His Honor?

The standard means of addressing a Mayor; Your Honor. Curious term for a man who has brought nothing but dishonor to this City and the Office. The firing of Mark Winson, the renaming of Columbus Day and refusing to recognize it, cozying up to the Public Employee Unions, collusion with candidate/Councilor Gilbert in an attempt to influence the Police to secure an endorsement, grandstanding on a consession regarding the health care crisis that would have been a drop in the bucket, parading around a bar in Superior showing his "titties", proudly making a formal recognition of the GLBTQAI weekend, spending tax dollars like a drunken Sailor, promotion of the Wethouse, spending Community Investment Trust Fund dollars earmarked for street improvements instead on a housing proposal with a dubious mission, numerous mis-steps on practically every issue before the City and now an alcohol related car accident and his subsequent arrest for DUI. Wow, this is quite a list of accomplishments for a three term Mayor. Problem is, he is only half way through his first.

It is time for those loyal to Herb Bergson to begin to at least re-evaluate that loyalty. Blind political allegiance has no place here or elsewhere. Whether you are DFL, Independent or leaning to the right, any objective analysis of the performance of His Honor leads one to question his effectiveness and competence as Mayor of any City. Questioning his judgement is certainly valid. We have the State Auditor, in no uncertain terms, telling us we are headed for bankruptcy, facing the greatest, single unfunded obligation of any City in the State and the potential dire consequences, yet Herb is on a bender driving to Chicago for another conference. This man has done more traveling than all previous Mayors and he is not even through his first term. Is all of this time away from the City productive or is it merely another way for him to avoid tackling the real issues head on?

It begins to beg the question, how much is enough? What will it take for Duluth and Duluthians to wise up? What will it take for those who still support this Mayor to question their loyalty?

Perhaps the most important issue to ponder is the fact that Mayor Bergson is merely a symptom of a bigger malady. That illness is political myopathy and blind loyalty.

Following the Mayor's arrest, the local "newspaper" writes an article that is more an appeal for public mercy than a factual report. The story is almost wholly ignored and dismissed on a local level.

We quite obviously cannot rely on local "news" sources for accuracy or objectivity. We cannot depend on fairness, equity or balance from any of our local "news" sources. How, with this kind of media bias, can Duluthians make objective, informed decisions at election time?

The local media choose to print selatious rumor and innuendo against their political opponents while completely ignoring true violations of the law and public trust by their chosen few and propagate this ongoing dumbing down of the public. How do we as citizens overcome this tide of misinformation?

Cancelling subscriptions to the paper is one small way. Confronting those responsible for the propaganda campaign is another. However, possibly the single most effective way to combat them is to continue blogging, talking with friends and neighbors, write letters to the Editor. Whether they get printed or not, they see them. Get the word out and and point out the inconsistencies.

This is a long road and we must travel it together and remain steadfast in our resolve. This battle will not be won overnight. With liberal dominance in our educational institutions, media, public employees and many other corners of our community, the trip to common sense and balance will be a long one.