Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Major victory for the people!


 It was a MAJOR victory for the people. The struggle that has taken place in recent years in Benton Harbor is a case in point and one that holds a number of lessons for the American people.

The residents of Benton Harbor voted to approve a city income tax. on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The Benton Harbor residents voted for a city income tax by 21 votes. It should have been by 5,000 votes.The total was 511 to 490 votes.

City Commissioner Mary Alice Adam said, "It is a blessing that I can get up in the morning and be joyful about getting some of our streets repaired in the near future." The city commissioners passed a resolution in July 2017, stating that all money from the city income tax will go to repair roads.

In 2013 Benton Harbor residents proposed that city enact by referendum a 1 percent income tax aimed at all businesses, especially Whirlpool Corporation who pay no taxes, to solve the city of Benton Harbor financial problem. Whirlpool and former Mayor James Hightower, a puppet for Whirlpool Corporation, worked hard to defeat the measure through a massive disinformation campaign.

This launched a massive effort to recall the puppet Mayor James Hightower for supporting Whirlpool rather than the residents of Benton Harbor. We gathered, more than the required number of signatures to force a recall election and turned them into the most corrupt county clerk in the country, Sharon Tyler, who verified the signatures to be enough; we had more than enough to go forward.

Former Mayor James Hightower and Whirlpool went to work to stop the recall election and to have me arrested for forgery.The election was stopped, I was arrested, but the very next year James Hightower lost the election by a landslide.

These are major victories for the city of Benton Harbor, winning both the election of the former Mayor James Hightower and the winning the election for the income tax. In back to back years. the city of Benton Harbor is ready to go the next level.

The residents of Benton Harbor deserve as many victories as possible, let make this happen.    
 
Rev Edward Pinkney