Serving the citizens of Woodway was a privilege and pleasure. City employees were great to work with, making the rest of us look good. They were professional, they were courteous; above all they were efficient. The volunteers and elected officials I served with were of high integrity and shared a common goal of meeting the needs of greater Woodway. We always treated visitors to council meetings with dignity and respect. Together as a team, we quietly took care of Woodway business and continued the legacy of our wonderful community. I have been a part of a number of community efforts, but this ranks as the most satisfying.
Looking back, I have two regrets. One - while we were great stewards, we were lousy politicians. I say that because in retrospect, we did not do the one thing all politicians do - brag on their accomplishments and abilities. I believed balancing the budget, holding tax rates, increasing spending on road repair, developing high construction standards, promoting quality commercial development, and standing with citizens when Oncor started cutting trees, that all these things would be noticed and appreciated by citizens. The incumbent backlash on election day said otherwise. My second regret was that instead of standing up to MOBs slander, lies, and wild allegations, we did nothing. At the time, I felt that "turning the other cheek" was the best course of action. I felt engaging him would serve to validate his hate and encourage him to continue. Unfortunately, reality was just the opposite. MOBs onslaught of letters, in the absence of a response, became "self validating" in many citizen's eyes.
I can't correct my first regret, of not being a savvy politician. Quiet frankly, I don't think I would if I could. It's not how I'm wired; it's not my value system. But the second regret, standing up to the city liar and deceiver, that's different. Both MOB and KOB have a history of hurting good people, and with the help of the new council members, are posed to hurt more.
My commitment is now to my family, to neighbors, to citizens of Woodway, and strangely to MOB. At the first council meeting, Mike O'Bric asked for "sins to be exposed and corrected". That is what I plan to do -- expose the OBs for who they really are, expose the OB Party and it's true agenda, and expose any politician that serves that agenda over truth and the meaningful interests of Woodway.
With that understanding, I went to the second council meeting. Brand new Mayor Weber was absent, missing his second meeting. (Okay, allow me to indulge in humor. If MOB were to write a letter about Weber, he would exclaim our mayor has missed 50% of the meetings in his tenure. Not only that, but that he had employees play army in his backyard with city funds!) Back to the meeting. In his place Mayor Pro Tem Gil Lillard opened and officiated the meeting.
Calling for visitors to speak, Gil recognized MOB first. MOB got up and started his rants. He finished this time within 3 minutes. Next I rose to speak. I introduced myself to the council and asked for the same 10 minutes given MOB by Mayor Weber in the first meeting. Hearing no objection, I began. First I spoke about the great condition the city was in when handed to the new council, giving them a written report card of the city under the previous council. I asked them not to take credit for things those before them had accomplished. I then asked the new members to answer the following questions with a show of hands:
1. How many of them had toured city facilities prior to election? ( No hands raised.)
2. How many of them had reviewed the city budget and financial statement with the city controller prior to election? ( No hands raised.)
3. How many had met with city employees and asked about the work environment prior to election? ( No hands raised.)
4. How many had campaign help or involvement by Mike O'Bric? ( No hands raised.)
I then discussed the statistical results of the recent election, pointing out that with other facts (no new member has any volunteer history or city experience) voters had voted incumbents out more than voted them in. That understanding should cause smart men to be cautious and slow a rush to judgement of any kind. At the 3 minute mark, Mayor Pro Tem Lillard told me my time was up.
I protested but Lillard insisted. The week prior Mayor Weber allowed MOB 10 minutes, even though it was not approved. No other council member objected at that first meeting. Now as a voice in opposition to the OB Party, I was being shut down. So I simply asked Gil Lillard if he was going to discriminate against me. I asked a second time, and he stood and replied "Yes". This became his defining moment. MOB is shown favoritism, but those in opposition are not.
Amazing. I left and went into the lobby, asking others to come hear the truth. Instead, most people stayed in the council chamber. They stayed, but one by one, stood at the podium to speak against MOB and his lies. Councilman Don Baker stepped to the podium and spoke against Gil's decision as well. Don also called for an independent audit. Finally De Smith took the podium and deferred her time to me. I came back, and with passion, addressed the council.
Councilman Garner believes I attacked him and attacked Councilman Csibielski. That is incorrect. I spoke against his platform statements, his political statements in the paper. I spoke against him as a city councilman who spreads rumors via the Internet. I spoke directly against Dr. Csibielski's claim to bring integrity to the council when he printed MOB lies in his campaign literature. I spoke against his claim to not be a rubber stamp when in reality his wild claims were the words of MOB. I called on him to follow through with his campaign promises and shut down the "duplicate city hall" he claimed as wasteful spending, and save us the $100,000s in utility bills he said were wasteful. Since he said taxes had been repeatedly raised in the past, I told him to give the citizens a tax reduction. Finally, I told Gil he scared me without publicly disclosing his behavior. I have since exposed his behavior in my blog.
More than anything else, I spoke against MOB. I openly stood up and called him what he is -- a liar. I exposed the fact that he never has proof for any of his wild allegations, in spite of YEARS of making these claims. I told the new council how he had done similar things with Baylor's track program, similar things with the Marine Corp League. Baylor finally ran him off, and the Marine Corp League reprimanded him. It was now their turn to come clean with the citizens.
The first council meeting was memorable for MOB's 10 minute victory speech, favoritism repaid, and the new members taking control of the Woodway City Government. The second meeting was a response to those actions -- a ground swell against MOB, his agenda, and a rush by new members to foolish behavior. The time of Good Stewards is sadly past; the time of the OB Party begins. Next Blog...the Real OBs.
