Give the man credit. Ryan Vaughn is our city council president and he's forthcoming with communication and invites us "little people" to a regular informal meeting with very people who disagree with his ethical position.
(The "little people" thing is my emphasis, not Ryan's)
Coffee is a whole lot more intimate than a town hall and shows more courage than the cowardly democrats in Congress are willing to do these days for their constituents. Agree or disagree, it shows some moxy and I respect the initiative.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to arrange a date to meet the man for coffee and see what can be done about making it a regular Friday habit. We have absolutely nothing to lose by not showing up except for a bit of time and a couple bucks for some coffee.
I'll never agree, however, that his voting on any matter that involves the purse of Barnes & Thornburg is not a conflict of interest to our citizens. Nor will I ever concede that it makes sense to take out 30 year bonds on capital improvements designed to last 10 years.
--Melyssa for HFFT
CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT RYAN VAUGHN'S RESPONSE TO MY OPEN LETTER:
Melyssa,
(The "little people" thing is my emphasis, not Ryan's)
Coffee is a whole lot more intimate than a town hall and shows more courage than the cowardly democrats in Congress are willing to do these days for their constituents. Agree or disagree, it shows some moxy and I respect the initiative.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to arrange a date to meet the man for coffee and see what can be done about making it a regular Friday habit. We have absolutely nothing to lose by not showing up except for a bit of time and a couple bucks for some coffee.
I'll never agree, however, that his voting on any matter that involves the purse of Barnes & Thornburg is not a conflict of interest to our citizens. Nor will I ever concede that it makes sense to take out 30 year bonds on capital improvements designed to last 10 years.
--Melyssa for HFFT
CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT RYAN VAUGHN'S RESPONSE TO MY OPEN LETTER:
Melyssa,
I'm not sure I track your analogy. Regardless, I've explained this 100 times. I do not have a conflict, legal or Council. We can continue to debate the issue if you like, but I don't think you'll ever be convinced of my analysis nor I of yours.
As to whether or not people are angry with me, well, I try to do the right thing regardless of what people think. Its those politicians whose actions are controlled by polls and popular opinion that you ought to be worried about, not the ones exercising their own judgment.
The threat of losing an election or having someone use something against me is no threat at all to me. I've never backed away from someone who has accused me of wrongdoing and I wouldn't do it here. I don't hide from conflict, its only my accusers who have thus far lacked the courage to debate the issue. That fact is, I'm doing exactly what I was elected to do.
As for the merits of the bond deal, I have a question for you. Do you know how much our infrastructure deferred maintenance grows with every month we do not address it? If the cost of that number were greater than than bond financing and repair of the "new" infrastructure, would only a mental midget vote against it? Look at the whole picture, not just the snap shot of the bond and it makes perfect sense.
Still waiting on dates for those coffees.
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