SUNDAY COLUMN | Despite your party affiliation or disdain for his last few years in office, there is no doubt Lockyer is one of the East Bay’s greatest political minds ever. Lockyer this week announced he will retire after serving the last 18 months of his term as state treasurer.
From the San Leandro school board in\1968 to his easy re-election victory for treasurer in 2010, Lockyer amazingly never lost an election. In fact, rarely did he even come out on the losing end of legislation while serving the East Bay in the Assembly and leading the State Senate.
Lockyer’s body of work in Sacramento includes limiting your potential service for jury duty to once a year (unless chosen to serve), authoring hate crime legislation and focusing on crime-solving technology featuring DNA matches to solve crimes.
However, Lockyer’s most lasting achievement may be the bill paving the way for the San Francisco Bay Trail that will ultimately feature 500 miles of biking and walk paths encircling the entire region. He did something else important by also announcing he would not run for state controller next year.
Lockyer this week showed the rest of the state’s septuagenarian class of political heavyweights how to step aside and enjoy the accolades that come from decades of public service. The generation of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, along with Gov. Jerry Brown, likely have only a few years left in them and those in the East Bay saw how not to leave the limelight gracefully with the fall of Pete Stark’s equally legendary 40 years in Congress.
A similar fall from grace could have befallen Lockyer in 2014 had he did not choose retirement. The pieces were in place: an old, entitled politician looking for another safe landing place following two terms each as attorney general and treasurer. The controller’s office seemed a bit too much in light of his troubles with his wife, Nadia Lockyer’s precipitous fall from Alameda County supervisor and resignation to turning herself into rehab for drug and alcohol dependency.
In fact, Lockyer had lost much of legislative power he once possessed. All that remained was his connections and prodigious campaign war chest, which at $2.2 million, will still make him everybody’s best friend come next year.
Unlike Stark, Lockyer heard the footsteps behind him getting louder and noticed his political moves were not as deft as years past. So, he kindly and graciously stepped aside. What we won’t be doing is talking about his downfall, instead, we’re all here to praise his prodigious services to the citizens of the East Bay and the entire state.
Quotable
“We should feel lucky to have a place like this in Hayward.”
–Greg Jones, Hayward council member, June 4, praising the owners of the city’s long-time poker club on Mission Boulevard.
The Week That Was
 |
|
Alameda’s Jason Kidd as
a Golden Bear.
|
>>>Back in business: Mary Hayashi is in between offices right now, so why not use her expertise in health care and the halls of the Legislature to her advantage? Hayashi, who is a likely candidate for the state senate in the Hayward-Fremont area next year against Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, now has her own consulting business specializing in helping health care organization navigate the corridors of power in Sacramento.
>>>In the ‘Dro: The San Leandro City Council approved the first two-year budget in its history. The $124 million budget includes the use of $1.4 million in general fund reserves in the next fiscal year. Despite rhetoric sounding the budget alarm by its mayor over the years, San Leandro continues to be blessed with fewer impacts on its financial house than many other neighboring cities in Alameda County. The city’s school district also has a new superintendent. Mike McLaughlin was named to the post this week replacing the retiring Cindy Cathey.
>>>I’ll raise you 2 tables for $210k: Hayward’s City Council approved new conditions on its lone poker club this week allowing for an additional two tables and expansion of the building on Mission Boulevard. The item passed, 6-1, with only Mayor Michael Sweeney registering dissent. The new deal may also net the cash-starved city over $210,000 in revenue. On Saturday, Hayward’s school board also filled its vacant supe position by bringing back Stan Dobbs, who left the district last November for San Diego Unified.
>>>Retirement parties: Oakland native and Hayward resident Bill Lockyer isn’t the only person hanging them up. Alameda’s Jason Kidd also announced his retirement after 19 seasons in the NBA. The future Hall of Famer is one of the greatest athletes ever produced in the East Bay. In fact, over the last quarter century no single athlete from this area has come close to capturing the imagination of sports fans than Kidd.
Tweet of the Week
“Jason Kidd’s retirement > Bill Lockyer’s retirement”
-@calderon11 tweeting, June 3, about the retirements of two legends of local sports and politics hanging them up this week.
Best Reads
>>>Ro Khanna, the former Obama Commerce Department veteran running against Rep. Mike Honda in the South Bay’s 17th Congressional District is featured in this week’s Time magazine. You have to pick up a copy to read the entire article, but here’s a preview with extras. (Time.com, June 6).
>>>Here’s a quite loving look at Bill Lockyer’s long career in public service. (Capitol Weekly, June 4)
Voice of the People
“She might “steal the election” !!!!!!!!”
–Anonymous, commenting June 6 about Mary Hayashi’s prospects for the state senate next year on “Hayashi Bides Time As A Health Care Consultant”.
ebcitizen.com 
Bill—I'll always remember you for all the good you did for all of us. Thank you and take good care of Diego.
LikeLike
Absolutely not–he always stood up for the minorities and they always rewarded him with their votes. Thank You Bill
LikeLike
Bill did a lot of great things… was he one of them during 1970… minorities out of SL by 6pm…
LikeLike
Bill did a lot of great things for our state. Most of his critics have done nothing. Bill is the custodian of his son, and is raising him as a single parent. Most of his critics are classless a–holes. Good luck Bill and thanks for your service, it is appreciated by most of us.
LikeLike
By MW:
In regard to Nadia Lockyer, drug addiction, and the lies drug addicts tell.
About half an hour ago I read “Ask Amy,” and which is an advice column. To find it, just type “Ask Amy” into the Yahoo website, and you can then read it thru the on-line edition of such newspapers as the Denver Post.
Anyway, the column of today (in other words of 7/1/2013) is titled: “Meet the parents – now where are the pills?”
The column is in regard to a drug addict and the lies drug addicts tell, and including drug addicts pretending that their drug addiction is almost completely cured and/or is very mild rather than severe.
In other words when I read about the drug addicted boyfriend the daughter had, the actions of that boyfriend, and the stories, and which were almost certainly lies, the boyfriend told (the person who wrote the letter asking Amy for advice was the mother), I said to myself that the boyfriend seemed to have a lot of similarities to Nadia Lockyer.
LikeLike
First there was Bilko, then Bilbo, now we have BILLHO!
What a legacy!
LikeLike
I'm not 1:52, but 3:06 your dialogue is grade school and has never been meaningful. Good luck Bill–take good care of Diego! You are far more classy than your critics. Thanks for your years of service.
LikeLike
1:52 pm are you in jr high? I use to use thse types of arguments when i was kid. Grow the fuck up then engage in meaningful dialogue
LikeLike
More of the same crap–borrrrrrrringgg!!!!
LikeLike
12:51 do you acknowledge that there are plenty of liberals who are digusted by Bill Lockyer? He tainted his policy legacy with his love for political power.
LikeLike
Sybil
LikeLike
I wish a few bloggers who try to dominate this blog with the same conservative points ( with wrong facts ) would leave! They keep posting the same message time after time and have no respect for people mentioned, or the rest of us. Quit the name calling if you want us to pay attention, and two posts by the same person should be sufficient. Too many times I see dozens of posts by the same individual on a topic. It makes me as bored as whoever is posting the Z's.
LikeLike
Why continue ZZZZZZZZZ what's the point?
LikeLike
Because arguing with you is like arguing with a neanderthal !
LikeLike
You ZZZZZZZZ sleeppy, you are totally correct and smart, why don't you comment?
LikeLike
5:16 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Taveras got it right–you are wrong as usual
LikeLike
3:37PM You are the “both of you”. Stale Trick.
LikeLike
to both of you zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz stop dominating the blog zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
LikeLike
1205 same to you zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
LikeLike
You Lockyer haters are so BORING zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
LikeLike
Amen, brother!
LikeLike
By MW:
In regard to the comments of those who have emphasized that Bill Lockyer has been undefeated in over thirty years worth of elections, and which supposedly “proves” that he still cannot be beaten, it was in about 1972, in other words about forty years ago, that Pete Stark first ran for the House of Representatives, and Stark won that first race, and then he continued winning every single election until he was just recently defeated, since the general public finally came to the realization, and based on Stark's increasingly erratic conduct in recent years, that he was very over the hill.
And the guy Stark beat in his first election, in other words back in about 1972, had won every single election for approx twenty five years in a row, and until Stark, and who back then was only about forty years old, beat him back in about 1972.
And I could, and in addition to the above two examples, also give plenty of other examples of politicians who were supposedly invincible and with a long history of winning every single election for decades, and supposedly unbeatable – UNTIL THEY GOT BEAT, AND GENERALLY BECAUSE THE PUBLIC FINALLY CAME TO THE REALIZATION THAT THEY WERE STARTING TO LOSE IT MENTALLY AND WERE WAY OVER THE HILL.
In fact if Lockyer was not starting to lose it mentally, it is hard to imagine he would have ever let himself get seriously involved with a drunk, drug addict, and world class nitwit such as Nadia.
And even if you think Lockyer was great back a number of years ago, still it is definitely time for him to retire, since back in the old days at least he was a smart crook, a smart liar, a smart phony, and a smart hypocrite. But now he seems to have lost any sense of judgment, and he needs the assistance of such people as Alameda County DA Nancy O'Malley if he is to have any chance of getting himself out of the jams that he and Nadia get themselves into.
LikeLike
Retired or WOULD HAVE BEEN RETIRED. Now he can do some serious whoring as a lobbyist, I mean 'advocate.'
Game over!!!
LikeLike
You guys are soooo stupid! He NEVER lost a race. You are political idiots! He retired on top. Good for Bill. Game over!
LikeLike
Bill is history–check your rear-view mirror.
He knew he was toast, and bailed. Game over!
LikeLike
I'm a liberal and I think Bill is scum.
LikeLike
If Bill ran in 2014, there is no doubt he would win. He has never lost an election since he ran for School Board and won. He has won local and statewide elections so many times, it would be a slam-dunk. I give him much kudos for quitting on top to take care of his family. You right-wing whiners and losers make me laugh. Your conservative candidates will keep losing!
LikeLike
By MW:
Including in regard to the comments of 11:09PM, 12:40AM, and 11:31AM, if the election were to be held within the next weeks, and rather than in 2014, and Bill Lockyer decided to run for a major post such as Controller, he would probably win.
However the next major upcoming election is NOT in the very near future, but instead is not until 2014, and during that time Bill's position, and as he is almost certainly well aware, will most likely get considerably weaker virtually every month.
Also if he had attempted to stay in the center of the stage, who knows what Nadia might have done next while Bill was trying to dazzle the crowd with his singing and dancing. Maybe she would have again stated that Bill: one, was supplying her with drugs; and/or two, virtually forced her to take drugs. And there are also plenty of things she might do, and such as again write a suicide note, etc, etc, etc.
In other words dancing on a public stage and trying to dazzle the crowd with your moves, but with Nadia around, is extremely risky, and sort of like dancing on a stage that is sitting on a keg of dynamite that could explode at anytime, since she is so extremely unpredictable and erratic, and also absolutely anything is likely to cause her to explode and destroy anything nearby and/or connected to her.
Another major reason that Bill's chances of winning a major election would go down virtually every month is that the general public is becoming more and more aware of the fact that most lawyers are professional pathological liars, total scumbags, and extreme parasites.
And still another problem is that Bill has pretended to be extremely vehemently against such things as the modern slave trade, in other words human trafficking. However in reality Bill “The World Class Demagogue” Lockyer was a major supporter, protector, and defender of organized crime kingpin M.L. “Larry The Liar” Lawrence, and who was one of the very biggest and sleaziest human traffickers. And once more of the details of Lawrence's criminal activities come out and Bill's close relationship with Lawrence, Bill will be seen as even sleazier and phonier than Bernard Madoff and Jim Jones.
LikeLike
Well, the person above is clearly a troll.
A spade is a spade!
LikeLike
anon 11:31-you are a poor excuse for a human being! Calling people names degrades this blog. Make your points with intelligent statements if you can. If not-please get off this blog.
LikeLike
Big boss bill retired rather than have the people RETIRE his lame ass, which is surely what would have happened if he had hoisted himself on the electorate in 2014.
We weren't going to support his lame self after forcing that drug-addicted, poor excuse of a whore wife of his on us in 2010. Just like the name Stark has been retired for good, so has Lockyer.
Power back to the people!
LikeLike
Right ON MW. Same thing happened to me on lesser scale (battle of financial attrition at the hands of thugs in Alaco corrupt Adminsitrators, Diversity, County Counsel, etc. starting with the negligent hiring of a hatchet man director (about the same time as David Muhammad hired in Probation (sexual harrasment well known in his past that he repeated here – his tenure didn't last long but they continue to give him “contract work” – GRAND JURY REPORT???) all this under the watch of Nadia, who Bill got hired and she was also supported by Jerry Brown – paleez. Remember – a lot of these big wig california and san francisco thugs were also schmoozing with Jim Jones back in the day. BL is a bully and a thug, but I do appreciate the bike trail – hope he takes advantage – thanks Bill.
LikeLike
To my knowledge, Bill never lost an election. He retired because he wanted to help take care of his son. I commend him for that.
LikeLike
By MW:
As far as Bill Lockyer's decision to retire from public office, and rather than continuing to hang on, it was probably primarily motivated by the fact that he realized his long history of sleaze and arranging illegal backroom fixes, and including so as to help and protect his close associate organized crime kingpin M. L. Lawrence, was in serious danger of soon being exposed, so therefore it was best he get out of the limelight.
NOTE: Organized crime kingpin M. L. “Larry The Liar” Lawrence was such a major and extremely important source of huge election campaign contributions and under the table bribes, that therefore such politicians as Lockyer, Willie Brown, John Burton, and Dianne Feinstein, etc, pretended that their good buddy Lawrence was a legitimate businessman, and rather than exposing him for the crook that he was.
However in the last few years the laws regarding the illegal handling of asbestos have been somewhat more strenuously enforced, and which has therefore more recently resulted in some people who have engaged in such being sent to prison. In other words, certain businessmen engaging in slow mass murder by reducing costs and cutting corners in ways that cause people to be illegally exposed to asbestos is now considered to be a much bigger crime than it was only a few years ago. So therefore in the last few years rather than it continuing to be overlooked and ignored or only resulting in a small fine, instead people are now going to prison for it.
And Lawrence, and who had a close relationship with Bill Lockyer and who was protected by Lockyer, was one of the Bay area's most extreme offenders in that regard of causing tenants and others to be exposed to asbestos, since Lawrence did not care how many people he and his associates caused to be the victims of slow mass murder as long as his illegal methods of remodeling allowed him to reduce costs.
Still furthermore, Bill is in serious danger from the wild card of Nadia, and just as Sylvester Stallone was from his sister, and who described by the comment, “That a drug addict could do anything,” and meaning that coming up with a successful defense against a drug addict is virtually impossible, since a drug addict: one, cannot be reasoned with; and two, is so totally unpredictable and erratic. So therefore Nadia was always a serious danger to spill the beans on Bill and some of his sleazy backroom deals.
So basically Bill quit while he was still ahead and before the dam broke.
LikeLike
I think the person who is blasting Bill and his family, especially the child, is the mentally retarded one.
LikeLike
By MW:
Concerning the comments of 8:16PM and 9:28PM.
Children get into things.
For instance, many older adults who have been smoking for five, six, or seven decades got their first cigarettes, and therefore turned into lifelong smokers, at ten or twelve years of age, or even younger, from stealing the cigarettes their parents, and who themselves were smokers, had around the house.
And since Nadia is a druggie, she is going to have illegal drugs around the house, and where a young child could find them, get into them, and consume them. And if her child has mental deficits, then he would be even less likely to understand the word “NO,” and even much more likely to get into things, and such as illegal drugs, that would be in a residence that Nadia occupied.
And where has Nadia been getting the illegal drugs she has been consuming!!! Has it been from Bill???
And even if Bill has not directly handed her the drugs, where did she get the money to buy the drugs??? Did she get the money from Bill???
And where did Bill and/or Nadia obtain the illegal drugs??? Was it from another lawyer??? After all, both Bill and Nadia are lawyers, and lawyers have far and away the highest rates of drug addiction of any major profession.
In other words if I regularly associated with and talked to such people as Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, and Rickey Henderson, I would then certainly have no problem easily finding plenty of sources of major league quality bats, balls, and gloves, and similarly if I regularly associated with a lot of Bay area lawyers, I would then have no problem finding virtually infinite sources of illegal drugs.
Frankly, and even if at present the child has no mental deficiencies, still I would not leave him, and nor any child, in an environment that contains Bill and/or Nadia Lockyer, and unless we want him to eventually turn into a drug addict.
And let's even pretend that we could absolutely guarantee the child would never get ahold of any of the illegal drugs Nadia (and possibly also Bill) might have around the house. Still, what kind of environment would that be for any child, in other words an environment where drug use might be common and also might be the standard and accepted way of doing things and living life.
Do we really want to expose any child to an environment in which drug use is common and accepted, and even if we could guarantee that the child himself would not pick up and use any of the illegal drugs Bill and/or Nadia might have around the house??? (Or do we want him to turn into a drunk and/or a drug addict, and the way so many of the Kennedy children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews did!!!)
In fact, I strongly suspect that perhaps still another reason Bill has not yet divorced Nadia is because he is afraid of what she might say about how she got the drugs, who gave her the drugs, and who are some of the people, and perhaps including some bigshot, prominent and famous lawyers and some of the big boys in Sacramento, she has done drugs with, and who perhaps have also given her drugs.
In other words if Bill gets Nadia sufficiently angry, and she therefore starts to “talk too much,” she could quite likely blow the roof off a lot of places, and including the State Capitol Building in Sacramento, and also totally ruin the reputations of a lot of the “saints” who haven't been caught yet.
LikeLike
I agree. It is one thing to cite the fact that his parents will now have more time for their son, who does suffer a malady, and both requires and deserves additional attention. But to use the term 'retard' and to disparage is truly disgusting.
LikeLike
One thing I don't like about this blog is the extreme vitriol, gossip, and hate that is contained in the comments. It's disgusting that people have so much hate within them. Talking about Bill & Nadia is fine, talking about their kid is dirty. I don't care what disability he has, it's just not right to write that crap. I'm disgusted. Shame on you!
LikeLike
By MW:
Concerning the comment of 9:38AM, I seriously doubt the fact that he did not divorce Nadia was a matter of lack of self esteem or self respect.
Instead, most likely it was due to extreme financial considerations and/or that perhaps she knows far too much about some of the extreme examples of sleaze in his background that generally has gotten very little and in some cases no publicity.
And possibly she even knows that he played a major role in a coverup of major and multiple asbestos violations, and as a favor to his friend and associate M.L. “Larry The Liar” Lawrence, that will eventually lead to slow mass murder due to lung cancer and mesothelioma.
In fact, Bill Lockyer has always been one of the most extreme examples of the type of “great liberal” and “wonderful humanitarian” who was always willing to drop his “principles” if a major source of election campaign contributions wanted a favor or a backroom fix to be arranged.
LikeLike
The only thing people are going to remember about Lockyer is that he is obviously whipped by the little tweaker wife of his. He has no self esteem or self respect because if he did he would have divorced the tweaker and tried to focus all of his attention on being a good parent.
LikeLike
Amen!
LikeLike
Bill soiled his legacy when he bought his wife the Board of Supervisors office.
LikeLike
By MW:
Even if the child is mentally retarded and/or brain damaged, and therefore perhaps needs considerably more monitoring, guidance, and supervision than the typical child of eight or nine years old does, still I doubt he would need nearly as much extra monitoring, guidance, and supervision as Nadia does.
And for instance if Bill and Nadia should decide to get a divorce and Nadia then asks for custody or joint custody of the child, if I were the judge rather than giving Nadia “The Drug Addict” Lockyer custody of a nine year old child, I would be much more inclined to give custody of Nadia to virtually any nine year old child.
LikeLike
Why are u nerds talking about bills retard kid? how does that have anything to do with him retiring?
LikeLike
Actually, as one who knows both the mother and child, yes, he does have a disability that came about at birth. It's unfortunate that you want to gloss over that and would rather deny that which you can't handle. It is precisely because the professionals did diagnose him as mentally retarded–which there is nothing wrong with at all–that we should acknowledge that he needs more attention than one who is unaflicted. It is insulting that you feel you know better than the experts and his own mother.
LikeLike
Bill has made an incredibly generous and loving decision for his family (and no, Diego has no intellectual disability – he is a funny, ingenious child so lets leave the diagnosis to qualified professionals and lets lose the “R” word – it's insulting) – Nadia continues to recover and will do so the rest of her life. My family and i rejoice that they have reformed their family!!
LikeLike
By MW:
Regardless of whether or not the Lockyers' young son was born mentally retarded, Nadia is a meth addict and there are few things more dangerous to a young child's health and development than living in a meth contaminated house.
So regardless, he should not be allowed to be around Nadia.
(NOTE: While living in a meth contaminated house is extremely hazardous to the health of anybody, however it is even far more damaging to the health of young children.)
In fact since I am well aware of the facts that: one, lawyers have far and away the highest rates of alcoholism and drug abuse of any major profession; and two, in recent years meth has become more and more the drug of choice among lawyers – therefore I myself would not even consider buying a house that had been previously occupied by a lawyer unless I received a discount of at least a few hundred thousand dollars and the house also first passed preliminary tests for appearing to be free of drug contamination.
And by refusing to buy it unless I got a discount of at least a few hundred thousand dollars, that way if I later found out it was drug contaminated, and even though it had passed preliminary tests, I would still have enough money left over to have a thorough decontamination done.
In other words, a thorough and properly done decontamination on a meth contaminated house can easily run 100K or more.
In regard to how I found out that lawyers have far and away the highest rates of alcoholism drug abuse of any major profession, Bill Lockyer himself deserves a lot of the credit for that. More specifically back when he was in the state legislature, I wrote to him about a situation that involved major criminal activity.
He then wrote a letter back to me in which he said he would see what he could do about getting it corrected, he also said he would get CAL OSHA involved in it, and furthermore he stated he would stay on top of it and keep monitoring the situation. However soon afterwards he discovered that the primary arch criminal running the operation was a major source of election campaign contributions, so suddenly Bill Lockyer lost all interest in stopping the criminal activity, and instead did everything he could to help and protect Mr. Bigshot Arch Criminal.
That therefore resulted in Mr. Bigshot Arch Criminal and his sleazy lawyers becoming extremely confident they would have no trouble wearing me down and defeating me in a financial battle of attrition, and with no objection from Bill Lockyer and nor any other major or high ranking politician.
So that kept the situation and resulting litigation dragging on, and which caused me to do the further and additional research that led me to learning that: one, most arson fires in office buildings when the fire is set by a “torch” working for organized crime occur at about 3AM; and two, LAWYWERS HAVE FAR AND AWAY THE HIGHEST RATES OF ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ABUSE OF ANY MAJOR PROFESSION.
So therefore sleazy, crooked and drug addicted lawyers everywhere owe Bill Lockyer a big “Thank You.”
LikeLike
By MW:
Until reading the comments of earlier today (of 9:55AM and 7:11PM), I had never heard nor read anything concerning the child's intelligence, and nor anything else other than he was about eight or nine years old, and therefore just sort of assumed he was basically an average young child.
However if he is actually mentally retarded, then that brings up the issue as to whether Nadia Lockyer, in other words his mother, was an alcoholic and/or consuming illegal drugs while she was pregnant.
NOTE: Women who drink alcoholic beverages, and especially those who are extremely heavy drinkers, and/or consume illegal drugs while pregnant very often give birth to children who have major brain deficits.
LikeLike
Actually, I have met the kid and he was born retarded. This was verified by his mother. I'm not making a judgement, nor am I in any way trying to demean him. On the contrary. My point is that he needs both his parents, damaged such as they are. Now they will presumably have time for him.
He is innocent, and has nothing to do with his parents' numerous mistakes. Since he is a 'special needs' child, hopefully he will now become the focus of his parents' universe.
LikeLike
I agree with the poster above, but couldn't you lay off the kid? He's only like 9 and does not have the health problems you describe.
LikeLike
I disagree most vociferously. What I'll remember this guy for is the following:
Folks, our cries have been answered. That pompous stooge Bill HO Lockyer is retiring for good. Obviously the polling went lousy for him and he saw the writing on the wall. He and his whore tropy-wife [now a lead balloon] he thrust on us briefly as county supervisor, now they can go off into the sunset and leave us the hell alone. Nothing but a disaster. That's what we'll remember about the Ho Lockyers. That kid of theirs, who was born mentally retarded, hopefully now will get the attention he deserves. Neither parent has been accommodating to his needs. Hopefully he won't suffer due to their political whims anymore.
LikeLike