STIP Money Controversy Resolved?

Read Kym Kemp’s account at the Lost Coast Outpost.

I am informed that Clif is also submitting a My Word piece to the Times Standard.  I’ll also keep an eye out for any responses from Estelle’s team.  Will this resolve the issue?  Ernie posted a dissenting opinion in Kym’s thread.   Plenty more debates on calendar.  Let’s see how it plays out.

I haven’t read Kym’s post yet, but I’ll do so and comment later.

Addendum:  Okay, I’ve skimmed through her post.  Basically, there are credible social servants quoted in the article, who agree that in rough fiscal times the STIP money will be prioritized for state highway projects, and that sometimes you can get them to dribble in some more for local roads.  Clif’s vote was based on a strategy, and a desire that the county not lose all of the funding because we are fixated on the ideal.  It is a complicated issue, not easily dealt with in milibites.  Ernie suggests, I think, that we should have gone for broke and asked for what we really wanted anyway, but public servants have to operate with real world probabilities, and as Clif said on Sunday, we may end up with even less money because of the fiscal realities in Sacramento.  By all accounts, he was not happy with the choices at the fateful meeting, but did the best he could with the information presented, and it was an 8-2 HCOAG vote.

And if I understand it right, it’s not that Clif “gave away” any money.  We didn’t have the money.  The point is that we are trying to get money for Humboldt County during very lean times, and he voted for what he believes to have been the best strategy to obtain it.

Kym posts a trancript of the subject portion of Sunday’s debate (and corrects minor errors made by both candidates).  Kym also made some disclosures to be found at the end of the post (she’s biased for everybody!).  Anyway, wade through it and the the very long thread which I’ve also only skimmed, and let us know what you think.

One thing is clear though – the meme that Clif voted to screw over Sohum to benefit his Arcata-Clique backers or whatever; it’s really inappropriate.  Nothing’s ever that simple, and there’s nothing simple about this issue.