10-03-2009, 03:21 PM
Frankie, when the previous bill was introduced, nobody on the Council was really for it. The bill was essentially dead and had absolutely no chance of ever being passed. So, when the Council had a change of leadership and it was clear that some Council members stood in a minority, the votes were stacked in favor of the Huns at 3 absolutely against, 1 absolutely for, 3 don’t really want it but will vote for it just to mess with those who were absolutely against, and 2 maybe for or against. The bill may have passed simple because of the politics of the Council which would have had nothing to do with what's best for the people or county or what was or wasn't the will of the people. However, there was the possibility it would fail. If it failed, it would have been a blow to the Huns and the Councilperson who needed this bill to hopefully garner constituent support to fight off the impending recall.
So an agreement was made that a new Bill would be introduced by another council member who was originally against the bill in return for a provision to exclude all districts but Puna. With that done, it was just a matter of principals if enough council members would vote for it knowing their constituents were opposed. Odds are it was a coin toss even with the politics of the Council since it would be harder to keep it out of the other districts once passed. The Huns wanted their person to look good but there was still too much uncertainty,
So in steps the legal opinion that even if passed, it may not ever be implemented due to legal challenges. At this point you have all the elements to accomplish the objective, a Bill one Council member badly needed and a real possibility it will never be implemented. The next step is to make sure that everyone is onboard to pass it unanimously, but flawed to prevent it from ever going into effect. This is done by agreeing as a group to omit the provisions that may have helped service a legal challenge. Since they all knew about this, don’t you think someone would have mentioned it before the vote? Have you ever read Bills or resolutions by Council member Ford? She doesn’t make these types of mistakes.
Had the Bill passed 5 -4, it would be in line with what everyone was saying publicly and privately, but to have everyone who voted, say yes, that means something had to be in play on this Bill before it came up for a vote. The other Council members in the minority had to go along and vote yes or they risk the inclusion of the legal issues in the bill. Since the Bill was not supposed to ever get implemented, they didn’t have anything to gain by voting against it and risk the wrath of the Huns.
So an agreement was made that a new Bill would be introduced by another council member who was originally against the bill in return for a provision to exclude all districts but Puna. With that done, it was just a matter of principals if enough council members would vote for it knowing their constituents were opposed. Odds are it was a coin toss even with the politics of the Council since it would be harder to keep it out of the other districts once passed. The Huns wanted their person to look good but there was still too much uncertainty,
So in steps the legal opinion that even if passed, it may not ever be implemented due to legal challenges. At this point you have all the elements to accomplish the objective, a Bill one Council member badly needed and a real possibility it will never be implemented. The next step is to make sure that everyone is onboard to pass it unanimously, but flawed to prevent it from ever going into effect. This is done by agreeing as a group to omit the provisions that may have helped service a legal challenge. Since they all knew about this, don’t you think someone would have mentioned it before the vote? Have you ever read Bills or resolutions by Council member Ford? She doesn’t make these types of mistakes.
Had the Bill passed 5 -4, it would be in line with what everyone was saying publicly and privately, but to have everyone who voted, say yes, that means something had to be in play on this Bill before it came up for a vote. The other Council members in the minority had to go along and vote yes or they risk the inclusion of the legal issues in the bill. Since the Bill was not supposed to ever get implemented, they didn’t have anything to gain by voting against it and risk the wrath of the Huns.