We're taking bets that it is politics as usual in Springfield, MA....

WTBT's Hottie of the Week will be moving to Mondays. Now back to our regularly scheduled rant. :)

For those of you who don't know I live in Springfield, MA. Springfield has been referred to as the "City of Homes" or the "City of Neighborhoods". It has the Basketball Hall of Fame, Mass Mutual, four colleges and not much else. Overall it is a nice place to live. It is also a city in absolute turmoil. It is being run financially by a state appointed Control Board. Since I work part-time for the city I am invested a little bit more than some of the average citizens. Below I have listed two stories that have occured in the past week. It underlines the ridiculousness of Massachusetts politics and politics in general.

* David Panagore is the Deputy Director of the Control Board. As a part of the Control Board his primary function is to make sure that Springfield is financially responsible. Mr. Panagore makes $95,000 a year to do this work.

On November, 19th Mr. Panagore was pulled over for speeding on I-91. This offense in and of itself is not really newsworthy. I think that a majority of the population drives over the speed limit, but most of us do not get caught. What is newsworthy is that Mr. Panagore had his car towed because he had not paid his car insurance and his registration was suspended. Mr Panagore was quoted as saying, ""All my focus and attention goes to my work. This is a wake-up call to pay more attention to my personal life."

Now I can understand being consumed by work. I truly can, but when you are supposed to be financially responsible for an entire city don't you think you would be able to put you own finances in order. This would be like a domestic abuse councilor that goes home and beats his wife. Not someone I am confident can do the job. More people are going to be losing jobs while this idiot making almost 6 figures can't keep up with his own finances.

* William Metzger has been the City Clerk for over almost 25 years in the city of Springfield. His brother Jim is a carpenter with the city, happens to be head of the tradesmen union and someone I work with in facilities. Mr. Metzger is retiring because he is being asked to by the Control Board. The City Council and other city workers are furious because they feel he is being mistreated and being pushed out.

The number one reason Mr. Metzger is being asked to leave is because in 25 years he has not computerized any of the city records. These records include marriage, birth and death certificates. Now I know that computers are a passing fad and he has been pushing to get computers, but how hard has he really been trying. We are in the latter half of the 1st decade of the 21st century. Everything is computerized.

Here is my theory on why he hasn't computerized his office yet. He doesn't want to be held accountable. It is hard to say oops the file is missing when it is backed up on computer. I wonder how many people aren't legally married in Springfield or weren't really born because they cannot find the records. I am sure this is a great guy, but I am glad that he is retiring and we can get someone to move us into the early 90's.

I hope this encourages all of you to move to this lovely city. It really isn't that bad a place to live, you just don't want to have to rely on the city for anything.