City Council Person contemplates Legal Action against Citizen

There is quite a dustup this morning over Dustin Gooding's claim that a council candidate from another race asked him to drop out of his race against incumbent Phylis Sanborn last year.

An article in the Galveston Daily News Today outlines the issues.
GDN Article!
Blogging has become an important tool for dissemination of news and the discussion of issues in League City as well as around the world. Bloggers are protected in many ways by the FCC Fairness Doctrine. This allows blogger to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was (in the Commission's view) honest, equitable and balanced. There are also issues such as the first amendment to contemplate. If Legal action against bloggers is pursued in this instance,it will silence an entire media that the people have to discuss and understand the issues in a convenient environment. It allows all the citizens to participate. If legal action is brought against bloggers, this will also bring a whole new aspect to a political process that has been rife with political mud slinging such as "Glass/brick/house" "Cash Cow" Mailers
etc. Will Legal action become the new tool to silence the truth or the opposition in League City? Is it in this case a justifiable tool to counter act a false claim? What if Dustin is telling us an accurate recount of the events, shouldn't he have a right to do so? Or is this much to do about a none event?

Dustin Up- Dustin Gooding tells about his "Deal"

Well, from the comments of the last thread, I see it is clear that a certain portion of the population in League City wants to keep public service just to a privileged few insiders. Dustin says he was offered a deal to quit his race so he would not be a spoiler to an incumbent candidate. Dustin says he was offered support and endorsements in a future council race. What do you think of this? Do you think it is just how politics are? Do you think something inappropriate was done last year? Anyway, if what Dustin has said is true, I admire his chutzpa to bring it forward. If it is Blarney, then it is just more politics as usual in League City.

Who Will Step Up To Lead?

There are two city council positions that will be in this coming spring's election. Position 6, currently held by Tim Paulissen, and Position 7 currently held by Jim Nelson. Jim Nelson has indicated he will not run for another term. So who will step up to fill Jim's seat, run and win to lead this community through the challenging times to come? Will Tim Paulissen face an opponent or will he go unchallenged?

A day of reckoning

We are witness to the economy in steep decline. There is a day coming soon when billions of government dollars will no longer pour into the local economy. There will come a day where bad government, bad planning and bad management can no longer be covered up by an always expanding tax base and increasing tax revenues. There will come a day when you, the taxpayer, says enough is enough and I will not stand for largess in local, state and federal government. There will come a day when the citizens will no longer allow the existence of a government where the citizens exist to serve the government, rather, the government will exist for the benefits of its citizens. There will come a day where public servants will be allowed to perform their jobs as their professional training has taught them to do, without interference from politicians. Where government employees can do the right thing and say "this is what I should do." not "If I do what I should do, my political bosses will be upset". There will come a day when the self serving bureaucrats are removed so the government will function for the benefit of the entire community and not just to preserve the power of the institution of government. One day elected officials will be held accountable for willfull expensive miss steps made by our goverment. These errors and ommissions should and will have consequences.

NASA's Future, League CIty's Economy in Lock Step

Obama's budget, which does not make clear when, or perhaps if , NASA rockets will again launch astronauts into space once the venerable shuttle program is ended. The president's plan calls for Russian rockets to carry humans to the space station for five years or so, at which time private spaceflight companies would assume the task.
"It's possible the space agency will no longer maintain an astronaut corps after the shuttle retires"
Endeavour set to Deliver Final Key Station Parts." Houston Chronicle 05 Mar.
2010: A6.
So how should the City of League City react to this news? My guess is that some serious belt tightening needs to occur. The impact of the newly proposed Nasa budget will have a tremendous negative impact on the local economy. I believe we will see a serious decline in the housing market, Nasa jobs, Contractor Jobs, and the local goods and services economy that supplements the larger economy created by the thousands of Nasa employees. When people lose their jobs, they lose their houses to foreclosure or are forced to sell at fire sale prices. This has a direct impact on appraised values over time. This will sharply impinge on the city's ability to collect as much revenue as they currently are collecting. The city needs to have an austerity plan ready to go. Beware of those that marginalize the impact of this newly proposed Nasa budget. The new budget is the beginning of the death March for Nasa.
I am surprised by the number of residents and Nasa workers that agree with this proposed budget reduction in the space program to a mere shadow of its former self. While the new budget's proponents say that it is only Constellation that is cancelled, and NASA will receive six billion dollars more for shuttle. What the proponents will not tell you is that the additional budget money is to assist with the transition from government underwritten space travel to the private sector. The private sector will not underwrite such and endeavor and it is foolish to believe they can or will.

Below, is a startling opinion from one of our neighbors

"I have worked for one or another NASA contractor for 30 years. I have to say this about the axing of the Constellation project: It could not have happened to a more deserving project"

Nelson A Thompson
4th St
League City, TX 77573


"Death Deserved" Houston Chronicle 6th Mar.

2010: B6.

Dear Mr. Nelson A. Thompson, what positions did you hold over the last 30 years that makes you an authority on the issue that Constellation deserved the death sentence? Sounds to me like you are a post Apollo bureaucrat about to retire so you have very little skin in the game. Where was you voice over the last 30 years?