(May 23, 2006) -- Over a half century ago when prominent people refused to speak the truth against political orthodoxy, George Orwell said [exact words vary in several sources], "We have reached the point where the first duty of intelligent people is to restate the obvious."
In our view, LB has been disserved by over a decade of costly self-deceptions, failures portrayed as successes, marketing as merit, fake as fact.
We don't think LB overall is worse off than it was 12 years ago, but we do believe that in some significant areas the O'Neill administration did damage that needs to be acknowledged, corrected and not perpetuated.
The incumbent Mayor didn't -- and couldn't -- do what she did by herself. A majority of the City Council could have prevented or reversed every action we will cite in the coming days. For this reason, Council candidates in the coming showdown races deserve at least as much scrutiny on key issues as the Mayor.
In our view, the fundamental question in this election is: who among the candidates is more likely -- based on actions they've taken, words they've written and spoken, positions they've advocated and supporters they've embraced -- to correct damages done and prevent those who did them from doing more?
LBReport.com's series of election editorials is about to begin.
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