| If the Burlington City Council and the Mayor's office are any metric, the Progressives are indeed coming in to their own as a Major Political Party by engaging in the same sort of bunker mentality politics that the Republicans and Democrats engage in when they get caught screwing up. There have thusfar been no "mistakes were made" moments over the financial scandal rocking the Queen City, as the Council's Progressives along with city hall seem to be stuck spinning their wheels on the first stage of grief.
(Note: If you just got back from the Negative Zone, Burlington Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Leopold cut a $17 million loan from the City's general funds to Burlington Telecom (the city-run telecom entity) without seeking approval from the Board of Finance or City Council. As a result, BT is now violating its "certificate of public good" issued by the state by not repaying the loan within 60 days - as well as by not expanding its network as promised).
While the revelation that Prog politicians are every bit as human as Dems and Repubs may not be worth mentioning - the potential consequences of continued denial are. The line from Kiss and company has not simply been to avoid the subject of the actual breach of ethics and the terms of BT's operating certificate entirely, but to try and change that subject. Here's an example of the rhetoric that has been coming from Kiss and the Council Progressives of late (emphasis added):
"I don't think we've lost the public's trust, but we are at a critical juncture," said Councilor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (P-Ward 2). "We need to remind people what an asset Burlington Telecom is to the community."
The Council Progressives and the Mayor have seemed to be on the same page - and that page is to make this scandal all about Burlington Telecom itself rather than a lack of transparency, a breach of public trust, and rule (law?) breaking. Presumablely they're banking on the notion that a referundum on BT will go their way, so a deflection of the topic is in their favor.
But they're wrong. |
| This scandal is a big, big deal that's not going to drift away, and there will come a point that some of their opponents will recognize the opportunity and gladly oblige these Progs by helping to make the conversation about BT. Why? Because if the Progs are successful in linking the two conversations, the results could be devastating for the fledgling, publicly-run information infrastructure experiment. It could bring it all down.
The rational thing to do at this point is to show some humility. In this case, an overabundance of pride could well go before a very big fall.
One of the bad raps on the Progressives collectively has been the idea that they are all about - and only about - building their Party. That nothing else really matters to them. An insistence on a strategy to avoid responsibility for an ethical breach at the expense of one of their finest legacies will go a long way towards cementing that bad rap.
Let's be clear; I'm not concern trolling. I'm not a member of the Progressive Party and likely never will be - but as a little 'p' progressive, I have a stake in Burlington Telecom. I want to see it succeed. And using it as a stalking horse in a political scandal is not in its best interest. I also know that there will be some Progressive politicians who will have no problem with continuing such a strategy, even if it looks to drag down BT.
But I also have faith in some of those folks to be smart and do the right thing. GMD readers will not only recognize the Council Progressives' paid staffer, Doug Hoffer, but will likely join in my confidence in him to be one of those smart folks based on the quality of his contributions to this community. I genuinely have faith that Hoffer, and others like him who are in the midst of the storm, will ultimately see the bigger picture and keep Burlington Telecom from being sacrificed on the altar of political cover (or at least, that he will have some appreciation for the growing concerns on the matter). |
