This week in County politics, the youth sports crowd is on the offensive, the municipalities find a path to CARES Act money, one of my friends and allies has turned coat, and I find election season vitriol carrying on. For me (and many others), the biggest issue is an ordinance proposal on the agenda that would limit the County Executive's power in future pandemics.
For starters, I hope we won't ever need such an ordinance, and that this pandemic is a once in a century kinda deal. Secondly, one of the primary reasons we elect an Executive is to lead during a crisis. And finally, the very party proposing this legislation, which incidentally gives them an outsized voice by requiring a 2/3 majority to continue a state of emergency, doesn't even take the current pandemic seriously.
I honestly can't tell if this is simple election season shenanigans, or if anyone in the democratic majority can take this legislation seriously (and the fact that one of the democrats on the Council seems to find fitness here is both baffling and disappointing), but it is truly a piece of trash.
I'll go back to my original points. A time of crisis is no time to have too many cooks in the kitchen, and giving power to decide whether a pandemic is really an emergency to a bunch of politicians is absurd. In a time of crisis, an executive can assemble the strongest possible team of experts in whatever the crisis. In this pandemic, that includes public health experts, humanitarian relief experts, and economic rescue experts. In the legislative branch, I too can go find my experts, and spend all day every day trying to understand all of these moving pieces...oh wait, no I can't. I have two kids and another job. This is the job the executive is elected to do.
The very best part is that the GOP has downplayed this pandemic since the day it hit our shores. They have, and continue to, mock mask wearing, flaunt the lack of social distancing, and put their own selfish wants ahead of our collective best interests. AND they want us to believe they should be the ones making decisions about public policy in future pandemics. The chutzpah of it all is mind blowing.
And for the youth sports crowd, I want all of our kids to get back to normal life as soon as possible. I want the kids in my life back in school, back on the basketball court, and back in the stands supporting each other. But until we as a society can show that we're listening to public health officials and doing everything we can to mitigate the spread of this disease, and whatever one may come next, I simply do not trust you enough to press to reopen.
Until we can all start being in this thing together, I'm standing strong for the recommendations of the public health experts.
~k
