An Editorial...Campaign Politics

Never put it in writing. Rule One of political campaigns, because what you say can come home to roost. Take the recent City Council meeting where the 2007-2008 FY budget was finally approved by a vote of 4-1.

Larry Parham led the effort to deny the city Police Department's request for four additional officers, something that had not been done in eight years. He, along with Mike Davenport and Gary Trippensee, voted 3-2 to hire only one additional officer in the new budget, despite his campaign statements made prior to the April election:

"Make sure our police are properly funded and staffed so they can deal with drug problems and continue to stop crime and gang activity before it gets a foothold in Grove," Parham says on the GrovePac.org web site. Apparently something changed his mind after the election.
He also says, "Find a way to finance GMSA without the proposed huge rate increases."
Actually, the rate increase planned for June 1 wasn't huge at all, but a mere $2.06 per household for water users of 5,000 gallons or more a month.
His solution: Simply rob the city budget of $360,000 to prop up GMSA, over the objections of all five GMSA trust authority board members.

And how about this one: "I will vote and work to make road improvements a priority." A quote from Mike Davenport on the GrovePAC web site. During the final budget approvals, he voted to reduce last year's budget of $75,000 for asphalt overlays to $50,000 this year, and keep the pothole budget at only $25,000 this year. We can look forward to better roads, can't we?

Say one thing, do another. You can still read all the promises at www.grovepac.org.