Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 22, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 Septh Markr 2000 t City Council term limits electors should make first move Gle Lawn by election maybe testing ground for term limits in recent several Independent reviews have spoken to a recurring problem in Winnipeg civic the put is that a number of City councillors seem not to grasp the notion that there Are boundaries Between what conduct is appropriate and what is inappropriate to their this has been Mani for in an inability to distinguish Between councillors policymaking role and the execution of that pol for which a civic administration exists and is one result is that some councillors have involved themselves personally in negotiations Over City land transactions with All the potential for real or perceived favouritism and undue influence that such involvement we have the phenomenon of a councillor recording radio commercials for a friends private he has done this with no apparent thought of the implications for coun cil were All councillors to engage in such or for the business Community when some businesses have friends on Council who will advertise for them and others do we the Case of now a councillor for Al Gold convicted of tax fraud and forced to is now contesting the resulting by election with what May be a Good Chance of winning Golden support rests partly on a Well deserved and worthy reputation As a partly on his return ing constituents phone Calls prompt and partly on his philanthropy in providing a private bus service to the elderly in the Ward out of his own of a True philanthropist might do if he or she could afford without expectation of something in the return in this Case is a transaction which May come As close to vote buying As the Law in the Days when Squires and aristocrats con trolled parliamentary seats in such seats were known As pocket we already know much about but this by election will Tell us something about Gle Lawn and whether it is simply Golden pocket Golden candidacy raises questions about his perceptions of his Public role and responsibility made the trains run on was the classic defence of it raises questions about the Law that allows him to run again immediately Short answer the in this is an and it raises questions about the electors them or at least those among them who Are prepared to Reward a conviction with a these cases tend to underline the worst aspect of the City Hall which reflects a notion imbibed like mothers milk by Many politicians that after you have been there some sort of divine Lay Ingon of hands takes place that Ren Ders you immune from the fallibility and occasional stupidity that afflicts most other this chronic and overweening self esteem of some councillors is reflected in an attitude that they must somehow know they also for that the Public memory is this insulated superiority is rein by raises questions forced by repeated about his perceptions of his Public role and responsibility and about the electors them Golden Candida or at least those among them who Are prepared to Reward a conviction with a Vox pop Vox appear even though Many electors obviously dont give a Damn about the repeated embarrassments and dubious conduct of their it is hardly surprising that some councillors come to believe they can do no wrong at very so Little As would leave them vulnerable to electoral or moral some months Mike Oshaug Nessy apropos his naming a Street after his own i didst abuse my i used my what he was really saying is that he can no longer Tell the Given All it is not surprising that a number of councillors More the editors of the free have begun to advocate term limits As a Means of ensuring a More regular and continuous turnover in councils in the face of what is actually the argument has some its chief draw Back and it is a serious one lies in its apparent curtailment of democratic involving both the right of anyone to run for Public office and the right of the Public to elect and reelect whoever they even including incompetents and whether such results ensure Vot ers the kind of Council voters it is assuredly the kind of Council they have been free to is the democratic principle thereby sustained and reflected in such results the Point at very is As the size of Council has been steadily reduced and the size of wards proportionately incumbency has come to Confer such enormous advantages in reelection that would be challengers and Many voters Are deterred at the very out if Golden is re elected in present circumstances in what conceivable circumstances would a credible challenger waste time and resources to Challenge Golden in the future it is difficult to be an enthusiast for term limits in Public yet it is also becoming difficult not to see the Force of the argument that term limits May be less evil than the pre sent situation if term limits begin to look like a Neces sary component of any successful it will be because neither the councillors nor their electors where the ultimate authority must rest have been prepared to the easiest and the most appropriate mechanism for change lies in the electors themselves concluding that change is Gle Lawn May provide a clue As to the likelihood of that William Neville is a Winnipeg his column appears on Fitta 111 ii 1c the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email haughty author has feet of Clay in his column such valuable gossip free Gerald flood praises British author Paul Johnsons 1988 Book the Good Choice for Light Holiday he could Only have done better with a selection of supermarket with its and Homine attacks and Laun dry hamper Johnsons Book is a venomous assault on the heritage of the european its also a great if you like fever ish details about Marxs poor personal Hygiene or Rousseau sexual what flood neglects to Tell us is that the haughty Johnson himself has feet of two years his longtime mistress revealed to a Lon Don newspaper that Johnson was not Only a philanderer but that he loved to be spanked and told he was a naughty for someone who has made a prosperous career As a shrill and implacable moralize another Book of his is modestly titled the quest for god a personal it seems Only fitting that with this lurid revelation he is hoist with his own Here is a pseudo intellectual who has been the Darling of the american Richard Nixon sent Johnsons books As Christmas former Vic president pan Quayle kept a copy of the truly awful Modem times on his when once asked what the Book was Quayle is recorded As replying contentedly that it was a very Good historical Book about Histo Johnson wrote a history of the american in which he barely mentioned called the new Deal a monstrous watergate a Liberal and Thomas Edison the inventor of the Telephone i Johnson claims that tens of Mil Lions of innocent lives were lost because we believed and followed the was it intellectuals who started the two world wars and administered the gulag the real intellect it seems to were themselves victims of this kind of mass violence incited by demagogues and their unthinking who turned ideas into mindless read Paul John sons they say a great Deal about the intellectual climate we live in mar Rabnett Dugald private health care lacks support int Peter Holle the sly one give tax payers the resources to manage own health instead of Forth rightly praising the Virtues of Ameri can style health care where Large health insurance companies dictate the Type and scope of treatments and reap billions of dollars in he pro motes a so called medical savings accounts Mesa scheme where health insurance companies would dictate the Type and scope of treatments and reap billions of dollars in among All the Fine talk about allow ing citizens to manage their own healthcare there is one key statement people would be required to use the funds to buy catastrophic in other words our tax Dol Lars would be used partly for health care and partly for insurance company Holle is indeed dreaming in technicolor if he believes any government will be Able to Force health insurance companies to cover All med ical conditions without a Cap imposed on the amount allowed for each once the system is switched Over to the private the health insurance companies would demand higher and higher premiums would refuse cover age of conditions requiring expensive once the system was switched to the private canadians would not be Able to return to our present single payer Mesa is simply another scheme for totally privatizing and thus american izing our healthcare Holle has every right to promote american style health but i doubt if he has much support from the Canadian pub Louise Hudson Dauphin term limits not the answer with the recent discussion about limit ing the number of terms for a City i am reminded of the Suc Cess of the Republican party in the when Franklin a was elected to his fourth consecutive the gop despaired of Ever placing a Republican in the White House and so worked to pass a constitutional amendment limiting to two the number of presidential terms one person could this Amend ment backfired on the gop when it finally had in place a popular presi Dwight who would have been reelected to a third and More term had there been no term now those who feel it is time to replace some City councillors Are Sug Gesting a heavy handed approach in which All effective or inf will be tarred by the same i am insulted by those who so recommend because they Are inferring that i cannot be trusted to vote wisely so my vote will be the political used correctly by can insure the replacement of unsatisfactory the Citi Zens can vote the citizens can choose to stand As the citizens can work to support Good can the system is not but it is certainly Superior to term manipulation by those unwilling to work with in the i am very Happy with my representative on City Bill we dont share political party affiliation and he Doest always do things As i would he can be i have never doubted his intent to be scrupulously fair after listening to All sides of an he responds to All Calls very promptly and takes action if he does not have clerical help but turns Back to the City that amount of his after Many years on he brings his wealth of experience and amazing memory to Community when those issues involve other City business people and developers i am grateful to be represented by such a the remedy to bad representation is not term it is citizen Educa Tion and Maxine Hasselrus Winnipeg doonesbury i ;