Happy Belated New Year Clean Sweep

Well the election of 2012 finally ended on the patriotic day of September 11th. Four new council members were elected. The city administrator is history. Collateral damage took out the police chief and the head of public works. Clean Sweep is proud to have assisted in making this happen. We helped remove five of the seven people we wanted out. Only two remain.

Mr. Kant and Mr. Ford were “re-elected.” I predict this is their final term.

Many Fairhope citizens are suspicious of the election process in Fairhope; they believe it to be flawed and/or corrupt. Dr. Chris Warner, candidate for mayor in 2012, attempted to have a simple, democratic, recount of the votes tallied for all candidates, not just mayor.

The city said that such a recount (done by machine) would cost $4,000. Dr. Warner explained he wanted a full recount to validate all election results. However, to do so would have cost many thousands of dollars more.

The Alabama Secretary of State’s office acknowledges that voter fraud is a major problem. Reports of insider abuse and stolen elections are common. It is unfortunate that we cannot have 100% faith in our election process. Next time, the citizens and children of Fairhope deserve a hand recount. It is time to clean up this city’s politics.

Mayor Tim Kant brings a ton of baggage into 2013. Consider:

• Tim could still be indicted for the BP Boom Scam with Trip Pittman. Look what happened to Stan Wright in Bayou La Batre for a lesser crime or check out the March 7-20th edition of LAGNIAPPE, sounds like Kant may be next?
• The Triangle Lawsuit, a Mayor Kant/Planning Commission goose egg that has cost the city millions of dollars in legal fees, amazingly surviving three city councils. There is no end in sight to this legal fee black hole. Again, if we win the lawsuit we gain nothing. This is a lose-lose for Fairhope.
• Mayor Kant has total control of the planning and zoning board, board of adjustments and of course, planning head Jonathan Smith. The exception is Debra Green of the Board of Adjustments who was not appointed by Kant and cannot be influenced by Kant, we need more people like Debra.
• Mayor Kant’s latest SNAFU and good ole boy deal is the First Baptist Mega Church fiasco. Planning and zoning has ignored the development code and master plan by allowing the church to acquire lots behind it for parking.

Putting parking lots in neighborhood makes about as much sense as socks on a rooster, but that is what you get with Kant and his cronies who built the church. The pastor is putting up yard signs and posting bumper stickers, meanwhile, pushing a need for more parking.

It is time for planning and zoning to make a difference and do the right thing and remedy this situation for the affected home owners behind the church.

I want to add that the pastor is not being very Christian to his flock.

Moving forward, Clean Sweep will work to remove Tim Kant and Mike Ford, as well as Senator Trip Pittman and three of the four county commissioners, known as “the stooges.” Our county commission is a disgrace and morale among Baldwin County citizens is at an all-time low.

Fairhope has a new police chief. Critics of Chief Press wanted a local man who worked his way up through the ranks in Fairhope. Well it looks like the critics got what they wanted in Chief Pettis. Good luck Chief! Keep the Mayor in check!

I want to commend the new council voices for their early work. Public participation has been encouraged, an art committee was formed, lawsuits are being aggressively settled and changes are in the works to improve public business in Fairhope. The education committee has moved forward, working with Dr. Lee to help our schools. This council is off and running, but it will still have to deal with the mayor’s luggage and constantly be aware of his motivations…i.e. the First Baptist Church nightmare.

Remember…the problem behind the First Baptist Church is the problem of everyone in Fairhope and could happen to you.

Paul Ripp