Yesterday, at the King County Council meeting in Seattle (see video at about 52min), on behalf of the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR), we presented the 2016 Bureaucratic Pinocchio Award to the King County Council. This award is presented to the government bureaucrat for whom the truth is a low priority and who is willing to prove it with his public statements.
The awardee was Darrell Rodgers, who is a Manager at the King County Health Services Department. He earned this award during an interview with King5 News last year when he said “Onsite Septic Systems are the primary cause of pollution in Puget Sound.” Shortly after he made this statement, the King County wastewater treatment facility dumped at least 25 million gallons of raw sewage into Puget Sound, again (over 100 million gallons of raw sewage are regularly dumped into Puget Sound and surrounding lakes and streams by the government wastewater treatment facilities every year).
At CAPR we believe that politicians sometimes get too much credit and attention for the actions taken by the government bureaucracy. Since most bureaucrats see the elected officials as temporary residents in the hierarchy of any government, the bureaucrats’ actions and mindset are often more important and more impactful than the politicians who are nominally “in charge.” Therefore, it is worth recognizing these bureaucrats when they commit an act of incompetence or do something particularly noteworthy.
As written last year, CAPR was involved in opposing King County‘s septic fee which they were attempting to impose on thousands of people in rural King County. Over 1500 people showed up to oppose King County’s “turd tax” last year at a series of public hearings. The tax scheme was temporarily abandoned by staff. However, the staff infection continues to fester and tax schemes never really die, they just get resurrected under a different name. The King County staff are considering another way to impose pointless and wasteful fees on property owners once again. These will produce no benefit to the community or the environment, but the cash they extract could help them bloat the bureaucracy a bit more.
The award was timely and appropriate for the occasion.
Awards like this are approved by the CAPR board and we are always looking for more suggestions and awardees which our members and supporters may want to provide for appropriate recognition. The nature of bureaucracy is to perpetuate itself. One of our jobs as engaged citizens should be to expose the bloat of bureaucracy to the sunlight – which truly is the best disinfectant.
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OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
For related articles of interest:
King County Dumps the Turd Tax After Overwhelming rejection by angry residents
Tempted by Turd Tax, King County Council and staff shocked by Citizen Disgust
Turd Tax Tempts King County and citizens show their strong opposition (CAPR)
Seattle Times – “Silence Reigns as sewage spills in Puget Sound. Here’s Why”
US News – “Seattle Plant Failure Dumps Millions of Gallons of Sewage”
Kiro7 News – “For 2 months, each flush sent raw sewage into Puget Sound”
HeraldNet – “Raw Sewage diverted to Seattle Creek”
Thurston County discovers new cash cow in crap tax
50 Shades of Green – Puget Sound Partnership
$60,000 to establish a new “brand” for Puget Sound Partnership
Why we must abolish the Puget Sound Partnership Scam
Puget Sound Partnership – Washington’s Failed Environmental Agency
Stifling Human Ingenuity (The Central Planner’s Agenda)
What Happens when the Central Planners Fail?
Thank you!
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