I had an e-mail from someone who asked me why I kept making references to the “peanut gallery” in my live blogs from City Council and about them not being present at the most recent meetings. They went on to say that they were “surprised that [I am] not in favor of people being vigilant about their local government. You seem to be all about that.”
Well, yes I am all about that. That’s the reason I’m critical of the “peanut gallery” and their self-appointed leader who took a dislike to me when I held him as accountable for his actions as I hold any other public figure. This “peanut gallery” and their leader are practicing a selective vigilance that is really not fitting with the definition of vigilance.
If you are going to declare that you are going to be vigilant when it comes to things like the city and county government then you need to be watching more than when someone tells you that you need to show up and cause a scene. Vigilance means that you show up to the council meetings when the most controversial item on the agenda is an increase in the sewer rate cap. It means that you make the commitment to make as many of the City Council meetings or other public sessions of our elected leaders as possible to show that you are concerned about what they choose to do with our tax dollars.
If you are going to announce in a public manner that you are part of a group holding our elected leaders to account then you have a responsibility to live up to that declaration. If you’re going to send letters to the newspaper or call into local radio talk shows and say that you are going to be watching what our officials do then you are putting yourself in a place where you have to be active beyond just being upset when someone tells you that you need to be upset.
This is even more true if you are going to claim that our local newspapers and our local television stations are biased and not reporting what is actually happening in our local and state government. If you distrust the media then you need to be there in person so you know what is really said and what is really done by our local government. How can you say you’re keeping tabs on our officials if you don’t believe the source of the information upon which you’re basing your views?
The “peanut gallery” and their leader are not doing this. These people are only being vigilant on certain items which usually is based on the whim of their leader. Based on what I have seen from the “gallery” they are wrong about their fury at least a third of the time. (This could be because of incomplete information or incorrect information but it does not mean it was done with false intent.)
When I start to see this “peanut gallery” showing up at the council meetings without their leader being present I’ll start to let up on them. When I start to see the “peanut gallery” making an effort to be involved when they won’t be getting everyone to pay attention to them then I’ll start to let up on them. When the “peanut gallery” starts to live up to their claim they are going to be vigilant then I’ll really let up on them.
Until then, I can’t take seriously their claim that they are going to be vigilant about our government and making sure that our leaders are held accountable for their actions. (Heck, the leader of the peanut gallery has a problem with me holding him accountable for his actions. How can I believe he’s concerned about accountability when he’s upset that someone holds him accountable?)
There are people who are holding our government accountable in the news media and in the blogosphere. I may not agree with their political slant or how they frame a story but it doesn’t mean they aren’t there and they aren’t putting in their time to hold the government accountable. If they stop being vigilant while claiming that they’re still holding our government to the fire then I’ll call them out like the “peanut gallery.”
Jason, since you don’t consider yourself a “peanut gallerian,” (though you have sat in the same seats they have occupied at council meetings in the past) I take it you must count yourself among those “people that have got real money at risk, time, money, and effort to spend as opposed to the people from the peanut gallery,” that Mayor Carlson spoke about at the Busch building when the term sheet between Hammons and the city was announced.
Since you got all that real money could you spot me a little loan? You’ve got my addy.
Encouraging others to come to Council meetings is a good thing. Being vigilant doesn’t necessarily mean people who don’t feel particularly concerned about an uneventful meeting should feel pressed to attend. They are capable of looking over the agenda before hand to see if there is anything they wish to address and if not, why should they feel they must attend a meeting of no particular interest to them? If they are being “vigilant” it could mean they are aware of the agenda and see no reason to attend. Not everyone reports on council meetings and feels obligated to attend the more mundane meetings, but I can see your point and in fairness would point out that VDJ regularly encourages the public to attend all council meetings but occasionally stresses the importance for one reason or another. Whoever and for whatever reason is able to get the public more interested in local issues is accomplishing a good thing, in my opinion. Different people try to encourage others in different ways, you seem to be making an effort to shame people into it…I don’t like that tactic any better than you like the tactic of he whom you have distanced yourself from, if it causes more people to attend meetings, though, go for it.
Jackie:
If you look at the Mayor’s quote in it’s full context you will see that he did not just refer to people with money. He mentioned time and effort as well which includes those who give of themselves to make the city a better place beyond just complaining to city council when they do not like something.
When the Mayor mentioned “peanut gallery” he was referring to a specific group of people. You know it. For you to deny it really would call your journalistic integrity into question.
As for your comment “though you have sat in the same seats they have occupied at council meetings in the past” you neglected to mention that there is the same sets of seating for the general public when they come to the council meetings. That’s deliberately misleading, Jackie. It’s something I would have thought was beneath you.
If someone is going to proclaim themselves as the watchdogs of the Council then they need to do more than the average citizen. Anyone can read the agenda and just go if they find something that hits their hot button. Someone truly vigilant would take the 6-8 hours a month to invest in being at the meetings to hear all the discussions, the reports and the questions of council members.
Just looking at the agenda is being informed which is good. That’s not being vigilant…that requires more than just cursory attention.
I know that your blind loyalty to this group and Mr. Jericho means you’ll make an attack post like this anytime someone questions their actions or their statements so I’m not taking it personally. I just wish you would hold your circle of friends to the same level of accountability you choose to hold so many other people.
How much money, time and effort must a citizen spend to make the city a better place before they are allowed to complain when they don’t like something, Jason?
I am glad you are comfortable with the Mayor labeling unnamed, unspecified people who don’t have a lot of money or a lot of time to spend in money or effort because they are too busy with other obligations in their lives as not worth betting on. I am not as comfortable as you are with that generalized label.
In my opinion, those people, those tax payers who are busy, in some cases working more than one job to support their families, ARE risking money and time for the betterment of their community and they don’t have to sit on a dusty bench in City Council Chambers to prove it to you OR Mayor Carlson. They prove it every time their son or daughter steps out of the house to walk or ride the bus to school with a clean set of clothes on his or her back and a full tummy. They prove it every time they are there for a friend in need. These are the people who MAKE this city, the people ARE the city, Jason, not the new hotel Hammons will build at the old arena site, not only developers with good reputations who come in from out of town and risk money, time and effort on pet development projects of the city.
I consider many people as friends who I would “bet on,” friends who may not have a lot of expendable income, friends who may not have a lot of time to attend council meetings or the ability to invest time and effort beyond providing for their families, but friends who pay sales taxes to this city every time they make a purchase and pay their personal property taxes every year so that they can license a vehicle to take them to work over the roads and streets their tax dollars assisted in funding. “Money, time and effort,” we ALL invest it. Everyday.
I consider you a friend too, a friend who may have a vision of grandeur complex. You think you are exempt from the peanut gallery, but I think I saw your name at http://www.peanutgallerymembership.org.
I’m sorry you consider disagreement with you as an “attack.” Not sure what I can do about that. :/
Jackie:
How much time and effort? Something beyond sitting around and complaining all the time while never actually taking the effort to do something about the problem. We’re all busy. Many of us do work two jobs just to support our families. However, sitting around and griping about things doesn’t change anything. A sacrifice of time and effort above the minimum to take care of the basics of life is something that should be praised and strived for in everyone’s life. Sure, we can’t always reach that level but when we can we should take the opportunity.
I know you’ve read past blogs and you know that I didn’t think the Hammons hotel was a good idea. For you to try and make the implication you did that I would put that ahead of the people who make up this town is dishonest on your part, Jackie.
And again, you know to whom the Mayor was referring with his comments. If you don’t want to admit it in public so you can keep your cred with certain people that’s fine but don’t pretend that it’s some big generalized label. You’re smarter than that.
Jason, do me a favor and instead of assuming that I’ve implied something about you ask me if that’s what I meant. You aren’t the one who labeled people “the peanut gallery,” Carlson is, therefore if I implied it about anyone it would have been intended toward him, not you. Smoochie, smooch.
I don’t know who he meant and what’s more, YOU don’t know who he meant because he simply did NOT say. He said who WASN’T in the peanut gallery. That’s it. For the record, I don’t think it is unreasonable for you to assume that he meant VDJ and people who showed up at council because VDJ asked them to, neither do I think it unreasonable to interpret it in a broader sense. Would you be willing to admit that my interpretation is no more unreasonable than yours? Hee hee hee hee heeeeeeeee.
Oh good grief you two… get a room!