Trump's Tax Returns. And BP Elections.

Donald Trump has done something no one has done since it started.  He won't reveal his tax returns.  Anyone can imagine why he won't.  The prominent guess is that he has something compromising to hide.  That, in itself, looks like guilt to some people.  Other people say they don't care, and they suggest it's not important to know how Trump handles his money, and his reporting about it.  Still others say that maybe he's guilty of tax mischief, and maybe he's not, but they don't care, because they're more interested in something else they think he represents, and it's something they think they want.  Anyone can guess whatever they want, but we're still left with a noteworthy peculiarity.  It's the behavior of someone who's trying to hide something, and presumably, he would only want to hide it, if it was compromising to him.  Or if it might make people not want him in office, or not trust him.

Here in BP, we have five Commission candidates, and three or four of them refuse to participate in a Meet the Candidates forum.  This is almost unheard of.  And on the rare occasion in which it's happened, it's been maybe one candidate who wouldn't participate.  But most of them?  Or almost all?  Not around here.

So the question really is, what are three or four of them trying to hide?  And for the record, and those keeping score, Jared Susi was immediately agreeable to both of two Meet the Candidates fora that were proposed.  Manny Espinoza expressed agreement to one of them, but did not respond to a request about the other.  The other three-- Dan Samaria, Will Tudor, and Betsy Wise-- either refused or didn't respond to a request.  And also for the record, two of the three-- Will and Betsy-- have told some people they prefer the "one-on-one" experience to the open discussion/debate format.  The problems here are that we don't experience them reacting to each other, which is supposed to happen among Commissioners, and no one can monitor what they tell voters, for accuracy.  I, for one, have already heard about assertions that are flatly not true, or are not in accord with assertions made to others.  But if the isolated listener is not familiar with the issues, and there is no potentially corrective or differing feedback from anyone else, then very wrong impressions can be left.

In the same way that any skeptic would assume Trump is trying to hide something compromising about himself, we might guess the same thing about our secretive Commission candidates.  And what are they trying to hide?  Are they trying to hide the fact that they don't know the real issues, and are not in a position to comment intelligently about them?  Are they trying to hide that they do not have adequate skills, when it comes to interacting with a group of similarly positioned colleagues?  Are they trying to hide limited or defective thinking or rhetorical skills?  Isn't this precisely what the voters need to know?

One candidate said he would only consider participating in a Meet the Candidates exercise, if issues were not presented as if they were Ordinances to be discussed.  What?!  This is exactly what a Commissioner has to do.  And they don't want us to see how they would do it?  That really answers the question right there, doesn't it?

Only one candidate happens to be an incumbent.  In theory, he should have nothing to hide.  We've seen it all already.  So what's his concern?  Could it be that he is only willing to function, or pretend to function, as a Commissioner, if the issues have been presented to him in advance, and he has taken the opportunity to receive some form of guidance as to how to respond to them?  Or could it be that he only trusts himself among a very select group of people, but that if he had to be on his own with another group of people, he doesn't have confidence that he would look functional?

Some candidates expressed reluctance to participate, because they couldn't control the questions, or would only participate if they could.  Commissioners don't control the agenda of what they are required to consider on the Commission.  If they can't take what comes, then they're not right for the job.

So, for me, four candidates have disqualified themselves.  They are unreliable and useless to the Village.  Unfortunately for us, we're going to get at least two of them on the Commission.  Woe are we.