Fast Buck$, Coorabell
I thought I’d seen everything at a Council meeting, but last week the Greens surpassed themselves.
As I arrived the Mayor complimented me on my neatly combed hair! What a sweet man he is. I acknowledge that nonchalance is a legitimate strategy, but maybe he should have co-ordinated it with his peoples; they subsequently made it very clear they were annoyed with me.
So there I was, on the podium talking about legal aspects of the Scarrabelottis Lookout restaurant proposal, when I noticed Crs Ndiaye, Lyon and Martin were in a huddle intensely discussing the rhubarb situation – as though I wasn’t even there. Mayor Richardson meanwhile sat there, intensely pretending it had nothing to do with him, failing also to notice that said councillors were in clear breach of the social distancing rules.
I was appalled at their perverse and counter-productive stunt. But in their world politics is nothing to do with policies or ideals and everything to do with personalities. Hypocrisy rules, as it does in every mannered society.
Now, whenever a member of the public makes a submission, councillors are allowed to ask a question in order to clarify things. Cr Lyon, however, regards this as an opportunity to have a bitch about anything he wants – while Mayor Richardson, again, busily sits there pretending he hasn’t noticed anything amiss.
‘Do you have an arrangement with The Echo which gives you a discount on your ads?’ was the gist if his latest conspiracy theory. Always these guys ignore the political issues and go straight to motive – some improper motive – that explains the criticism.
Michael, I’m sure The Echo will be happy to print any coherent criticisms you care to make of my advertisements. I look forward to your best shot at me. Oh, and if you can persuade The Echo to give me a discount, I might go a bit easier on you. But probably not, because there is a perception out there that I’ve been picking on Ndiaye, which I can only scotch by giving you the full treatment for a while.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
