Sunday, February 19, 2006
Needed: Attitude Adjustment
by C.B. Forgotston
According to Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, the public "doesn't understand." See excerpt below.Perhaps that those who were directly affected by the failed levees feel that compromise with their safety is simply no longer acceptable. Perhaps there is good reason that they don't like or trust government.
Many just lost their lives and tens of thousands lost their property because of the incompetence and ineptness of government, before, during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Perhaps it is Senator Schedler who doesn't understand.
What Senator Schedler definitely doesn't understand is that such a condescending attitude is not appropriate for a person who was elected to REPRESENT the people of his district. His job is to cast a vote on behalf of his constituents.
His job is to listen to his constituents and then vote as they wish. It is not his job to declare them to be ignorant. Additionally, if Senator Schedler is correct and his constituents don't like paying taxes, why did he vote for so many taxes. (See voting record at www.forgotston.com)
If his constituents don't trust government and are ill-informed, the buck stops with him.
Senator Schedler needs to look in the mirror and ask why his constituents don't trust government.
If his constituents are indeed ignorant, perhaps he needs to spend more time back home educating his constituents and less time in Baton Rouge misrepresenting them.
Perhaps Senator Schedler needs an attitude adjustment so that he can properly fulfill his duty to represent, not dictate to his constituency -- ignorant or not, the public.
C.B. Excerpt from the Baton Rouge Advocate's Politics Notebook column February 19, 2006:
Schedler says process not always pretty
State Sen. Tom Schedler made his own analysis of the legislative process and public opinion last week during debate over a bill to consolidate levee boards in Greater New Orleans.“From the outside, we’re an easy target,” the Mandeville Republican told his colleagues.
“People don’t like government. They don’t like paying taxes and they don’t trust their government,” he said.
Schedler said the public, riled up by radio talk shows and other less-than-informed sources, “doesn’t understand that compromise is a crucial part of lawmaking.”
The frank debates over the levee-boards bill looks like making “sausage,” he said. “At the end of the day, we hope to go to market with something that looks a bit prettier,” Schedler said.
