Standing between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – I took my jump, and I have no regrets

I’ll never forget Election 2016 – Hilary the Horrible vs The Donald. For one thing, I couldn’t believe Trump was actually serious about running for President of the United States, that just seemed like too big of a commitment for the guy. My husband and I had also seen pictures of Trump and Bill Clinton, yukking it up on the golf course. My husband had a theory – only half kidding – that Don and Bill had made a friendly bet.

Don: Bill, I bet I could beat the crap out of your wife... for president, that is.

Bill: I’m listening…

Don: I’ll bet you the royalties from your latest book that I could register Republican and they’d nominate me.

Bill: You’re on.

All kidding aside, I actually thought it was Trump’s way of getting Hillary elected. His campaign was so outrageous, I figured, he’s just trying to scare the Republicans out of voting and piss off the Democrats, make them vote for sure. I thought Hillary was a shoo-in. And that bugged me, cause the bitch is evil, she’s just evil, and the thought of her as president was worse than the thought of Trump yelling “You’re fired!” at a conga line of cabinet members.

I don’t remember when I’ve had such a big surprise as Election Night 2016 – my husband woke me at midnight, yelling gleefully – “Hillary conceded!” I remember thinking I must be dreaming.

So, I’m ready for anything in this next election. Go to bed under a conservative regime, wake up under a liberal regime – it’s happened before. I think the conservatives are worried too, judging from the mailboxes full of ugly attack flyers I’ve been getting from Citizens for Safe Chico, the folks who are running the conservative candidates. CSC seems to be very worried that Morgan Kennedy and Addison Winslow are giving Reynolds and Nava a run for their money.

The social media is running ugly back and forth, how to decide? Well, here’s what we know – Reynolds and Bennett have been on council, we can look at their record. Reynolds has signed the Shelter Crisis Designation twice. They’ve both approved the creation of new positions at over $100,000/year. They’ve both approved raises without asking employees to pay more of their pension and benefits costs. They both voted to hire a new city manager at an unprecedented salary of $211,000/year. They both voted to raise the budget by about $65,000,000, to a new high of over $200,000,000. Yet they both support Measure H, saying we don’t have enough money to fix and maintain our infrastructure?

Having got us into the Shelter Crisis Designation finger-trap, Reynolds and friends proceeded to laugh us into a lawsuit – you know they thought they were being very clever putting the shelter site out on the baking hot tarmac at the airport. And, having got us into that lawsuit, Reynolds had the gall to tell the judge, after she had voted to accept the settlement, that she didn’t understand it, and wanted a do-over.

I’ve made it very clear I’m disappointed in my Dist 2 councilwoman Kasey Reynolds. I’ve told her for four years that the salaries are overgenerous and unsustainable, and employees don’t pay enough toward CalPERS expenses. I’ve got nothing but excuses in return, her favorite refrain being, “we need to offer competitive salaries to get good people…” Boy, does she have that backwards. She hasn’t kept any of the promises she made in her first campaign – she said she’d clear the camps from our parks, then turned around and signed the SCD, twice. And here she is, making the same tired promises – did she just run the same flyers?

Her handlers over at Citizens for a Safe Chico have actually had the nerve to portray the challengers as being responsible for the condition of our parks and waterways, when it’s been Reynolds and the other “conservative” incumbents that have been making all the dumb decisions.

Well, I wouldn’t take this kind of shit from a man – why would I take it from a woman? Four years and nothing but empty promises – grounds for a divorce. So, when I got my ballot in the mail I put my ink pen where my mouth is, and I voted for Morgan Kennedy. Believe me, I’m not too thrilled with Kennedy, but, frankly, I really don’t think she could fuck things up anymore than Reynolds already has.