My wife and I attended a fund raising roast, Saturday night. This meant missing re-runs on TV. I went to the roast because I was invited and because my boss was kind enough to pay for the two tickets for wifey and me. The roastee was a well know local bank CEO, Don Smith. Everyone had some fun and some money was raised for Shriners' Hospitals.
The event was MCed by Terre Haute, Indiana Mayor Kevin Burke. The guy is in his first and most likely final term as mayor. I never met the guy but based on his poor grammar used on TV sound bytes, I'm proud to say that I do not live in T.H. where he was elected as their leader. Anyway, back to the roast, one of the roasters owns a car dealership. Burke ridiculed the guy as being a used car salesman. This struck a nerve with me. While I would NEVER consider working for this particular dealership owner, why would a Mayor ridicule a local business owner? If you ever owned a business you know that the business owner is responsible for employing local people...taxpaying people. Also, the business pays local, state and federal taxes. Every (smart)politician in the world knows that his bread is buttered by businessmen! Hizzonner crossed the line, from funny to stupid! The operative theme in the mayor's statement was that some used car salesmen are less than honest. I'd like to point out that every profession has dishonest individuals. What about mayors?
