Thomas Jefferson once said that the happiness for Americans hinges on their ability to prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Earlier this week, the Orange County Commission decided to delay a potential November ballot initiative that would require businesses to give paid sick time to their employees.
Instead of allowing the voters of Orange County to decide whether this measure is right, the commission punted and decided to render their decision in October.
The problem with that strategy for the people of Orange County is that the commission will not reach a decision until after the printing deadline has passed for the November ballot.
While the commission may think that this was a politically prudent decision for them and their chances at re-election, they effectively told the people of Orange County that they are not smart enough to make a wise decision.
Many businesses were against the measure, some going so far as to state that it puts them in a financially inadequate position. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but the people who poured their time and energy into collecting the required signatures for the measure to appear on the November ballot have been shut out and shut down.
Commissioner Jennifer Thompson said on her facebook page that without her counter proposal regarding the sick time initiative, small businesses did not stand a chance of making it.
So I guess the vote and voice of the people do not matter?
Her response also shows that she cares only about one sector of her voting bloc and that is the one that lines her campaign coffers when it is time for her public service contract to be renewed.
But maybe I’m being to potent in my review of her performance on this issue. Maybe she truly cares about businesses and the people who voted her into office; she just has a lousy way of showing it.
Many politicians are not effective communicators and maybe that is one of Thompson’s downfalls.
In this case, she is doing a grave disservice to the people of her district and the voters of Orange County. Better yet, the three other commissioners (Fred Brummer, Scott Boyd, John Martinez) who voted to delay this measure so that it will not appear on the ballot in November have all misrepresented the voters of their respected districts.
I’m not sure how Mr. Jefferson would feel about this measure and frankly, that does not matter. Whether you agree with the commission or the advocates for the sick time proposal does not matter either.
What matters is that democracy has been compromised by this county commission. That quote put forth by Mr. Jefferson regarding happiness and pretense? Yeah, the only talk we have heard about is the well being of small business, not that of the people this measure looks to serve.
That shows that there is a serious farce and falsehood being put forth and that is something I do not believe Mr. Jefferson would like.
-JH
You put in words exactly what everyone is feeling. Thank you.