Can you crown yourself King of St. Helens?

I spent a very few minutes in front of the Post Office yesterday afternoon, relieving Sally for a bit, and found myself within stink-eye range of the great visionary. He's taken to manning the corner of the PO building, snagging people from the parking lot before they can get to the door or ... heaven forbid ... to Sally's table.

He's a true politician--in the worst sense of the word. He's loud, lays it on thick, and promises to solve all your problems. Probably all by himself. Or, at least, as we know from experience with this guy, he'll take all the credit for the resolutions.

I had an interesting talk yesterday with a couple of others who, like I do, get to see him at work on a more frequent basis--far more than we want to and more than the average citizen who will vote this fall. One of them pointed out how Morten seems to thrive on creating a problem where none exists, then riding to the rescue to resolve it.

An example of this is the so-called dissension in the public works and parks departments. They are two separate departments now because Doug reopened the old parks building, thus moving parks away from public works and resolving the dissension problem.

The two departments were combined some years ago to save money. But money is no longer an issue for St. Helens apparently, and he had to do something about that oppressive work environment. He seems to have a great need to save the little people from evil (kind of like he "had to do something to stop" Sally?). I hadn't considered before yesterday, but perhaps an accounting of how much his little problem fixes cost taxpayers would make could good campaign fodder.

He's also taking credit (and graciously allowing a bit to the rest of the council) for the decline in vandalism in the parks since this council took over. No credit to the park caretaker now living at McCormick Park (who by the way is doing a great job) or to the SHPD. Nope. Just to this amazing, innovative council that is driven by Doug's vision. Gloss over the problems that do exist, Doug, create some easily solvable (if expensive) ones and be sure you're the one riding the white horse and carrying the banner.

We could have a contest to determine the best words for that banner. Nah, that's too much work. Let's just sit back and see what words Doug puts on his own banner. I'm sure we'll get to see it and the white horse before the elections are over. Wonder if he'll wear a crown?