Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine
Sherman begins from the November 10th 2005 column: “Let the spending begin!” After a slight pause, the pet boy continues to read aloud:
“‘But Doug didn’t the folks of Laconia pass a tax cap? Won’t the expenditures be restrained now? They’re limited to some inflation index thingy that says how much they can increase spending and taxes.’ Ah yes- the voters passed a tax cap... but then they turned around and elected nearly the entire slate of candidates expressing vehement opposition to the tax cap while openly espousing their desire to continue conducting business as usual in their management of the city. With several out of control city department heads stating in no uncertain terms that they cannot work within the confines of a tax cap, and the power to override any of its provisions with four votes, does anybody really believe that the winners of Tuesday’s vote will adhere to the voter’s supposed desire to slow the pace of spending in Laconia? I don’t.”
The boy stopped and looked to his dog master, who was resetting the WABAC machine to another date.
December 15th, 2005. Again Mr. Peabody instructs his pet boy to read from Lambert’s “Exercising the First” column in that day’s Daily Sun discussing (Broken Arrow) Laconia Mayor-elect Matt Lahey’s appearance on a local public access channel program, Today in Focus:
Boy Sherman again stopped reading and looked at Mr. Peabody who was starting to grin. “You see, my dear boy- I told you Doug was very perceptive. Let’s go back to the present in the WABAC and I’ll show you.” Upon arriving, they found this past Tuesday’s Daily Sun. “See,” said Peabody to his pet. “Look at the headline and what’s written just below. Read it, boy.” Sherman obeyed his Master. “It says ‘City will have to bust cap for new school’ and that city manager ‘Cabanel projects School District will be $646k over tax cap for 2007- 2008, without new construction.’ Gee whiz! Mr. Peabody- this guy Doug Lambert was right all along! Those people had no intention of abiding by the tax cap.” Peabody replied, “Precisely my dear boy... precisely!”“When [host] St. Clair asked Lahey if he thought the tax cap would be overridden, he replied, ‘it may very well be that the voters recognize that the operating budgets must be within the cap, but a major capital project would require an override.’ But, Lahey was quick to add that ‘I don’t see it being overridden regularly.’”
