Did we really get change

Seems to be the question that many are asking now that the current city council has been seated for a year. Of course I'm not talking about those that weren't changed only those seats that changed hands.


Cynthia (Cindy) Rushefsky defeated Sheila Wright in a race that was decided quite easily. Ms Rushefsky showed promise early on when it came to the pension fund monies and those agencies, however recently she hasn't voted any different from the person she replaced. Cindy was also endorsed by the firefighters and police department as the person most likely to work with them. And the knife gets turned with every council meeting as she hasn't done anything which would avert a financial crisis for the city.

Douglas Burlison defeated Conrad Griggs in a close race but not a nail biter. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of the newly seated council members, as Mr. Burlison has always proclaimed to be for individual liberties and freedoms and a smaller less intrusive government that was fiscally sound. His voting record says just the opposite. During his one questioning moment of decision he cow tailed to the majority and allowed for an extreme $575 million Capitol Improvement project to be approved unanimously. You may think I'm being hard on Mr. Burlison but I had NO reason to believe that Cindy or Dan would do what was the most fiscally sound policy for the taxpayers of this city. Mr. Burlison campaigned on such and has done the exact opposite since that time.

Dan Chiles defeated Jack Steck, the firefighters and police departments choice to fill this seat. Bob Jones filled this seat before this race. Mr. Chiles fits my definition of 'ecolation' to a "T". He doesn't care how much money is spent as long as the project includes LEED certification or bike paths. Mr. Chiles has shown himself to be the typical democrat with rhetoric about the War on Iraq at a recent energy conference and if it weren't for this war we could've spent this money on renewable energy resources. NO !!!! Dan if we didn't have this stupid war in Iraq then this money wouldn't be getting spent at all .

All in all the firefighters and police agencies are shaking their heads trying to figure out why our newest three council members are no different then from the ones they replaced. The citizens of Springfield, those that give a damn, also are shaking their heads because they swore they voted for change not more of the same.