Mon. Oct 7th, 2024

By Guest Columnist Michael Ceremello, former Vice Mayor/Council member of the City of Dixon

I wonder how many of you understand the implications of Donald Trump’s popularity and support in his run for president of the United States. Many in the media, conservative outlets primarily, acknowledge that his rise comes from stating exactly what the majority of us are thinking. The “politically incorrect” comments on liberal hot button issues such as immigration and our country’s economic policies demonstrate quite vividly that “real” people don’t believe in the garbage foisted on them by the liberal Left and their media accomplices.

I find it especially interesting to read the political commentary coming from the fools at Yahoo, such as Matt Bai, who are doing the work of the Republican professional politicians and their status quo controllers in denigrating Trump at every turn. From chortling gleefully over Jeb Bush’s attack ads on Trump to reporting that Ben Carson is surging in the polls, Trump is hated by these Hillary supporters because he is a threat to all which Obummer has accomplished in 8 years.

The Left is not alone in this as I read one editor’s opinion in National Review, a conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley, which characterized the Trump campaign as circus-like. Evidently populism is inferior to the pseudo-intelligentsia parked in their checked pants over a typewriter bloviating the bland banal benefits of continuing to support Bush or other entrenched professional politicians. No, both sides believe that only politically “known” individuals need apply.

I was given the name of Tilii by former Dixon councilman and former Dixon resident Steve Alexander way back in early 2001 or so. Rarely do you find individuals who analyze a situation and then accurately assess the performances of anointed individuals as they flounder in their roles as community leaders. Dixon is no different than what we are seeing on a national level right now with Trump.

Steve use to get a kick out of watching me bash the incompetent leaders of our community on a weekly basis. When he became one of them and insisted on showing his “independence” by purposefully voting against my well researched and thought out positions simply because they came from me, Steve showed his pettiness and political acumen more often seen in the halls of Congress. It wasn’t about doing what was right. It became a power contest.

The only problem is no one can win that kind of contest once it is exposed for what it is.

It is quite apparent to me why I appreciate and endorse the candidacies of Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and certain rabble rousers within the system such as Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum. They think like I do. They analyze like I do. They come up with viable solutions as I do.

The problem as I see it in Dixon is that there just aren’t enough of our citizens who understand what I do and why I do it. When I call the citizens of Dixon “stupid”, I am not calling all citizens that name despite what the unwashed, Thom Bogue comes to mind, would have you believe. Perhaps I put too much faith in the average intelligence within our community in expecting the reader to understand without spelling it out that those types of comments apply to many but not all. But now I have spelled it out.

Yes, I want to make you angry. I don’t care if you are angry with me for telling you like it is. That is my service to you whether it bothers you or not. I am not here to tell you blonde jokes nor give crop reports. If we actually had a full council working FOR the people rather than against them, I might actually have to write an article of praise.

The closest we came to this was when I was vice mayor and Dane Besneatte and Bogue joined me in righting the finances of Dixon as well as eliminating the scourge of Solano Irrigation District from our water system. It is difficult to praise when you are one of those who is being praised. Unless you are Tilii …

So where is this all leading. Did you read last week’s column? Scat Pederson came under fire for opening his mouth and lying to us once again. Never being one to rest on my laurels or letting go of the bone in my bulldog’s jaws, I got a copy of the letter that the city sent to the California Department of Public Health back on October 9, 2013. Although the council passed a resolution calling on the city manager to write the letter, somehow the mayor put his name on it as well. Ego exists quite egregiously in Jack and this is well demonstrated by what he doesn’t do.

I made the point that Scat wants us all to work together as long as it is his or the council’s four to one edict. Jack is on the same page having written the play book all by himself. Why is it that this council has failed to join the lawsuit filed by Downey Brand against the State for their Chromium 6 regulations? Where is the spirit of cooperation touted by Scat? Rather easy to understand why this council is missing its nose.

The two lead litigants in the case are the Solano County Taxpayers Association (SCTA) and the California Manufacturers Association. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know how much the Dixon city council loves the SCTA. So rather than joining this group under common grounds and working together, as Scat championed, they would rather deface themselves than doing something “positive” for those they supposedly represent. Go figure.

The interesting thing is if you had the opportunity to read the brief filed by Downey Brand and compared it to the letter Lindley and Batchelor authored, you would find that the brief is much more detailed and hammers home numerous other points missing in the city’s letter.

I also find it interesting but not amusing that Jack Batchelor, Steve Bird, Jerry Castañon, and Scat Pederson have the nerve to sue Dixon’s own citizens who elected them to office but refuse to sue the State in defense of these same citizens. Hell, they spent our money to sue us and it wouldn’t cost the city a cent to join this lawsuit against the State.

Hey Scat, all the proof you need that you are a lying, ignorant fool who has no business being on the council is right there. Neither you nor any one of your cronies wants to work with anyone but staff and your Rotten-ry not so beautiful people. But where was Ted Hickman when I made that suggestion?

I know Ted has no problem in making motions he knows will die for a lack of a second. Maybe he needs to turn up his hearing aids so he knows what is going on during the meetings. You know, Ted, Steve just might have seconded that motion to join the lawsuit if it is really true he is planning on running for mayor. We could have Bird as mayor and Castañon as vice, a true “dumb and dumber” duo if ever there was one.

Before I conclude this column on telling it like it is, I want to point out that once again the mayor proved his superiority to all of us peons. During the special meeting on the Joe Duffel apartment project, 200 units on North First Street, he didn’t limit his speaking time to 5 minutes such as is now the rule for all council member comment according to the new guidelines these miscreants passed. Jack blathered on for 10 minutes, whining about nothing.

I just got back from Reno where I visited a hospitalized friend. I went down South Virginia Street toward Washoe City and Lake. The town has greatly grown since I lived in Sparks and businesses now extend quite a distance. If apartments are such a proper use along a four lane highway, why did I not see one on this road? Is Jack really that dumb or does he really only care about what taxes can be garnered by the city in approving this out of place project?

I am going to finish this by telling it like it is one more time. You have four members of this council who just need to go away. Scat is a proven liar. He lied when campaigning and he lies from the podium. Jerry Castañon did us all a favor by missing the last meeting so we didn’t have to listen to any of his short sound bytes designed to show us how thoughtful he is while proving quite the contrary.

Steve Bird has evidently already begun campaigning for the next election. When he joined Ted in questioning the

letter to the State asking for further taxation of all citizens of California to pay for road repair, I thought this break

from rubber stamping was peculiar. Don’t be fooled by Steve’s demeanor of calm, thoughtful reasonableness. He can’t think beyond what he is told especially when it comes to constitutional issues.

In my attempt to come up with cogent reasons for a recall of all four of these churls, the obvious point is they have

all violated their oath of office to defend the California Constitution. Despite what Judge Paul Beeman erroneously decreed, the Constitution gives the citizens the right to “repeal fee or tax increases” no matter what their purpose.

By not defending the right of the citizens to vote through the initiative process, this group of foxes guarding the hen house has enabled themselves as well as any other council in this county to pilfer our eggs.

If Trump can get his message … no … your message … out by being outrageous in the eyes of the problem children running this country, I hope I am getting your message you know to be true out to you. It is time you woke up and rid yourselves of these pretenders.

Is life better in Dixon with the Jack Hole … with streets in disrepair … with doubled sewer and water rates with more to come? Is moving your only option?

I hope to give you one more this next Tuesday …

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