An Editorial...watch the laws

In his remarks at this week's Council meeting, councilman Terry Ryan mentioned "the laws of unintended consequences" regarding the long battle between Council and the airport trust authority board members over transfer of property to the city.
This particular law points out that when you set out to do something, such as introduce a measure to transfer property, unintended consequences can result. In this case, the city set out to transfer the property and probably did not anticipate the furor it would cause. The airport board suspected the real reason was to break the trust, and that without property, the trust had no reason for being.
The city could have headed off this battle by issuing a clear statement of its intentions. Board member Bryant Chestnutt had pointed out weeks ago that the matter would pass "if it was for the right reasons, but it isn't."
In politics, it is worth nothing that there are many laws that can be considered, none having anything to do with a courtroom.
There's Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics: "Things get worse under pressure." This comes under Murphy's basic law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
Then there is Newton's Third Law of Motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That certainly applied in the airport/council donnybrook.
Newton's First Law is also worth noting: "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it."
Assuming that the airport/council issue is settled next week, that leaves the grand jury petition and a couple of court cases left on the city's plate to digest.
Backers of the grand jury petition, which is nothing but old news once again put through the blender, should note Burn's Balance Law: "If the assumptions are wrong, the conclusions aren't likely to be very good."
Those who would like to rid the city of the current city manager should take note of Camp's Law:
"A coup that is known in advance is a coup that does not take place." Or, Cannon's Cogent Comment: "The leak in the roof is never in the same location as the drip."
Candidates for the next council election should consider Broder's Law: "Anybody that wants the office so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office."
And all government workers should heed Brian's First Law: "At some time in the life cycle of virtually every organization, its ability to succeed in spite of itself runs out."
As for us, we like The Murphy Philosophy: "Smile…tomorrow will be worse."