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In vain, that’s for real sure.
So, the first Republican strategic mistake was to announce that they were cutting out the outside agencies and then not defend themselves. Next was to allow those that they were denying a place at the public trough to frame the argument and not defend their own "…what is the proper role of government…". Let’s follow then on by yet another tactical mistake:
If you hold a meeting on your budget that you created, situated on your property, and you are there, why would you turn control and the responsibility of running the meeting to your opposition?
I was floored when I figured this out (remember, since I am of the ‘working class’, I arrived as soon as I could. At least I finally got a seat in the room instead of standing outside). Coming in late, I figured it that the Republican Commissioners were just being polite (the right thing to do, being polite as there was a "back and forth" going on between Bud Martin and the Commissioners. I "got" the picture, as it was Mr. Martin doing much more of the speaking.
By ceding control of their meeting, the Republicans lost control of the agenda and who got to speak. There were 3 of us from from our town’s Budget Committee so we could only stay for about an hour (meeting later on that night). In that time, only 1 person, another BudComm person from Barnstead, stood up and said "hey, watch out for the taxpayers!". I did not get the time to speak. Neither did one of the our BudComm members – Doug did but it had to be abbreviated due to time. Time after time, the Mr. Martin called on people to speak, most by first name (does that tell you something? One, from Genesis Behavioral Health, said that she had been invited by Mr. Martin to attend).
Next tactical mistake:
When trying to fight for your principles, agenda, and budget, it helps to invite a few supporters to, you know, support you? And even if people may not be your political allies at the moment, but know that they’d support you on an issue like this, it pays to call on them instead of averting eye contact! Whatever bickering is going on, drop it for the time being – at least get something positive into the media!
Given that the purpose of the meeting was to "let the Commissioners hear" what the public had to say, one can see exactly what the Commissioners were going to hear – all night long. I watched the parts of the meeting that I missed because I had to go to my budget committee later on on public cable access. You’d think Armageddon was about ready to descend upon us the moment that the spigots weren’t to be open. As Doug has said, he was just so unaware that his well being is due solely to the efforts of Lisa Morris’s group, the Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health! The conservationists were there in full force as well, lending their dour outlook if monies were not restored.
Through the entire time, person after person hammered the Commissioners for their "short sightedness". After all, we HAVE to spend money RIGHT NOW just in case it saves us money later on something that MIGHT just happen. I kept thinking to myself – why did the Commissioners allow themselves to be hectored in such a fashion for no apparent reason? That’s right – no apparent reason. They made no real arguments to defend themselves, made no effort to calm and divert the muck thrown at them verbally – only masochists go out and do this stuff!
Survivor – out-wit, out-play, and out-last
Republicans – mis-think, mis-judge, and mis-speak
Add "plain miss". At least in this case…..
