.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written about how deceptive it was for the Meier-led council to tout last year\u2019s one-cent tax rate decrease as an accomplishment, when the reality was that it was funded out of Addison\u2019s reserves. Meier bragged about it in his no-opponent campaign materials, as I predicted he would.\u00a0 But he never acknowledged how it was actually funded, leaving the false impression that it was funded from current revenues.<\/p>\n

I warned about the failure of Meir and his cadre to responsibly manage the tax rate and, sure enough, this year Addison\u2019s tax rate is above the rollback rate for the first time in Addison\u2019s history. And, in the face of all this irresponsible budgeting, Meier and his cadre voted to pay $6.5 million of our taxpayer money to the Sam\u2019s redevelopment project, without any clue where the money was going to come from.\u00a0 You don\u2019t run your budget that way, and these people should not be running Addison\u2019s budget that way.<\/p>\n

These are real and significant issues, but Meier and his cadre continue to ignore them. I have yet to hear answers or explanations, or a plan for how this type of unsustainable budgeting is going to be brought under control.\u00a0 Now, instead of providing answers and encouraging a dialog on these issues, Meier, his cadre and supporters are calling people like me terrible names,\u00a0 as if this was all a junior high dispute.\u00a0 It\u2019s astonishing.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s what really hard to understand. How do these folks who have orchestrated all this bad publicity for Addison and the inexplicable campaign to disparage our former management and staff, somehow claim to hold a moral high ground?\u00a0 It is truly baffling.\u00a0 Meier and his cadre are the folks who sponsored Kanter\u2019s one-sided, inflammatory, innuendo-filled presentation, encouraging him to attack former management.\u00a0 They never told the public that his presentation was nothing more than a recycled version of his almost-two-year-old July 11, 2014 letter, and instead pretended to be surprised by what they were hearing.\u00a0 And, they continue to actively conceal documents reflecting the views of the very management and staff they continue to publicly disparage.\u00a0 These folks who are concealing the truth somehow have the right to judge me?<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m also curious as to what label should be applied to the despicable smear campaign Meier and his cadre are leading against Former City Manager Ron Whitehead, who spent 32 years making Addison a very special place. Perhaps the author of this latest \u201chater\u201d missive can enlighten us as to how this all works?<\/p>\n

My writings have fundamentally demanded accountability and transparency from this council. It is telling indeed that instead of dealing with the serious issues I have raised, Meier, his cadre and their supporters have reduced the dialog to name-calling.\u00a0 Talk about the \u201ctone at the top!\u201d<\/p>\n

Addison\u2019s residents deserve far more from their elected representatives.<\/p>\n

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