The Clown Show Adds a Member

With a Price Tag!

Hello everyone, or as Cranky the Clown would say, Anaconnasonnapanonna.

It has been a while since I commented on the status of the clown show. I had hoped that the new additions to the council might have reduced the necessity for my brand of color commentary. However, recent events have shown that at least one of the clowns we removed has been replaced with another, darker version.

We will call him Trusty the Clown.

We will get to that in a moment.

A Familiar Face Returns to the News

First, I would like to share some recent news that you may or may not have heard.

It appears that Hot Dog’s clown brother-from-another-mother was recently in the news for a hit-and-run… again.

Yes, according to the Pueblo Chieftain, Jerry Pacheco, the former Pueblo city manager and soon to be former Walsenburg city manager, did it again.

I mention this because we still have three old clowns on the council who were pushing very hard to re-install Pacheco as city manager, even though the bottom of that bottle was long dry.

They tried to pull a fast one, fool voters, and wasted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on an election that proved that the city still wanted Mayor Graham in office, not the clown show collective.

Introducing A New Face

This brings me to my next point.

I would like to welcome the newest addition to the clown show - Trusty the Clown.

This guy could make a run at the title for the most crooked of the bunch.

He made himself right at home in the hotdog water with Hotdog, Cranky, and Honda - the three remaining clowns; I mentioned earlier.

Let’s take a look at the recent balloon Trusty has twisted together.

The Mystery Deal Nobody Can Explain

Trusty is the author of a deal that would spend every dollar in the city’s economic development fund, plus committing the city to an additional $50 million+ that we do not have to spend.

He can’t (won’t) tell us what the deal is, only that it will result in some massive, magical windfall for the city with a few hundred manufacturing jobs.

He can’t (won’t) tell us:

• How long it will take for the city to see a full return on investment for the $100 million output.
• Why the city is shouldering the entire financial burden to make the deal happen.

Short side bar - the county not charging property tax on the business for 25 years is like a grocery store telling you they won’t charge you ten cents for a bag to put your groceries in.

I would ask why the county is not offering to contribute anything to it, but we already know that answer - they’re broke.

They can’t manage their own money, and the county is in a worse financial position than the city.

But that is for another day.

So, the short version is this:

Give me every penny we have for development, another $50 million that does not exist, and we (city council) will not tell you what it is for - and this will solve all the city’s financial problems.

Trust me… it’ll be great.

Accountability, Transparency, and the Blank Check

While it should not be necessary, for the sake of clarity, I will say it:

Three-fourths of these clowns are the same ones who were trying to usher in Jerry Pacheco as the conquering hero.

This shows you two things - their inability to be good judges of character and their own moral deficiencies.

The four clowns - Trusty, Hotdog, Cranky, and Honda - want to spend every penny the city has, twice over, with no accountability.

Without so much as an explanation.

Then they have the mustard to act offended and attack the Mayor and citizens who want transparency.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I pay attention to my receipts and bank statements.

Money is too tight not to.

I do not hand a blank check to anyone.

Certainly not someone who makes big promises but doesn’t explain a thing.

There is a name for this:

Paradise or Perdition?

The only real question for me is who is committing the scam?

The mystery company?

The clowns?

Or is it a group effort? Pueblo: Home of Heroes or Home of Clowns?

Pueblo has been called the Steel City and the Home of Heroes.

Both describe the pride, strength, and tenacity of our culture.

I wonder what clown is going to come up with a proud toilet paper analogy for us.