Zimmerlink praised; prison plans questioned
The unceasing campaign to discredit Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink is obviously intended to ensure that her re-election does not occur. These tactics are based on the belief that the public is stupid and will accept the scenarios they present as fact, not fiction.
These tactics are not original and have been ongoing ever since the powers-that-be discovered that Mrs. Zimmerlink doesn’t march to their drummer. She doesn’t have to, because she is only beholden to the citizens of this county. The expenditures she incurs in running for office are paid for by her. She does not accept contributions from anyone or any organizations.
Is she perfect? None of us are perfect. In fact, only one person who has existed on this earth is thought of as having been perfect. They crucified him. However, in the more than 16 years I have attended the meetings of the boards of Fayette County Commissioners, there have only been three that I felt understood what the duties of a county commissioner encompassed. Zimmerlink is one of those three.
The present chairman of the board, in my opinion, seems to think that Fayette County is his fiefdom to do with whatever he deems meets his agenda. For example, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, he held a so-called “public meeting” to address the feasibility of building a new prison. The only participation accorded the public was the presentation of written questions, which could be answered or ignored as the moderator, Commissioner Al Ambrosini, so chose. No member of the public was permitted to engage in any discussion on any statements made by anyone on the panel, the moderator or the representative of the firm who conducted the study of the prison issue.
This meeting was not held to gather public input but to sell the feasibility of building a new prison. We may well need to build a new prison, but those who are going to pay for it, in my opinion, were purposely left out of the loop. This is not a government of, by or for the people. Abe Lincoln made reference to that government in his Gettysburg Address. He also stated at another occasion that you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. The politicos would do well to heed those words of wisdom.
Ralph A. Mazza
Vanderbilt