Count on hearing quite a few incredible statements as election season begins again. Politicians are sure to take credit for good things they had nothing to do with, deny responsibility for problems they’ve helped perpetuate and promise improvements they can’t even hope to initiate.
Ah, life in Lenoir County at election time.
Voters who do their homework and ask on-target questions are sure to be diverted by answers that range far and wide from the subject. It’s what politicians do – sidestep the issues, unless they’re blaming other politicians for the problems.
A councilman running for state office is making annexation a big part of his platform. The only way Kinston can grow, this councilman says, is to annex areas of the county. Of course, that causes the county’s population to shrink and increases the tax burden for every county resident.
Never mind that this man has been on the council for 11 years and land grabbing is the only solution he has for growth. Watching how he diverts questions about a shrinking city, an expanding low-income housing program and a water utility that every day bears more and more resemblance to ElectriCities will be educational.
The city’s mayor accompanies the councilman on many of his campaign rounds. The mayor reassures Kinston residents that their Electri-Cities bills will improve after 2008 when the contract is renegotiated. Contract negotiations don’t necessarily translate into lower electric bills. It’s far more likely rate increases will merely start from a lower point and drag out painfully for more years.
Public Safety Director Greg Smith told a chilling story Saturday. A “very young” boy was working as a mule for drug dealers. Police caught him with his pockets full of money. Why, cops asked, are you doing this? “I’m helping my mama pay the electric bill,” the child said.
The City Council is unhappy about not getting more state money for road construction and improvements. The all-Democrat council should be able to get some answers about that from their Raleigh colleagues. It’s the Democrat governors and their pals in the state Legislature who are raiding the Highway Trust Fund for $797 million since 1992, according to financial analyst Michel Lowery, who came up with the figures for the John Locke Foundation. That’s a lot of street and road improvements.
Negativity? Only if you believe facing the facts is “negative.”
Lee Raynor is editor of KinstonPress.com. She welcomes your comments at
editor@kinstonpress.com.
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