Wednesday
Oct012008
« Kelly Kautz pushes over-regulation for political gain »
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 1:12PM
Snellville City Council member Kelly Kautz is continuing her efforts to shore up her political standing. Unfortunately, to do so, she is recklessly pushing government overregulation. Due to my travels early last month, I never blogged about the opening of the Snellville crematory. Despite politically-inspired efforts by Kautz and other council members to deny crematory owner Chris Nuzum’s property rights, City Manager Russell Treadway found that concerns over crematory emissions were unwarranted. This apparently was not the end of the matter for some council members. The council "voted for a new ordinance allowing city employees to regulate the emissions by various methods." Two weeks later, the city attorney informed the council that they had no authority to regulate emissions. Kautz was undeterred as she and fellow council member Robert Jenkins both expressed disagreement with the attorney's conclusion. I must pause to observe: if you are simply going to brush aside the opinion of a city attorney, an attorney who by definition is acting on behalf of the City, then what is the point of having that city attorney offer advice? To be fair, Kautz is an attorney herself so she may have a legal leg on which to stand. However, Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer has noted that she is not an environmental lawyer but rather a trial lawyer. This leads to reasonable skepticism over Kautz's latest move.
Last week Kautz introduced a draft of an ordinance which limits the levels of "mercury and dioxin/furan emissions for any incinerator of bodies, body parts or infectious wastes." So what are the qualifications of a small-town lawyer, whose own law firm and campaign websites do not state any expertise in environmental law or science, to draft such a technical, scientific ordinance? Apparently none since she could not explain in laymen's terms what the ordinance limited. She stated that the language "was modeled after a Pennsylvania ordinance, which was modeled after the Clean Air Act.” Is it not clear what is going on here?
As I have been saying, this is nothing but politics. Kautz is pushing this unnecessary law to rebuild her political capital. You might think that since the crematory has opened that Kautz is motivated by simple concern for Snellville's residents. Perhaps, but there have been no reasonable questions raised in this case over air quality. All such questions have appeared high political. Also, the efficacy of a single town attempting to regulate air quality, something that would likely have to be done on a larger scale, is highly questionable. If this were a legitimate effort to impact air quality, why is Kautz proposing a rushed "cut and paste" ordinance rather taking the time to consult with air quality experts in order to draft a more scientifically researched law? I suspect that Kautz is continuing to push this matter in order to build a case that her opposition to the crematory was well-founded and not simply political. Unfortunately for Kautz, the events of recent months do not bear this out.
What is clearly going on in Snellville is a continuation of the political games that started in the summer. The residents of Snellville should see through this and, even if they were opposed to the crematory, recognize that the politicians are doing little more than pandering to them. I would also hope that voters would recognize the circumstances and background of this case and respect Chris Nuzum's property rights. Sadly, based on a comment made at a council meeting last month, Kautz and company's efforts are paying political dividends.
I hope that the council will stop the political games and vote down this ordinance. Leave a complex task such as regulating air quality to scientific experts at a state or federal level. Political pandering is insulting enough on its own, but pushing ill-conceived laws for the personal benefit of politicians is how we wind up with tangled webs of government regulations that increase costs of doing business and stifle small enterprise.
Last week Kautz introduced a draft of an ordinance which limits the levels of "mercury and dioxin/furan emissions for any incinerator of bodies, body parts or infectious wastes." So what are the qualifications of a small-town lawyer, whose own law firm and campaign websites do not state any expertise in environmental law or science, to draft such a technical, scientific ordinance? Apparently none since she could not explain in laymen's terms what the ordinance limited. She stated that the language "was modeled after a Pennsylvania ordinance, which was modeled after the Clean Air Act.” Is it not clear what is going on here?
As I have been saying, this is nothing but politics. Kautz is pushing this unnecessary law to rebuild her political capital. You might think that since the crematory has opened that Kautz is motivated by simple concern for Snellville's residents. Perhaps, but there have been no reasonable questions raised in this case over air quality. All such questions have appeared high political. Also, the efficacy of a single town attempting to regulate air quality, something that would likely have to be done on a larger scale, is highly questionable. If this were a legitimate effort to impact air quality, why is Kautz proposing a rushed "cut and paste" ordinance rather taking the time to consult with air quality experts in order to draft a more scientifically researched law? I suspect that Kautz is continuing to push this matter in order to build a case that her opposition to the crematory was well-founded and not simply political. Unfortunately for Kautz, the events of recent months do not bear this out.
What is clearly going on in Snellville is a continuation of the political games that started in the summer. The residents of Snellville should see through this and, even if they were opposed to the crematory, recognize that the politicians are doing little more than pandering to them. I would also hope that voters would recognize the circumstances and background of this case and respect Chris Nuzum's property rights. Sadly, based on a comment made at a council meeting last month, Kautz and company's efforts are paying political dividends.
“For the council members that have tried their best … to fight for us, we thank you,” [Eric] Bonaparte said, but added that he’s disappointed in those on the other side of the debate.
I hope that the council will stop the political games and vote down this ordinance. Leave a complex task such as regulating air quality to scientific experts at a state or federal level. Political pandering is insulting enough on its own, but pushing ill-conceived laws for the personal benefit of politicians is how we wind up with tangled webs of government regulations that increase costs of doing business and stifle small enterprise.
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