Agenda Item 5

Should alcohol be allowed to be sold in Lorena?

I guess it depends on who you talk to but the grocery store sent its representatives to the council meeting tonight to lobby for support. Officially, the hands of the council are tied. If enough people sign a petition to get it on the ballot, it will be on the ballot.

I found the grocery representative's presentation very interesting. He said he was there to see if we would support the measure, but in reality he only needs the support of the electorate. What he was really doing was paying us a courtesy call to give us the heads up that they have already started the process.

He shared statistics that indicated dry cities are more dangerous than wet cities and showed significant increases in tax revenues by cities who have had successful elections.

A political action committee has been organized and the petition is moving forward. The store has hired a man who specializes in helping cities become wet and he reportedly has a 90 percent success rate.

It may sound like the cards are stacked against those who would choose morals over economics, but I am confident that this race is just beginning. The tortoise is just getting out of his shell.

By the way, I got a few good comments about whether an elected official should vote their conscience or what they think the electorate might want. For the record, I am a conscience voter all the way.

That's why I really appreciated Shawnie Leonard's comment about the matter, which I have included below.

I think when people vote, they choose someone who has values they agree with, so they trust him to vote his conscience. In effect, voting your conscience is the will of the electorate. Which explains why the American electorate does and should care about the values of their elected officials.