More than anything else, last night's vote was a test of Mayor Sly's ability to champion regressive taxes utilizing his cult of personality. Like it or not, the victory was impressive.
But the reality beyond the chatter of clueless and cowardly pundits is that last night's election victory was mostly an achievement for Kansas City's corporate ruling class.
Law firms, consultants, construction dudes and a litany of local pezzonovante can now claim their piece of property taxes paid by local po'folk and the working class for "infrastructure improvements" that are mostly a matter of faith. History tells us that very few of these big promises will ever materialize.
Still, there's no point in being pessimistic and right now it's appropriate to celebrate the victories.
Check the big winners . . .
Kansas City Grassroots Advocacy Works!!!
We noted as much last month: Grassroots advocates with community support win the day in these smallish local elections. It shouldn't have been any surprise to our blog community that Questions 3, 4 & 5 earned approval from voters given so many locals have been committed to these causes for the long haul. Activists for these measures deserve high praise for their commitment which spans years.
Council Lady Teresa Loar Deserves Question 3 Animal Shelter Accolades
Behind the scenes, Council lady Teresa Loar helped focus pet lovers in their efforts for a new shelter. The hottie blonde Tori Fugate from the KC Pet Project is getting all the press and she deserves it because of her enthusiasm and because she had to entertain the creepy on-air flirtations of Johnny Dare via radio interview . . . However, if we're talking about legislation and "herding cats" when it comes to actually helping to put an ordinance together . . . Council lady Teresa Loar did a lot of the heavy lifting. Her reward for all this effort is even more work because now she'll have to fight the City Manager's office to get the funds that were promised but not specially mandated by dollar amount for the new shelter.
Kansas City Marijuana Reform Advocates Scored The Greatest Election Victory!!!
This deserves to be highlighted . . .
KANSAS CITY WEED SMOKERS AND SUPPORTERS EARNED THE BIGGEST ELECTION MARGIN OF VICTORY!!!
We can talk about power players and influence peddlers all day . . . But the people of Kansas City want their weed without the threat of much police interference.
The newspaper "reporting" and old school campaign against this effort was deceptive and cynical. The reality is that Question 5 advocates represent the first step toward local marijuana legalization and their cause was more popular than any other on the ballot.
Now . . . We must commiserate with those Kansas City metro denizens on the losing side of the vote . . .
Tax Fighter Crosby Kemper III Might Have Cried Himself To Sleep Last Night On A Huge Pillow Stuffed With $100 Bills
Here's another thing we need to get straight for causal denizens of our local Democracy and those who overestimate their influence.
To wit . . .
THERE WAS NO ORGANIZED OPPOSITION AGAINST GO BOND QUESTIONS 1-2-3!!!
No yard signs, no official commercials, no campaign HQ and not even much of a bank account against an election push worth MILLIONS.
Crosby Kemper III and his Show-Me Institute homies deserve the blame for this tragic state of tax fighter campaign affairs that's mostly due to the fact that Mr. Kemper doesn't like getting his hands dirty with the grunt work and ethically ambiguous duties of a municipal campaign. Polite chatter at the library is great but walking dangerous neighborhoods, getting doors slammed in your face and suffering the threats and rebuke of the unwashed masses has never been the strong suit of the library honcho despite his service as the chairman of the board of the Show-Me Institute.
To be fair . . . It's very nice of him to let the hobos hang out in the Library all day.
But I digress . . .
Because we can't expect his employees and underlings (read: everyone) to inform Crosby III of the facts . . . Let's make it plain . . . Polite conversation and British voice-over documentaries aren't going to win Kansas City elections. And if the effete Conservative denizens of Kansas City don't have the guts to run a REAL OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN BEYOND CHEAPSKATE SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER then they deserve to lose every local vote.
KC doesn't have a Donald Trump and that means local tax fighters are going to have to work harder to make sure their voices are heard now that Mayor Sly's tax & spend agenda is picking up momentum.
Speaking of . . .
Tracy Thomas Tried Her Best!!!
Our blog community loves Tracy Thomas and she's one of the few locals willing to put her money where her mouth is and stand up against higher taxes. Her bloggy campaign effort and radio blitz wasn't successful but that doesn't mean it wasn't courageous.
Welcome To Brave New World Of Even Worse Kansas City Water Bills
Once again, lower income residents are the biggest losers in the aftermath of an election to raise their cost of living even higher. KCMO taxes and fees continually rise and nothing that happened last night will alleviate the water bill crisis that continues to drown the working poor and Kansas City in worsening debt.
As always, we invite our readers to participate in this post-election goodness and consider the implications for the future.
You decide . . .
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