You're a Horse!

The first time someone calls you a horse you punch him on the nose, 

the second time someone calls you a horse you call him a jerk 

but the third time someone calls you a horse, 

well then perhaps it's time to go shopping for a saddle.

― Schlomo, from Lucky Number Slevin

Every time the council brings Burns’ failings as a mayor (of which he has many) to light, I feel like they’re not prepared to take the next, obviously necessary, step of actually holding the mayor accountable. 

After last night’s Strategic Planning Meeting, the idea was brought up that maybe it would be a good idea for the council, as a whole, to attend a course called Commit to Civility. Not to play Monday morning quarterback on this one, but part of this discussion should have had the laundry list of the mayor’s missteps available to read aloud. Instead, over-politeness and their own attempts to be civil backfired, and the mayor’s guard dog took over. 

Let me explain. Of the two council members hellbent on destroying our city, and all sense of decorum with it, Dotson is the brains and the mouth. As soon as a discussion about civility (we’ll circle back to ethics later) was put on the agenda, Dotson went to work writing his prepared speech. 

Sidenote: We couldn’t help but mock his speech because I heard John Goodman’s “southern lawyer” accent from Bee Movie in my head as he was talking; “Now I might be only 52 years old, but I think I’m pretty civil…” lol. Go watch the clip from Bee Movie, read that line again in that accent, and you’ll laugh as hard as we were last night!

In his prepared speech, Dotson thinks that he’s civil. He spoke on behalf of the mayor, the intended target of the discussion, because…well…the mayor is dumb. And he’d say dumb shit. But Dotson, only speaking on his own behalf, felt that a class in civility wouldn’t benefit someone who’s got civility coming out of his ass. My words, not his. 

Now, go read the opening quote again. This has been an ongoing struggle with the mayor, to get him to act like a mayor. Hell, at this point, I’d accept getting him to act like a human in the city he’s mayor of. 

The two things I want you to take away from this part of the meeting: 

1) Dotson has Mayor Burns on a short leash and will do all the speaking for him. I’m going to guess from now on, but we’ll see. 

2) No amount of classes, forums, conferences, or speeches will get Dotson and Burns to recognize the shitty people they are. So ethics speeches and classes on civility are wasted on these two narcissists.

NEXT!

Ethics and the mayor’s lack of them. Since this is my blog and I can type whatever the fuck I want to, let’s do a quick vocabulary lesson. 

Ethics are a system of rules or codes of conduct that are provided by an external source, such as a society or profession. One's ethics are determined by society, while one’s morals are usually derived from your own experiences or thoughts about right or wrong. 

When someone challenges your behavior, as being unethical, this is something that should be evaluated to ensure that you’re acting within the ethical standards placed before you in a writ or code. This has nothing to do with your morality or how you “feel”, but the ethical code that is written that you must abide by in a specific position. When you’ve never been a mayor before, and someone says, “As mayor that behavior was unethical”, you don’t defend it by claiming a mandate was handed to you from God. You open the fucking manual and look at the rules that you are supposed to be abiding by. 

During the ethics conversation last night, it was brought up that the mayor’s campaign rally, disguised as a vigil, was not an ethical use of his power. Once again, Guard Dog Dotson jumped first to ask if anything that happened was illegal. The city attorney then said “no”. That people could gather, play music, and have an “I Hate Milk” protest without any permits being necessary. But the mayor’s LARGE gathering and the questions regarding the LARGE armed police presence were something that should be “looked into”. 

This is where that ethics v. morals thing comes into play. Guard Dog Dotson asking if it was illegal highlights the point that he didn’t find it to be unethical or immoral. People with a natural sense of right or wrong would never have to ask that question and then defend their actions.

Because we know the rally was unethical and immoral. 

Rather than looking at a rule and saying “I must abide by this”, Burns and Gym Bro Dotson are gleefully rubbing their hands together, acknowledging that there will never be punishment for breaking an ethics code of conduct rule. These rules were put in place to remind people elevated to these positions about the importance of the position they hold. They were never there to serve as a punitive measure against unscrupulous leaders. When these codes were written, I guess the citizens of Monroe were trusted to not elevate a crooked, self-serving narcissist to the office. 

Guess we proved them wrong!

I’d like to leave you all with a call to action today. Please write to the city council, city lawyer, and city manager via email. Dotson and Burns are optional recipients, as they’re not really listening to anyone but their egos. Thank the city for trying to get the mayor to see the error in his ways. Thank them for taking the time to call out his shitty behavior as unethical. But then ask them to keep his feet to the fire. Ask them to demand he reimburse the city for any costs associated with his campaign rally on city property a few weeks ago. Ask them to make it clear that the mayor is not interested in learning how to make himself a better person, and it is time for his removal. He will continue to use city property and city services for his campaign rallies, and the cost of his removal will offset the cost of his shenanigans.

If he were trying to understand his responsibilities, his role as mayor, and the ethical behavior he SHOULD be bound by, we could see the purpose of handling his ineptitude diplomatically. 

But in this case, it’s time for him to buy a fucking saddle.