I am always amused by how some politicians view themselves.
I laughed out loud when I read accounts of former Congresswomen Kathy
Dahlkemper’s announcement that she was tossing her hat into the race for the
Democrat nomination for County Executive against incumbent Barry Grossman.
Dahlkemper laughably proclaimed that Erie County’s top job
called for more visionary thinking on economic development, poverty and
stemming the areas perpetual brain drain. My first reaction was what was her
first clue? And the second was REALLY?! Political vision from a women whose
only experience in public office came in her one term in Washington, where she
served as a reliable rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and Barrack Obama.
Pardon me, but W T F?! How can anyone possibly take this
women seriously? Her vote in the affirmative for Obamacare has saddled not only
Erie County, but the entire United States with one of the most detrimental to
business pieces of legislation in the history of the country! The economic devastation
that this bill will cause to the country will only continue to grow as its multiple
parts begin to take effect.
Talk about poverty…Ms. Dahlkemper’s vote will spur
businesses that are teetering on the brink of insolvency to go under and others
who have ability to choose to depart Erie County and take their business
elsewhere. Imagine Erie without GE Transportation. Not a pretty picture as that
proverbial snowball rolls down hill and comes to rest at Ms. Dahlkemper’s feet.
The biggest problem with economic development in Erie County
has nothing to do with a lack of political vision on the part of its County
Executive, but an unwieldy web of competing entities struggling for funding and
trying to cling to their own piece of the turf. It’s pretty hard to be
effective when you have more than 20 groups posturing for a place in the
spotlight. No one wants to give an inch in their little fiefdom, so nothing
gets accomplished.
Now imagine someone as clueless as Kathy Dahlkemper bumbling
and stumbling into the mess. While Grossman hasn’t done much to fire innovation
in his first term the thought of Dahlkemper in that role is a truly frightening
thought!
