10/24/2007

Ms. Hensley and her job at the City-Update

A poster below left a comment: "No one on the city staff urged Hensley to run for the commission seat. Has anyone asked her why she resigned her position at the city? She was a witness to the day to day happenings in the fiscal department. Could it be that she was unsatisfied with the way things were being managed so she quit because she was fed-up? (Remember: City Employees are hard workers, homeowners, and tax paying citizens too!) Is it possible to think that she is really trying to make things better for Great Falls by using her 'inside information' to improve city government? It is possible that management doesn't want her on the city commission because she knows the truth."

If this is true, and it may be, then I guess I am a little disappointed in her stealth dissatisfaction. She has as much of a stage right now as she will probably ever have on this issue, and she is silent?

If she quit the City because she was "fed-up" with "the way things were being managed," yet chooses to remain silent on that point in a City election, I guess that causes me concern. What, we only get to learn her "inside information" if she's elected? If she loses, she'll keep it to herself and the City will go on being managed in a way that is unsatisfactory?

Hmmm.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE: yet chooses to remain silent on that point in a City election, I guess that causes me concern.

Agreed. It troubles me because she may have misplaced loyalties or she might be of weak character when it comes to standing against those who are of weak character.

Anonymous said...

"by using her 'inside information'"

If she has/had inside information and did NOT blow the whistle she is guilty of complicity, aiding and abetting and she is not any better than those currently in office.

Sooner, rather than later, this mess down at city hall will be investigated and those who stayed silent or sat the fence will not escape accountability.

So, if there are 'hard working,home owning, tax paying citizens' that know something about what's going on, they'd better step up before they're considered part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

"fed up"?? That's simply laughable. Ms. hensley-ballzarini would be a world class shill for the city and SME. Anyone who thinks otherwise is terribly naive.

LK

Anonymous said...

At the home builders night with the candidates, Ms. Hensley seated herself with Stebbins & Kuntz, while the others joined together at another table.

Yeah, she was spying on Stebbins and Kuntz. Double secret agent for the people of Great Falls.

Believe what you want. She is part of the past and a source of the problem. I have zero respect for any of the chickensh@ts that work on the inside and keep their mouths shut on the wrongdoing.

Anonymous said...

those who stayed silent or sat the fence will not escape accountability.

Think that if it makes you feel better, but don't hold your breath.

GF has too many people in a variety of taxpaid positions who stay silent on a variety of things. They know "customers" get railroaded by arrogant public servants. They see those same wrongdoers mock how rules don't apply to them and yet there is silence...and it has been that way for at least the last 10 years.

Why? I don't know.

What I do know is too many people are afraid of those who have power over them. They are afraid of loosing their tax paid job, "I've gotta work in this town" is the common response.

WolfPack said...

Maybe she is just a nice person who doesn't see the need to speak ill of others in order to prop herself up. These kinds of people do exist and are worth knowing. I just don't understand the need to vilify anyone who is not anti-coal plant. She has a history of public service so what's so out of character in her running for commissioner that she has to have some nefarious motive or character defect? Ref. stealth dissatisfaction, weak character, not escape accountability, shill, chickenshit, arrogant public servants.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Wolfpack. I am not sure when or why this became a one-issue election. When the coal plant is gone or built, whichever the outcome, there will still be many issues to manage. I truly hope people are looking beyond.

Anonymous said...

It looks like a single issue election because CEE is loudly pushing their one trick pony Mcnight.

Ms. Hensley may be in fact part of the solution. Diversity is what we need on the city commission, not just all the anti coal zealots. We already know what a loop-sided commission is capable of. We need 5 individuals with different viewpoints.

GeeGuy said...

Wolfpack, since of your adjectives, the only one I used was "stealth dissatisfaction," that is the only one I will respond to.

You might re-read what I said: "If this is true, and it may be, then I guess I am a little disappointed in her stealth dissatisfaction."

I stand by it. If, in fact, Ms. Hensley quit working at the City because she is fed up with bad doings, then I think it goes beyond not wanting "to speak ill of others in order to prop herself up."

I am reminded of the former Democratic Candidate, John Kerry, who always said he had a plan. Well, why do we have to elect him President to find out what it is? He was already a Senator. If you've got this great plan, tell us what it is.

Likewise, if Ms. Hensley knows about things going on at the City and wants to correct them, why in the world would she be quiet about it unless and until she is elected. If you, Wolfpack, came into solid information about problems, would you keep quiet?

And, as far as it matters, I agree with you about the whole one issue thing. Is the coal plant a big issue? Absolutely. Is it the only issue? No way.

But since you have become the resident apologist for City Government, do you not have a problem with anything? Aren't you getting to be just as knee-jerk, only on the other end of the spectrum from LK and the rest?

GeeGuy said...

P.S. I knew you'd like that "apologist" remark!

GeeGuy said...

"Diversity is what we need on the city commission." So you recommend someone who agrees with the current Commission on virtually every issue she's asked about?

I'm not saying she's wrong, or a bad candidate, but she's hardly given an indication that she will bring change to the Commission. And where's the diversity now?

Anonymous said...

If you walk past a problem and do nothing about it, you've just set the standard.

Perhaps that explains why those who remain silent and/or sit the fence escape accountability.

As for those those who rationalize on their behalf I question motives for doing so.

Sandra Guynn said...

Anon. at 7:50am:

What is CEE?

Anonymous said...

How about everyone of the city staff resigns? They all are part of the problem. The new city manager can hire fresh faces off the street and do a better job.

Anonymous said...

How about this? We all vote on November 6 and live with the outcome.

Anonymous said...

Live with the outcome...of course, but not without daring to challenge commissioners, the Mayor, and especially monitoring City Hall through blogging and attending meetings.

Anonymous said...

Call me cynical, but there IS another possibility. There some among us who are NOT above prostituting themselves in the hopes of getting a good job out of it somewhere down the road. I've seen it happen many, many times in the past. In the old days, the people who pimped most aggressively for the mining industry went on to bigger and better things. Jobs! (ie. john fitzpatrick, NW: bill snoddy, builders assoc., etc) I don't have time to list them all. But once a person shows that they are more than willing to pimp for industry, the jobs come calling. I suspect that more than ONE of these candidates clamoring for the plant are simply hoping that industry takes notice. I mean, look at timmy gregorky and olie! Hell, them guys will tell you honestly it's all about jobs. THEIRS! And maybe, just maybe, ms. hensley-ballsarini is showing the world where her loyalties lie. I mean, why ELSE would a newbie move to GF and try to destroy it?! She's got an ulterior motive. A JOB! And that's real sad.

LK

GeeGuy said...

I would just like to clarify that the comments posted here do not necessarily reflect the views of Electric City Weblog management or staff.

WolfPack said...

Geeguy- I listed the adjectives from each post in order and admittedly yours was taken with no context. That’s unfair just as it was when you did it with Hensley's Trib responses. The discussion about Hensley contains a lot of negative "if's" which is what I’ve been trying to say. You can connect any statement to an “if” and righteously stand by it but it doesn't make it right. Example: If Geeguy is an axe murderer, then Geeguy is a criminal. A true statement but what purpose does the statement serve other than to bring into the discussion that you may be an axe murder? Many of the Hensley theories are based on little information and much speculation. Other than a phone list what facts do we have?
There is some irony about me becoming the city apologist. I am very anti-Lawton which is well known to my friends. Lawton’s pending replacement is the biggest concern I see for our city. I agree with most of your city operating practices posts brought up in your opposition to the coal plant even though I am in favor of the coal plant. Contracts should exist, information should be available, professional management should be enlisted for these power projects and a public vote should have taken place. I believe most of the blame can be laid at the feet of Lawton and that most city staff under new management will do competent jobs. The commissioners are certainly responsible for managing Lawton but we voters also deserve blame for establishing our commissioner/manager form of government and repeatedly electing commissioners that have run as pro-Lawton with the exception of the current Mayor. Yes, I find some of the criticism heavy handed or unfair so I speak up. You have enough groupies so I am just attempting to bring some balance ;). Would you want any less?

GeeGuy said...

Yes. I want you to be another one of my groupies, Wolfpack!

Seriously, though, I am going to try to respond without beating a dead horse.

The "if" that I included in my post was not negative. In the context of what was being said, the "if" was a positive of Ms. Hensley.

I was responding to a commenter who said that Ms. Hensley really was fed up with bad management and that's why she quit. I said "if this is true, and it may be..." In that context, I am not assuming anything negative about her, I am assuming something positve, at least in the context of the discussion: she was fed up and left due to bad management.

The statement about "stealth dissatisfaction" was not an assumption at all, but was rather a logical conclusion drawn by her silence in the face of my prior assumed positive about her.

So, your example would be better stated as "I will assume that Gee Guy is not an axe murderer. Based on that assumption, though, I am disappointed that he witnessed an axe murder and said nothing."

As far as the phone list showing that Ms. Hensley shared a number with Coleen Balzarini, that is a fact. People can draw whatever conclusions from it that they will. My mistake was drawing a conclusion that was not supported by direct evidence.

That is not to say that the conclusion I suggested, that someone from the City encouraged her to run, is entirely unfounded. I think that, based on what was apparently a reasonably close relationship with a City Staff member (administrative assistant), together with a reasonably strong affirmance of the City's positions, one can legitimately (although possibly not correctly) infer that she has a relationship with City Staff that led to her candidacy.

What we are really talking about here, Wolfpack, is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning. Inductive is less precise, although not inherently wrong.

And the "apologist" line was a joke. I often try to use irony that way, although as you demonstrated I am only occasionally successful. :)

WolfPack said...

Geeguy- I'm not concerned about about the apologist crack. When the bad karma from your remark causes the Bobcats to win the big game this year we'll be even!!

Anonymous said...

Now that comment proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Wolfpack is a few tacos shy of the combo plate...

WolfPack said...

Rooster- Ouch!! You too a Griz fan? I wonder how much the coal plant issue breaks down against the Bobcat/Griz lines. We had cow huggers in Bozeman but not many tree huggers (the cow hugger comment has nothing to do with the girth of the MSU gals in case someone was contemplating that in a reply).