How can you tell when your opponents are bereft of ideas and a vision for our community? When they ineffectually appropriate ideas from my campaign theme, Grand Blue Rising, attempt to employ them as their own and misstate my public record while doing so (I previously worked for Apple Valley for 16 years, not the 29 years bandied about by Mr. McConnell). We are to believe Grand Terrace can be made safer than it is with one deputy sheriff and despite statistics and public comments from our police department that say otherwise.
We are also to believe that “overhauling city hall” is the path to development and opportunity, though such proposals are astonishing by their lack of substance and detail. From the beginning, the record will show I have led the fight against the County Fire District parcel tax and explained my reasons for doing so. My comments must make sense because this issue, along with economic growth and opportunity, has become a part of each of my opponents’ campaigns since the matter first came before the City Council. Most recently, I was able to get the Council to unanimously adopt a Resolution opposing the proposed Fire District parcel tax.
We are also told by one of my opponents the powers that be at City Hall continue to try to “force” taxes on the people. Frankly, since the passage of Proposition 218, this cannot happen, but this statement continues to be made. Either my opponent conflates the right and opportunity to vote on taxes with the actual imposition of taxes, plainly misunderstands the issue or deliberately misstates it because of its perceived vote-getting potential.
Context is everything. One of my opponents takes credit for defeating Measure “C” when the public record reflects that, among other things, he made the motion to establish me as the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Budget Advisory Committee. Moreover, the Committee minutes will reflect he was the first Committee Member to recommend a utility users’ tax to the City Council. The record also demonstrates he voted, along with other Committee Members, to unanimously recommend a utility users’ tax, with the proviso that the tax be levied at the $1 million level, rather than the $1.5 million adopted by the Committee.
I presented the Committee’s report to the City Council on June, 11, 2013. Because Mr. McConnell was planning to be on vacation at the same time, he requested that I make Council aware of his support of a utility users’ tax, but at the aforementioned $1 million level. I agreed to his request and included his statement in my public presentation. My specific reference to Mr. McConnell and his request is also a matter of public record, so you can imagine the Committee’s surprise when it learned the argument opposing Measure “C” had been signed by its Vice Chairman. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about whether this complied with tenets of ethical decision-making public officials are charged with. While you are thinking about that, think also about Mr. McConnell’s “campaign platform” and who would personally benefit if his proposals ever came to fruition.
We currently have one of the nation’s finest developers working hard to bring about much needed development and job opportunities in Grand Terrace. The company, one I recruited to Grand Terrace when I was Interim City Manager in 2014, is poised to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build the most significant project in the City’s history. And, just when we are about to realize the benefits from years of hard work, a candidate for City Council proposes to blow up City Hall and start over.
When you invest your own personal funds, do you invest in a volatile, disruptive, unpredictable environment and hope for the best? No? Then why would you expect an experienced developer to do so? Ironically, two of the three members of the SaveGT slate have voted to approve every item and issue Mr. McConnell rails about, including code enforcement, the General Plan and development code, the enhanced police services parcel tax and the adoption of development and impact fees among others. This disconnect maybe can be explained by the fact that these really are not the issues after all, but just a façade to get elected and to position himself best for future personal benefit. If these were matters of principle, he would have called out his SaveGt cohorts for the same issues about which he has criticized me.
If you want someone for your City Council who places personal benefit above community benefit, vote for Mr. McConnell. If you want someone who places integrity and community benefit above all else, vote for Ken Henderson on November 6th.
Henderson: City Council 2018 www.kenhendersongt2018.com