Good Cop Bad Cop No Cop
![TypingMonkeyLarge[1]](https://bylinecharliewhitehead.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/typingmonkeylarge1.jpg)
For most of the last decade Lee County commissioners Ray Judah and Tammy Hall played good cop/bad cop with the South Florida Water Management District, the Corps of Engineers and Big Sugar. Judah took every opportunity to poke the moneyed and the bureaucrats in the eye. Hall caught flies with sugar, not a sledgehammer. It worked, after a fashion.
But when Big Sugar spread campaign cash on the troubled, polluted waters of local electoral politics Bad Cop Ray was washed out of office. Yesterday Good Cop Tammy quit facing federal fraud charges related to stealing from her own campaign account.
So now what?
At a time of absolute crisis, with a polluted soup of toxic sludge flowing down the Caloosahatchee, who will step into the breach? Which of the current commissioners has the skill and the inclination to fight for the life of the local waters?
This week Commissioner Larry Kiker is off to Washington, D.C. to meet with Rep. Trey Radel and others to talk about Lake Okeechobee releases.
Let’s hope Kiker can be the new cop. We need one.
Byline Charlie Whitehead 
I live on the Caloosahatchee, and I greatly resent the constant slurs left wing environmentalists hurl when their blue water turns brown.There is no “sludge” on our fiver, and “toxic” is as much an overstatement as referring to Bumbling Barack Obama as a “world statesman”. The apple snails abound, providing a healthy diet for the Limpkins, The snook, trout, mullet and many other fish swim in the river’s waters rather than float on top of them as those off your beaches frequently do. Does too much fresh water hurt life in the estuary? Are there nutrients flowing out to the Gulf? No doubt about it, but enough bashing of our lovely river, please. Stick to the facts, please.
Thanks Dave. I am fortunate to live on a canal on Hurricane Pass. It’s true that some creatures handle the changes in salinity and quality of the water better than others. Whether you call it ‘toxic sludge’ or ‘nutrient and pollution-laden runoff’ it’s the same thing. On the east coast signs are posted warning the water is toxic. On this coast it’s not tested and not posted.
All I can say is thank God for “cops”…
Agreed Larry.
Charlie, I think you should contact the Gov’nr with your recomendation on whom he should appoint to replace Ms Hall
I want Andy Coy.
Larry Kiker what a joke, Radel what a bigger joke.
Kiker what a joke, Radel what a bigger joke.