Annapolis Capital Punishment

I will testify tonight against both the pay increase plan and the bill to force retailers to notify customers about Bisphenol A:

Please, do not pass this exorbitant pay. We cannot afford to do this now, it is too drastic an increase and it comes at a time, a veritable perfect storm of political controversy and economic turmoil that if this council were to pass it, I don’t believe I could ever trust any member who voted in favor of it with anything—with anything—ever again. Far be it for me to suggest that any one of you base your vote on political merits rather than what is best for we the people, but if you think that any of us who votes in this city will easily forget a mayoral candidate who voted in favor of this raise…..well, guess again.

Do not vote yourselves this raise now. Perhaps next year. Perhaps the year after, but not now. And please, please don’t use the excuse that it is needed to attract good candidates. Two of you are already running for mayor and one of you was already elected. Did either of you think you were not or are not good candidates? We already have a handful if not more lining up to run for mayor. They are doing it, we presume, to provide public service and not to get a salary commensurate to the corporate or private sector. But the political intrigue of the timing of this, for so many reasons, real and perhaps only perceived, make this a terrible thing to vote on for now. If you vote on this and it gets into the budget it could kill our ability to fund the imminent city manager position. Come to think of it, that might be a reason to vote for it if you don’t want a city manager…but that would be pure conjecture on my part.

If maintaining the relatively low salary of mayor actually keeps someone out of the mayoral race, so be it. That would not be the kind of person we would want as mayor anyhow. The aldermen certainly work hard and deserve more pay, but why not phase it in, or stick to a cost of living increase? They need some administrative support, even including a shared secretary and office at city hall. But please, do not vote this exorbitant increase to the mayor’s salary—at least not until we can see a clear economic recovery. Don’t ask me how we’ll know when that time will be, but I certainly know that now is not the time.

I urge you to slow down, exercise caution, perhaps amend or withdraw the bill, but there are too many lingering questions abut it and the committee who made the recommendations, not the least of which are the rushed conditions under which they operated, and the fact that it was chaired by a leading and highly visibly supporter of and fundraiser for partisan Democratic candidates. Too little time. Too many questions. Too much money. Please, don’t go there now.

(NOTE: So far I have written statements from mayoral candidates Trudy McFall, Gil Renaut (just announced) and Aldermanic candidate Scott Bowling in opposition to these raises. And the others? We are all waiting!

As for the Bisphenol bill which I also oppose, I am excerpting but a portion of my testimony here:

When it comes to dangerous substances in our world, we have a Center for Disease Control, An Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, a Consumer Product Safety Commission and a Surgeon General backed up by institutionalized research going on in labs and universities. So, up against the CDC, CPSC, EPA, FDA, NIH we are pitting our DNEP-the Department of Neighborhood and Environmental Protection. That’s not much firepower, but somehow the nine members of this council, among whom there is not a single toxicologist, chemist, medical doctor or scientist, believes it can protect us from a dangerous chemical.

How many of us here tonight can honestly say that we truly understand this issue? This bill, if enacted, requires retailers to post a sign that refers readers to a report, available at a website, by posting the website address. For goodness sakes, it is a 350 page report from November, 2007, so it includes no recent studies:

The report states:

“No data on the effects of human developmental exposure to Bisphenol A are available. There is a large literature describing studies in rodents and some work in other species. A large experimental animal literature was reviewed, assessed for its utility, and weighed based on the criteria established by this panel.” Page 349

Let's repeat that:

“No data on the effects of human developmental exposure to Bisphenol A are available.”

I think we are in more danger from rats--which is what this chemical has been tested on.

(Yeah--this report is about as relevant to this bill as the Duden Commission is to refuting the need for a city manager)