A couple of calls to Yakima City Hall clarified the Ensey legal bill fiasco. The City has NOT received any billings as of this date. We the people who are footing the bill have to wait until Rick Ensey presents the bill to the city.
So, let’s see…hmm…Lover, Cawley and Adkison are up for election and their good friend, Rick needs to present a bill to the city. And they, along with Kathy Coffey, voted for we, the people, to pay for it. What are the odds of this happening BEFORE the election? My guess is, Zilch!
Doesn’t Rick Ensey and his 4 friends espouse the values of open and honest government? Gag, gag, cough, cough. Excuse me. That was hard to type; those four names in the same sentence as “honest and open”. I wonder if they have even asked Ensey how much we are paying. Oh wait, they are all Republicans, and the important thing is to make sure more Republicans are elected. The public can wait to find out how much we pay.
The Court decision was rendered on Sept 28th and the 10 day window for an appeal process has long gone. So that excuse is gone. What other reason can they be holding back the bill? Maybe Bruce Smith hasn’t given the green light yet. Now, if Ensey raised the money himself, as others would have had to do, then we the people , would not have a need to know.
So what is the truth here? One post says the bill is 15.3 next post says the city doesn’t know..?
Until we can further verify the figure used earlier (a verification we expect to have within days), we would like to demonstrate the kind of responsibility and restraint we wish all news media outlets would use more of when fact-checking.
Either when we get our rock solid confirmation or when Slick Rick finally does hand over the aforementioned figure to the fleeced taxpayers….remember you heard it here first!
Well, Coug, as you published a couple of days ago an unverified figure, it’s a bit late to “demonstrate the kind of responsibility and restraint we wish all news media outlets would use more of when fact-checking.”
I see the post that gave the 15.3 figure has been taken down. A bit like un-ringing a bell, yeah?
Government entities routinely pay legal costs for elected representatives defending lawsuits. You sound as if you believe this was precedent setting. It wasn’t.
Your lawsuit against Ensey was obviously politically motivated. If not, you would have included all the members you accused of violating the act. After all, one person alone couldn’t possibly violate the OPMA.
Priorities of Government budgeting was passed UNANIMOUSLY. Obviously it was what everybody wanted.
The fleecing of the taxpayers is at your doorstep. You took valuable money away from a city that could have been better utilized elsewhere.
Neal
I’ve been living here (year round) for the past 28 years and I don’t recall a government entity routinely paying legal costs for elected representatives defending lawsuits. Ever. Not even once. Maybe you could enlighten us on that.
As for the OPMA, the lawsuit was not about that. It was about approving the right of the citizens to begin a recall for just cause. The OPMA violation was indeed by four council members and that was settled out of court for $2500 of taxpayer funds.
As for priorities of government passing unanimously, the council did pass it AFTER accepting 100% of city staff recommendations. The fact remains that NOTHING has changed. All the cuts and the layoffs would have been done exactly the same way under the so-called “old method.”
These clueless “budget hawks”have not offered a single dime of cuts. The fleecing of the taxpayer is in your court and it appears you don’t even want to know how much you have to pay for your darling BSers.
28 years, huh? Well, that might be old for a dog, but it falls far short of the 47 years I lived there FULL TIME and the past 6 years I live there part time (as a resident).
Your myopic view of politics centered in Yakima seems to leave out most of the country we live in, as far as legal precedents are concerned.
Here are a few examples from both coasts…I’m sure there are lots more, but you get the drift. And in all these cases, the violations were far more egregious than an unproven violation of th OPMA.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/1099775.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-21/news/mn-16507_1_legal-fees
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/80476.html
Now, go do something good for the community, like start a food drive.
dang…another one stuck awaiting moderation…seems to happen a lot to me here
It takes longer from Florida.
I just mailed in my Yakima County/City ballot.
Streeter just got his sixth grade teacher to let him use the bathroom.
Oops…I erred..
Streeter’s teacher just let her use the bathroom..
Why is it that a republican always knows where the bathroom is or resorts to psycho sexual nonsense. Neal I think your PFLAG is showing.
neal is safely ensconced in Florida, where the gang crimes in Central Washington seem so distant. Say hello to Mark Foley since your there. He’s one of yours.
mainstreeter
“Why is it that a republican always knows where the bathroom is or resorts to psycho sexual nonsense. Neal I think your PFLAG is showing.”*** We republicans know where the bathrooms are because you democrats make us want to vomit…and the “psycho sexual nonsense” comes from research on your political beliefs… Sigmund Freud: “A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.” (“General Introduction to Psychoanalysis,” S. Freud)
I didn’t want to take you out of context again, so I made sure to get your whole statement this time. I hope this is more to your liking, and isn’t too nonsensical for you.
What is a PFLAG, is that some psycho sexual nonsense that you resorted to?
Yes, and I bet Neal knows nothing of the shooting outside Davis High today or cares about the 5 homicides inside the city of Yakima this month. Today’s shooting could of been #6 but since Sonia was the first to talk about this, she gets the blame for making it “political”.
Meanwhile, neal is safe, in an undisclosed location in Florida. Not everybody in Yakima enjoys the luxury of leaving town during the residential hunting season for palm trees and sandy beaches.
And Mainstreter thought all the gang violence would go away after the 80 grand ran out? She isn’t very bright, ya know.
And Drew, I didn’t know there was a residential hunting season for palm trees. Next time I’m in Florida, I’ll have to apply for a tag.
What, are you a roving reporter now?
So was Joe the Fake Plumber, and he had to leave town when the bullets were flying too- we’re still waiting for his report as well.
So, from your undisclosed location, perhaps you can find the data on cases in Washington State where taxpayers picked up the tab for the legal defense of folks like Ensey. As for the emergency appropriation of $80K, it was not expected to permanently solve the problem, and you know that. You cons are so pissed that a liberal saw a problem and pressed for immediate action that worked. You must be really worried that Rodriguez could find a long-term solution that keeps the community safe.
My locations, where I live and where I vote, have been disclosed many times Drew. More than can be stated for you and your GF streeter, who obviously are so ashamed of where their trailer is parked, it must remain a secret. Batman and Batgirl’s secret identities must never be discovered.
And the 80k didn’t solve bupkus. More shame.
So the crime rate drops after the emergency funds are applied to extra patrols in the effected neighborhood, and that is “bupkus” according to a con. Your problem with it is either that it took a liberal to take action (and it worked), or that it was spent on a neighborhood you feel doesn’t deserve it.
So look, Dick (sorry, with you jumping around from one secret location to another like that, we can’t tell if your neal or Cheney), it’s becoming embarrassingly apparent to all that your working up to asking mainstreeter for a date. Not sure how to tell you this, but this is not a site where you can switch genders like that, or switch the genders of those you’re secretly attracted to either. Do you WANT mainstreeter to be a girl? You’re just going to have to live with the fact that you can’t always get what you want, and this would be one of those things. Just like Rodriguez making a successful move to stop the violence temporarily while a long-term solution is found. You’re going to have to accept that, too.
I actually don’t live in a “trailer”, but I don’t look down on anyone if they do, either. Must be one of the con family values they’re teaching these days.
Neal, regardless of whether you have mis-gendered one of the crew or not, you did some nice research on public officials getting their handslaps paid for by public funds. and that research is beneficial to our understanding of the current situation in Yakima. I doubt, however, if there is any kind of insurance entity available locally to smooth over the legal cost. The precedent seems to be widespread, though, as pointed out in your research. And it would seem that city council members tend to be very careless about what they say in emails. Good idea if you are going to be controversial, not to use the government server.
My, you do get a bit defensive, don’t you?
As streeter has kept his/her gender a secret, as well as where he/she votes, it goes with the odds in this country to surmise she is female. There are more women than men in America.
And a man wouldn’t be frightened to say where he votes…
Since Drew is so concerned about people who travel a lot, I’m sure he loved this article!
If this were a Republican, I’m certain he’s be quite vilified in here. But, he gets a pass.
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/02/05/george-fearing-has-tri-city-area-well-covered
Neal, tell me more about what it means to be a real man. Your version, I mean.
Oh, and nobody really cares where you live, Neal. It’s just that it was hi-larious that after you chastised some of us non-locals for having the unmitigated gall to have an opinion, it turns out that at times you live elsewhere.
Irony is a knee-slapper sometimes.
Corie. It seems to come as a surprise to you…but people can travel nowadays. why is that so hi-larious? (is that the way they pronounce that where you’re from?)
Where do you vote, Corie?
Whoopie, it appears as tho only Ron, Dave and I have confirmed voting in Yakima. Perhaps you as well?
The others won’t answer because it erodes their standing in Yakima politics.
And they still won’t. Their trailer isn’t threatened.
Blogs are specifically designed to allow people to have a place to express an opinion, Neal. I have no need to have any “standing” anywhere, not even in Yakima politics, to have an opinion of concern that people who have a little power misuse it. That goes for anywhere–in any city, town, hamlet or village around the world.
Where do I vote? At my kitchen table, in a hotel, at work–I have an absentee ballot and I can vote anwhere I can reach a mailbox to have my ballot in on time. Other than that, I won’t share with you where I live because I don’t announce that on the intertubes.
And, you didn’t get the joke.