Friday, November 4, 2011

Cronyism and News Outlets in Iron County (corrected)

Editor's Note: The following article is the
corrected version of an article published
yesterday. The numbers were correct however
the years associated with the numbers were
misaligned.

Please note that Chicago's mayor has
published every city employee's wage in an
easily accessible, and publicized, web page.
Governmental transparency is critical
for the voters to be able to make reasonable
decisions.

In the past 24 hours I received a note from a
reader that suggested perhaps what we need
here is an Occupy Genesee Street movement.

We regret our previous error and hope it did
not cause anyone any inconvenience.
===================================


On 10/28/2011 I sent a letter to the editor at the
Iron County Reporter to have it published. I have
modified it slightly for publication here because
I have no arbitrary 300 word limit and needed to
correct arithmetical errors. The fact that the
Reporter refused to publish the information at all
confirms, in my mind, that the newspaper is complicit
in the cronyism that is the prime mover in how
government is run in Iron County. We are, however,
watching Wayne Wales activities with interest with
hope that he’s the reformer he appears to be.

But neither the newspaper, nor the local radio
station WIKB, reported important events that took
place in the several public meetings. It is my
opinion that the public trust is betrayed by these
news outlets which regularly conceal inconvenient
information that is important to the public. The
entire governmental representative election process
is thwarted whenever the voting public is purposely
kept in the dark. We need an honest news outlet in
the region. The editor of IronCountyDoings will soon
be 72 years old and cannot keep this up forever. A
replacement, and expansion of this effort, are
necessary for the good of this community.

In the pursuit of this story we ran across much good
information. This cartoon from the 1930’s is one
example. We republish it here since the original
copyrights have long expired and it does a good job
of representing our present situation.





It was reprinted in a book, “Chicago’s Way Out”,
that sought to eliminate the corruption in their city
government by replacing the people running the
city with a city manager model. The movement, and
the book, neglected the simple fact that cronyism can
take over the city manager form of government just
as it has here in Iron County.

The contents of my letter to the Reporter’s editor are
included below.

Complaints about the Washington Street improvements
scratch an obvious surface. Money is not available for
needed repairs in the City of Iron River to some extent
because available funds are being misspent. On Iron
River's web page you can read the requirements for
Public Works Foreman candidates. A person with a civil
engineering degree is sought. That alone has the potential
of unnecessarily doubling the cost of the job. Advanced
education is unnecessary for the job. Good common sense
and some experience are crucial.

Looking at the City Manager salary requires review of
three city council meeting minutes (available on the
internet.) The dates are 1/9/2004, 5/10/2007, and
5/16/2007. If the manager's pay scale is on schedule with
6% per year raises, his annual income is presently in
excess of $111,235 plus tons of benefits. He originally
hired on in 2004 at a reasonable $58,700. Have you ever
heard of anyone else effectively doubling their income in
a salaried job, with no promotion, in just 7 years?

Here’s how the pay raise schedule looks:

2007 $88,109
2008 $93,395
2009 $98,999
2010 $104,939
2011 $111,235
2012 $117,909
2013 $124,982
2014 $132,482
2015 $140,431

Iron River has a population approximating 3,029. The
city manager's salary presently costs every man,
woman, and child almost $54 each year. Can Iron River
residents really afford to spend money this way?

Rahm Emanual, formerly White House Chief of Staff
and now mayor of Chicago, only costs each resident
about 8 cents per year. He gladly accepted a cut in pay
to take the job. Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is
being paid $1 per year. We can't expect numbers that
small for Iron River, but we certainly can do better
than we are! That takes oversight by the public,
something we don't have at the moment. You should
get riled every time you hit one of those bad bumps
in city streets. And then you really ought to do
something about it.

These issues raise other questions about how the city
spends money. You, the taxpayer, are the boss. You,
the taxpayer, need to know what your government
is doing.

Bill Vajk

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