“Gadfly” is a term for people who upset the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempt to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.

The term “gadfly” was used by Plato to describe Socrates’ relationship of uncomfortable goad to the Athenian political scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse. The Christian bible also references the gadfly in terms of political influence. Specifically, the book of Jeremiah, chapter 46 verse 20. The term has been used to describe many politicians and social commentators.

During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato’s writings, pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. “If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me,” because his role was that of a gadfly, “to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth.”

Portsmouth is not only suffering from economic bankruptcy but moral bankruptcy shown by our leaders.

Portsmouth’s local government has been corrupt for so long that citizens think this is normal, and because of this belief citizens are encouraging corruption. Corruption is an economic problem and deeply intertwined with politics. The phrase “Corruption in Politics” is when government officials use their governmental powers to accumulate wealth for illegitimate private gain. All levels of government are susceptible to political corruption.

In Portsmouth we have an uneconomical political culture where principles of ethics in government are not established and politicians are not afraid to corrupt. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism and embezzlement. Corruption may also facilitate criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution, and is not restricted to these organized crime activities.

We elect politicians expecting them to act in the public’s best interest. By electing them we gave them access to our public resources and the power to make decisions that impact our lives. Some of these same politicians are now acting out of greed, in the service of individuals wanting to finance their rise to power, or special interest groups. Immense damage has been inflicted on our community.

In our community corruption has facilitated destruction, which has placed a burden disproportionately on the lower income people living in the community. Although formalized laws are in place to protect citizen’s rights they are not enforced by the local politicians, who are easily bribed and use wrongful intimidation tactics against citizen’s rights. The lack of enforcement of these laws enables corruption to gain an illegitimate economic advantage in the community.

Corruption creates economic inefficiencies and inequities. Corruption generates economic falsehood by diverting public investments into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. This is accomplished by generating considerable distortions and inefficiency in projects to conceal or pave way for underhanded dealings. These dealings lower compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on Portsmouth.

With active reform it is possible to reduce the material benefits from payoffs in corruption. In Portsmouth it is not surprising to me that people are finally analyzing the whys and demanding unconditional integrity and accountability from their political leaders. For several years a citizen’s reform group, Concerned Citizens Group (CCG), has worked on mechanisms to close the “revolving door” between business and politics and encourage reform-minded politicians to get involved in Portsmouth. The CCG has provided evidence to support recommendations for reform and encourages information flow and communication through personal websites, blogs and newspapers. The development of these news resources was primarily instigated due to bias reporting of our locally controlled newspapers and radio stations.

Effective reform cannot occur unless both the community and domestic political leaders support change.

Check out these two sites:

CLICK:  River Vices

CLICK:  CCG Roundtable

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”  author unknown.

“All that is necessary for the forces of evil to triumph is that enough good men [and women] do nothing.” author unknown.

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do.” Edward Everett Hale.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Henry David Thoreau

Recently, at a chiropractor’s waiting room, I ran into Mayor Jim Kalb, Portsmouth’s worst pain in the neck. I asked him if he was in any pain. He said if he could stop me from coming to City Council meetings, maybe neither of us would need to see a chiropractor. I asked him about being subpoenaed by Greenup County to testify about the Indian Head Rock he had stolen from Kentucky. A lady sitting next to me suggested breaking the rock in half, with each state getting half. That might work if Kalb didn’t have rocks in his head. I told him to just give the rock back and quit embarrassing our city. He said defiantly he was going to display the rock in the Marting building after it was turned into city offices. I said that citizens of Portsmouth had already voted by a two to one margin against turning Marting’s into city offices and that he should be trying to get the city’s money back from the Marting Foundation to pay to tear the building down.

Kalb said his blood pressure was rising as a result of talking to me. His voice was also rising, so I asked him to tone it down. He was embarrassing the city not only by stealing a historic rock but also by raising his voice in a public waiting room. Where did he think he was, at a City Council meeting? He moved on to the subject of Ohio’s Sunshine Laws, claiming that my husband Bob was violating those laws by closing his letters to Kalb by saying, “If you have any further questions contact me.” I pointed out that he still does not understand the Sunshine Laws. He still does not understand why he and Clay Johnson and the City Council were ruled by Judge Marshall to have violated the Sunshine Laws when they met in groups of three to hatch the Marting scam. I had to end our conversation, because it was my turn to see the chiropractor. I was glad to get some relief from Portsmouth’s worst pain in the neck.