The Men Pulling Dan Soucek's Strings

Anna Oakes in yesterday's Watauga Democrat names the men who accompanied Sen. Soucek into town offices last week to lay the groundwork for his bill to remove Boone's right to extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ): "...accompanying the senator were Republican Watauga County Board of Commissioners Chair Nathan Miller; Perry Yates, a Republican county commissioner candidate, contractor and owner of New River Building Supply; Keith Honeycutt, a former Republican county commissioner; Jeff Templeton, a Boone Planning Commission member, owner of Templeton Tours and member of a family of developers; Gary Knight; and Sam Adams."

Why? Because he didn't understand what his own bill would do, and they did? Because he might have lost his nerve, and they wouldn't? Because he lacks the rationale for his own actions until someone else supplies it?

It's clear from Oakes' article that Sen. Soucek doesn't understand the implications of his own bill, has not thought it through, and is perhaps incapable of thinking it through. According to Oakes, Soucek "said he ultimately did not envision the bill eliminating Boone's ETJ altogether," though that's exactly what the language of the bill would accomplish in one fell swoop. Then he falls back on a totally empty cliche: “We don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water,” he said. Which is precisely what his "local bill" would do. Soucek, according to Oakes, followed that brilliant non sequitur about babies and bath water with a piece of grandiosity wherein he imagines he's doing his own thinking and taking his own actions: “One of the good things about this is I have complete control over this bill. I'm not going to let this slide in an irresponsible way.”

Yeah, right. The gentlemen named above are the virtual authors of this bill and obviously have complete control over Sen. Soucek. Not one of them gives a fig for the irresponsible consequences that will flow for some 3,500 citizens living in the ETJ, so long as they and their friends are making money.

"Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain." Wikipedia.

Sen. Soucek's Plan To Screw the Suburbs of Boone

Sen. Dan Soucek introduced a "local bill" in the NC Senate today ("local," meaning it would affect only the Town of Boone and no other municipality in the state), which reads in its entirety:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT PROVIDING THAT THE TOWN OF BOONE SHALL NOT EXERCISE THE POWERS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Town of Boone shall not exercise any powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction as provided in Article 19 of Chapter 6 160A of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.

It's a breathtaking power-grab meant to cripple Boone's ability to control development on its fringes. Most if not all of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction that Boone now has was requested by residents living there to protect themselves from unwanted and undesirable development, including the Seven Oaks neighborhood off Roby Greene Rd. which requested to be taken in under Boone's zoning regs to protect itself from a Maymead asphalt plant. This bill would simply remove all those protections with a flick of Mr. Soucek's wrist.

The senator requested a meeting with town officials today to inform them of his bill. He brought with him a veritable who's who of power players who've made a crusade in recent years against the city's land-use planning regulations. Chief among them was Jeff Templeton, along with Mr. Templeton's in-law Perry Yates and Keith Honeycutt and Nathan Miller, former county commissioners who've made their grudges against the town a matter of on-going public record.

Jonathan Jordan, we feel confident, is on board to introduce the same bill in the NC House.

According to the UNC School of Government, "By long-standing practice, a legislative 'courtesy' system provides that local bills will almost always win general approval in each house as long as they have the support of the legislators who represent the jurisdiction(s) involved. Occasionally, a local bill that is controversial will face some opposition, but otherwise, the legislators defer to the local delegation on matters of concern to their local government constituents."

So, our representatives, who preach less government when it suits them, intend to trump the residents and Town Council of Boone by ramming through from on high the most draconian change to our terrain. They intend to unleash the developers to do whatever the hell their imaginations can devise. This is "small government" at its most ironic, and it's being done to benefit the few against the wishes of the many.

Must Be a Joke

The letter-to-the-editor in the Watauga Democrat from Keith Honeycutt.

Class act.