I haven't been into politics since I was a rabid Jerry Brown supporter in the 1992 Democratic primary. I was 14. I saw Clinton at Barkely Airport and was a big fan, joined the Women's Action Coalition and routinely pissed off elder family members with my radical views at dinnertime. But then I discovered boys and partying, and that eventually tapered off into marriage and babies. So I haven't really been paying attention to politics too much over the past 17 years.

Lately I've been watching all the videos that the intrepid Paducah Moon guys have been putting together, and it shocks me how this town is being run. And how entitled Mayor Paxton thinks he is. Well - is. Telling people he'll run the meetings how he sees fit, refusing to answer valid questions from a concerned citizen, and generally pissing me off.

So last night I attended my first city council meeting. I admit I was nervous, for many reasons. I kept thinking at some point they would point down at me from that raised, lit dias and say, "You're that slut who does that vulgar magazine!" But thankfully, that didn't happen.

What did happen was there was a signup table out front - which a few people told me had not been done before, and most likely was a response to Ronnie the Vet's comments at the past few meetings. A few people were there: Gretchen from RCRG, Chuck and his girl from local non-profit Heart Usa, Bryant Hileman who works on healthcare in Frankfort, and a lot of people I recognized but have never met, like city police Chief Berry and Eric Youngblood, a man who ran for City Council a while back and got busted for pot 3 days before the election. Now, I don't know if he was set up or not, but just the fact that he's being hassled period makes me think he's probably one of the good guys.

All the Commissioners were there, Watkins, Kaler, Abraham, and Gault, along with Paxton, a representative from the City Manager's office, and the clerk. They sped through a lot of motions, a chorus of "Ayes" all around, and I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. It seems these were things that had been discussed previously.

But right there on the list of scheduled events under "Ordinance - Emergency" was "Accept Contract for Pavilion Foundation" and under "Ordinances - Introduction" was "Approve Contract with Paducah McCracken Convention Center Corporation."

If you haven't been keeping up, basically the City of Paducah is buying a $800,000 tent for the American Quilters Society that will cost an additional $250,000 to set up. They are paying for this by hiking your taxes up .5% for the next 20 years, so I've been told. They also approved paying $75,000 to pay various bills from last year's quilt show, which the county is matching.

I understand that the quilt show is good for the economy of the area, even though as a waitress for the past ten years I know that quilters are the shittiest tippers on earth. However, the family that owns the American Quilter's Society, the Schroeders (who I've heard happen to be close personal friends of Mayor Paxton) - will be making approximately $500,000 from renting the space in the tent - every year.

The question that many of us want answered is why they aren't being charged some kind of rent by the city for the use of this tent to help pay for the cost of it - and pay their light bill the city and county just sprang for.

Ronnie the Vet is a little rough around the edges, but dude, he's a disabled old guy. He tried to ask if he could see the contract that the City signed, and they sat there denying they had any contract. When it's in the FREAKING AGENDA. They told him to go ask the Convention Board. They told him to go ask the Schroeders. Let me rephrase that, Paxton and Kaler told him that. Kaler was getting just as dismissive and rude as Paxton. They accused him of being there for the sole purpose of trying to agitate the board. Wait til the video comes out. Ronnie is being calm and simply asking a question that they have never answered. I think that the city, which is the most public faction of the three, our freaking government, needs to disclose ANY contract made that deals with tax payer money when a taxpayer asks for it. I mean, isn't that the freaking law? Public disclosure? Shouldn't it be printed in the local paper?

And they sit here - oh, I could have screamed - treating this guy like he's crazy. First of all, they asked for his name and address, a practice I was told by many who have been to these meetings in the past has never been done before - most likely so Ronnie can be harrassed in the future. Yeah, having that threat of some kind of repercussion makes it less likely that anyone is going to get up and say anything. Ever. Which is how they want it.

Then Bryant Hileman got up to commend the commission on offering to hear about non-profits in the area, and asked when that would be. Paxton told him that basically they would listen to them but flat out told him that they wouldn't get any money. This is after, at this very meeting, they had talked about how they had subsidized Paxton Municipal Golf Course for the past four years. They're going to stop for now, but if they need help in the future, they can probably bail them out. And talked about how important it was for the city to have a public golf course, you know, for the poor people who can't afford country club memberships. But nope, they sure can't afford to help out any non-profits that would benefit abused and neglected children, hungry people, people that can't afford their medicine...there's just no money! Aw. Sucks to be you, poor people. Are you fucking kidding me? This is SHAMEFUL. It makes me sick to think that these are the people running my town. If it sickens you as well, I hope a game of golf makes you feel better, 'cause they sure as hell aren't going to help you buy your meds.

After the meeting I met Commissioner Abraham, and he seems like a nice guy. He's conservative and I'm sure we have some differing views, but he seems willing to listen. And I've met his awesome daughter, who he let sing the national anthem at the last Derby match, so that's pretty cool. He said, "I thought you were going to get up and speak!" Probably because I was sitting there, shaking my head and just grumbling and fuming. But I told him that I was getting a feel for things first, see how it worked. Honestly, with the vague threat of harrassment over my head, and the feeling that unless you're getting up there to commend the wonderful job they're doing, they're just going to bully you - I'm not sure if I want to. I've been told by many people that even if you are a smart, professionally-dressed, eloquent person with a reasonable question - if it pisses them off, if you're questioning their decisions and judgement, they treat you like crap.

One of the biggest changes that needs to be made to the City Council meetings is that comments from the public should be made BEFORE the commissioners cast their votes. Right now they have about five minutes at the end of meetings, so people can state their case after it's too late. Then, you're basically going up there for the completely useless reason of saying, "Uh, I disgree with what you just did." That's ridiculous.

But for that change to mean anything the Commissioners and Mayor need to listen to and ANSWER TO the people that have elected them with the same amount of respect they would ask for. After the meeting, I went up and shook Ronnie's hand and told him, "Thank you for having the guts to get up there and say something, even when you knew they were going to treat you like you were stupid and crazy when you had a legitimate question." He said, "Thank you. Do you think I'm being unreasonable?" I said, "No, it's a valid question, I want to know myself." He said, "They've never once given me an answer."

I thought since it was an election year, Paxton's term was almost up. No, he has two more years. However, ALL FOUR City Commissioners are up for re-election this year: Gayle Kaler, Gerald Watkins, Carol Gault, and Richard Abraham. The deadline to file to run was yesterday. Can you believe it? There are three people running for their seats - Eric Youngblood, who ran two years ago, Shirley Trail Lanier and Shelley Keeling. I don't know anything about these people. I don't know much about the people up there now. But I'm going to start finding out - and you should, too.

The mayor has an equal vote with the four City Commissioners. So if you have three people on there that oppose a motion, it is denied - even if Paxton is for it. So I say start watching this stuff closely. Hey, Paxton may even do a good thing every now and then - I don't know. But watch how these people vote. Start paying attention. There were a couple of them that were elected on platforms of "We're not letting the rich guys run the show anymore" - but their votes show otherwise. There was not a single "Nay" in that room last night. We're building a boat ramp for downtown. Sounds like not such a bad thing - until someone told me that your boat has to be at least 50 ft long to dock there. Really? I don't know yet if that's the case - but if it is, holy shit.

I've been thinking alot about keeping my head down - that as a very new small business, single mom of two young kids, and non-local royalty status person I should probably chill with the politics. And I might. I haven't decided yet. But the more I see, the more irate I get. At the very least I want to start paying attention, and encourage YOU to start paying attention to what happens in this town. We have a vote - let's start making it count.