Jacob: Playing Dumb, or Really Dumb?

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Bill Dennis interviewed new city council pick Jacob today, in an effort to clear the cloud that is already hovering over him. He denies that strings were pulled to get him on the council, despite Ardis' and Leitch's statements to the contrary.

Basically, we are to believe that the only wheel greasing here was expediting the elimination of a stupid, archaic law. Lets say that this is true. I know, it's hard, but try.

Boys and girls, next time you are trying to get rid of a stupid, archaic law.. Lets say trying to allow your backyard fence to be five three quarters feet high instead of six, call your state rep. Tell him, "Dan, the wife and I are installing the fence this weekend. The dog keeps running away. We are afraid Rover is going to get creamed by a car. Springfield is already working to get rid of the dumb fence law, can't you make it go away sooner?" Cover your ears as your state representative cackles in your ear. (Frankly, you would be lucky to get this far. You would probably be speaking to an intern at best, because your Representative is likely to be on a lobbyist sponsored trip to France with the more beloved of his staff.)

Boys and girls, now try the same experiment after you land a job at your father's big, profitable company as president and organizations you head make sizable donations to your representative's campaign war chest... You get the picture.

We are told that the only greasing done here was getting rid of a bad law sooner. It is debatable as to if the original law was bad, but nonetheless, THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED FOR AN ORDINARY CITIZEN.

This is just the type of crap we dumped Ran$burg for, and it is the very same crap Ardi$ promised would not be part of his "New Generation of Leadership."

The new council cried "foul!" when City Manager Randy Oliver promoted Pat Landes to Assistant City Manager without first discussing it with the Council or posting the job. Ardi$ posts a job with absolutely no intent of hiring anyone other than Jacob, as evidenced by the timing of his pick (while Blago's signature was still wet).

We voted for a new, open local government where the average, ordinary citizen was to have a platform equal to the big guys. If Ardis wanted Jacob so badly, he should have just said so. "Yes, I have someone in mind. Someone who I feel has top notch business and civic experience, but I'm waiting for legislation currently under way in Springfield to be enacted before announcing my choice."

Kudos to the Peoria Pundit for interviewing Jacob and hearing the man out. Jacob knows strings were pulled. If he doesn't, he doesn't have the brains to be on the Council. I'm also concerned by Jacob stating, "Back in February the Council wasn't even a twinkle in my eye." Ardis had numerous candidates who had been active in local government and civic affairs for years. Yet, if we are to believe Jacob, he wasn't tuning in a mere four months ago.