Response to new reader "Slappy": This blog is not Anti-Picard.

With publicity comes new readers and new opinions -- both of which are very welcome!

A new reader who goes by the name of "Slappy" posted the concern that Lower West Haven Taxes is 'Anti-Picard':

Wow! You should rename this blog Citizens Against Mayor Picard. Lets see....I become Mayor, which is a 2 year commitment. Then I quit my old job, drop state licenses' pertaining to my old job. Then decide not to run again in two years. Perfect.....no job to go back to.

That was the problem with the previous administration.....the Mayor was making it a career. Being a Mayor is NOT a career! I don't care if Picard is being realistic about politics.

Why don't you write about the old homeland security director. He held this job and was a full time firefighter in the Center district and sold Medical Equipment, defibulators, to the city.

I can understand your point of view, given the slant of the recent article, and given that some readers here definitely ARE anti-Picard. This blog, however, is more about separating the facts from the fiction in West Haven. Too much is said in West Haven that is more a gut reaction, or what a friend of a friend told me. I'm trying to take all of the sources (at face value), and figure out what the truth is.

Myself? I have no problem with the Mayor maintaining his licenses; I feel he has every right! I also am not anti-Mayor Picard. I AM, however, entirely against 50% increases in taxes.

Additionally, I worry that Mayor Picard is not being consistent. He said that he'd make this a full time job -- but he didn't disclose that he kept his business alive on the backburner. He says that it only takes an hour of his time a month -- but if he's signing contracts, I sure hope he takes time to read and understand what he is signing. Maybe that can be done in an hour's time -- somehow, though, I think it might take a little longer than that.

In regards to being Mayor not being a career - I agree. It's not a career - it's a commitment (and btw, I think 2 years is too short -- it takes a year to get comfortable with the job, from what I have seen and have been told). It's a commitment to devoting your entire energies into the best interests of the citizens you serve. Well, ok - I don't know any mayor who has done that --but that's what it is supposed to be about. I'm not saying you can't have a life, or you can't make mistakes- but I think you have to own up when you fall short.

I'm not a Borer sympathizer, or a Picard basher, or a Republican stalwart; I'm a truth seeker, and a believer that politicians are there to serve us, the taxpayers.