Legally Correct, Morally Bereft, Politically Stupid

The City is totally within its rights to petition for legal fees in the Ford lawsuit regarding the Save The Pier. In fact if you look into it, the City routinely files for legal expenses when it wins a lawsuit.

It really does not matter if the City uses in house or outside counsel, the Legal Department has a revenue budget and that is how they meet it.

The amount is interesting $16152.25, strangely equal to just about 1 dollar per petitioner. Probably just a coincidence.

If the amount here was 6 figures then there might be an argument, but the Foster administration has wasted $16,152 virtually every day by about 8:15AM. So it's not the money.

The decision to proceed is within the purview of the City Attorney, the Mayor and one would think City Council.

There are a number of reasons why the City might want to file,the most obvious being, it sends a serious message that if you petition this government you better be ready to defend your position and pay up if you lose.

This approach is just an attempt to slap the public in the face one more time and put a final lid on this one.

That should cause people to think twice about signing a petition.

So much for democracy.

Another reason is there are many in the administration that fear and loath Kathleen Ford. She knows too much and knows who needs to be removed from the staff. Anything they can do to damage her character or professional reputation is fair game and on the table.

The last thing the long term staffers want to see is Kathleen Ford as Mayor.

It is tough to morally justify denying the people their rights and access to the decision process and then charging them to do so. But then moral character has been eroding in this administration since Bill Foster became Mayor.

Politically this has to be one of the stupidest moves yet. More than likely the decision was approved in the out of the sunshine Attorney Client session with City Council, and my guess is the vote was 7 to 1 with you know who voting NO.

Foster could have put this whole thing on hold and waited it out,but then he could have put the Pier issue on a ballot and the whole mess would be over.

The specter of Kathleen Ford as Mayor is so disturbing to those who cater to the Beach Drive crowd, the Chamber, the Arts Council, the downtown bar owners, the elite and developers that it clouds their judgment.

They not nearly as afraid of Kathleen Ford as they are of a government that actually listens to the people.

All this has really done is solidify Ford's supporters and probably add a few more to her camp.

So when you go to mark your ballot or vote in a couple of months, remember that the incumbents voted to deny you your rights and then wanted you to pay for the privilege of the denial.

Maybe it's time to send them a message via the ballot box.

e-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net, or send me a Facebook Friend request.

Campaign Disclosures: Contributor to Darden Rice Campaign