WHISTLES HEARD IN THE COURTHOUSE

What irony in the recent complaints by Democrats about our local government lately!

They are beginning to try and paint a false picture of the conservatives that voters replaced their people with. They are beginning to complain about, and distort any effort to contain cost.

There are a few newly elected Republicans who have adopted the old Tookie Kirkham strategy of  hanging on to power. There are a few that gather and listen to the old soothsayers in the Democrat party to try and learn how to posture and look good to the voters while rocking the boat as little as possible. Not many but a few.

County Attorney Wes Hinch falls in this “Tookie” category. Although Hinch’s I.Q. could easily be double former County Judge Tookie Kirkham’s, he still says “excuse me” whenever Mike Little farts. But despite what perhaps is a capacity to do the job, Hinch has decided it is more important to get along and to go along.

The loud whistling sound that existed when Kirkahm served as County Judge was absent for the four years of the wheeling and dealing Phil Fitzgerald. Those who would criticize the current County Judge, need to be careful about comparing the actual time he spends in his office verses how much Kirkham did. I suppose Kirkham was there when he wasn’t out posing for pictures, but the loud whistling sound that could be heard while he was there was a problem, not a virtue as his fans may be pushing these days. Either the lack of anything between his two ears caused loud sound or him whistling any tune he was told to- one or the other. Regardless, former Judge was no leader. His administration, along with former County Judge Fitzgerald, helped to set up a county government that borrowed and spent too much money. He “caused problems” by being a lightweight – intellectually or by the lack of courage or both.

The whistles stopped for the four years of Fitzgerald. Cloaked in backroom deals, taxpayers could almost hear the collective “shhh!” that had permeated the last twenty year of one party rule. The “shhh” Kirkham did nothing about and probably caused some.

There is a new whistle now. No “shhh”. But a whistle by a County Judge that is doing what he said he would do. He is wading through the mess he inherited and proposing changes. He is trying to cut the cost of local government that we can no longer afford. He is not whistling because of an empty head, or because he is going along with the good ole boys and will be protected by them. He is whistling because he knows if he does the right thing- he knows Allen Youngblood and Tookie Kirkham and others will eventually be seen for what they are.

The jail is a great example. If you listen to these people every move County Judge Craig McNair made was wrong. The only problem with those who are selling that is that we will soon be rid of a group that has been accused of horrendous things and who charge the county more than they are worth. The proof is in the pudding – and the “pudding” will have newly elected Sheriff Bobby Rader working on cleaning up the mess Democrats embedded in our local judicial system.

The news of just this one change has many of us whistling. Many of us used to worry when Tookie was at work reaching in his head for decisions, now we can rest. Not just because we have a County Judge that upsets Allen Youngblood, but because of the stupid criticism coming from the airheads, the empty heads, and the good ole boys wanting back their power.