LEADING FROM (ONE'S) BEHIND

I haven't seen so much naivety since Little Red Riding Hood, in people's reactions to the Kaua`i County Council preliminary leadership vote, including- or especially?- Luke Evslin's on Facebook (best go to his page- there's a few).

The original Perot's fairy tale ends after the infamous penultimate line, “Oh Grandma, what big teeth you have,.” then unequivocally stating “And with that he opened his mouth and A T E   H E R  U P.

No hunters with butcher knives stumbling by outside to save the day by cutting open the wolf's belly and removing The Notorious LRRH.

In case there are some out there that haven't heard the secret, policy IS politics, unlike Luke's Facebook essay last night portended. If you care about policy you will have to pay attention to those paying attention to politics because otherwise you will find yourself like the guy standing in front of the boss's desk readying himself to ask for a raise and instead finding himself dropping precipitously through the trap door.

The Chairperson of most bodies- or whatever they're calling the boss of your legislative “board,” sets the agenda, I'll say that again.

The Chair of the Board sets the agenda. The rest of the board may put up a fight to change that de facto rule but it isn't likely to pass and you'll be playing more politics to accomplish that than you would to have if you just sat down and shut up and kept your powder dry for the battles to come over the next 2,4,6 or 8 years.

Whether the Chair wins by one vote or all but one vote he or she will be keeping a close eye on his or her friends and a closer one on their enemies. You, as one of the rabble, don't need to grab an inordinate share of the chair's attention while you work on the politics that will allow you to execute the policy. If you're worried about climate change there's no need to remind the chair every day that he works for the most dispoiling business (Grove Farm) on the island until you're ready- and have enough allies- to execute a political shift, which is after all the only way to execute that policy shift.

Best not to get caught with you pants down; if you go at the king, best not miss... and all that Machiavellian clap trap.

I've watched the Kaua`i County Council at work for 40 years and have never seen anyone go along and give their vote and not get stabbed in the back for it unless they join the right prison gang and then they'll support you with their political life. It's really a simple- and simplistic way to play politics but no one around here is any smarter than knight takes pawn, bishop takes knight, etc. and they all figure they'll find out when they get a year or so under their belts. And once they do, they've been sucked in and there's no getting out.

Maybe you're smarter than the av-er-age bear. Luke You seem to be. Or maybe, as they say “you're goin' places boy.”

I fear young Mr. Evslin will slip down that slope if he doesn't have more of a plan than “forget about politics, concentrate on policy and assume others will be doing the same. Otherwise, gnaw, slurp, lick lips... yum-yum-yum.

Others have made the same mistake.