 In January, Republican Lincoln City Councilwoman Robin Eschliman announced she wouldn't be running for re-election to a second term with the following statement:
I feel that our City is now in good shape and in good hands - mission accomplished....I was feisty and outspoken, yet I worked tirelessly with the administration and the Council, doing what I thought was right, and doing everything I said I would do and then some.
Since I have accomplished far more than what I promised I would do, I am making a decision which will no doubt surprise people. I have decided NOT to run again for office.
In recent years I started a new business, and I have found it difficult to work and travel for clients and vacation with my family due to the Council schedule....
So I am going to go back to private life for a little while and catch my breath and invest energy into my business during this tough economic time. I know now that politics is in my blood, and I have my eye on a myriad of ways to continue to be involved in public service, including even the possibility of a run for a higher office someday.
In Eschliman's world, being "feisty and outspoken" means calling for "substantial cuts" to public services, attacking funding of a suicide prevention hotline for gay teenagers because it was too controversial, and demonizing city employees at every opportunity. Never one for humility or common sense, she has also positioned herself on the council's extreme right-wing, embracing a truly toxic partisanship that has divided the council and alienated the city.
The local media all reported that the demands of Eschliman's new business were her primary reason for leaving the city council. Eschliman has worked in real estate for two decades but started her own business - Eschliman Commercial Real Estate - in 2007. That's two years after she was elected to the city council.
The problem isn't that Eschliman would pursue a new business opportunity while in elected office. The problem is that she's openly using this business selling her influence as a sitting member of the City Council for private gain.
For proof, look no further than www.ecrproperty.com - also known as www.RobinEschliman.com. There, her front-page bio lists "She was elected to an at-large seat on the Lincoln City Council in 2005."
With her line of work in the real estate business, that mere mention of her powerful place in city government might be enough to make some watchdogs howl. But, the problem really starts when she starts pimping city policies and city priorities for her own personal profit.
Providing information About Lincoln for those with whom she wants to do business, Eschliman writes:
Lincoln has recently broadened its use of TIF-Tax Increment Financing. TIF means that 15 years of the increased value of the newly renovated or developed property can be dedicated to infrastructure for the project. Lincoln formerly used TIF only in older areas of the urban core but now has expanded the use to several other areas of the city. A map is available from Eschliman Commercial Real Estate....
City priorities at this time include: Development proposals for a convention center and arena in the Downtown/Haymarket area; Antelope Valley, a flood control/road improvement/blight removal project east of Downtown; and a revitalization of the Everett/Near South neighborhoods south of Downtown.
Lincoln has several very large industrial facilities (over 100,000 square feet) that are vacant, and a new rail park near its airport.
Although unemployment seems low, Lincoln has been widely recognized as having an "under-employment" problem....The City of Lincoln works extra hard to identify employers who can help solve the under-employment problem.
Writing about TIF, Eschilman is using our city's tax policies as her own personal calling card. Those are also some very high dollar projects she's promoting - guided by policies that she's had a very powerful hand in crafting and that she continues to oversee. Now, focusing on her business and getting into bed with developers, she's clearly hoping to profit from these policies and projects in a very big way.
Still not convinced of Eschliman's corruption? This should do the trick - the section on her business website specifically titled "Manuevering Around City Hall." There, Eschliman is pictured just as you see above surrounded by the other six members of the Lincoln City Council. She writes:
Lincoln has a smart growth policy which encourages density, green space, pedestrian mobility, watershed management, and design standards. There are no suburbs and no SIDs. Growth is projected at 1% to 1.5% annually.
The City has a strong mayoral form of government. Large projects should be presented to the Mayor first. Then support should be sought from key members of the Planning Commission and at least 4 or 5 of the 7 members of the City Council.
The photo alone is enough to convict Eschliman of corruption in the court of public opinion. The message couldn't be more clear that she's the person to come to if you want to get business done with the city of Lincoln. This is especially the case with the council's 4-3 Republican majority at a time when she's done so much to divide the council on party lines. If you want support from "4 or 5 of the 7 members," you need Eschliman and her Republican cohorts on your side.
This is how business is being done on the Lincoln City Council. Eschliman has placed a "For Sale" sign on her public office and corrupted all of city government in the process.
For a final illustration of just how corrupt her perspective and just how diseased her priorities truly are, Eschliman wrote in her announcement she wouldn't be seeking re-election:
I want to say something to the business people in our community, whom I have openly and consistently represented. There are those who delight in manufacturing bitterness between businesses and the common citizen. They will do it in this upcoming campaign, with attempts to keep business people from holding office, and they will do it under the guise of words such as "transparency" and "conflict of interest."
According to Eschliman, calls for "transparency" and warnings of "conflicts of interest" are just political weapons for manufacturing bitterness. I suppose that's what I'd say too if I'd so blatantly violated the public's trust and was hoping to cover my tracks for just a few more months.
Eschliman went on to endorse her friend Ken Svoboda, a fellow Republican City Councilman and former Mayoral candidate, for re-election this spring. If he is serious about his re-election, Svoboda owes it to the people of Lincoln to reject Eschliman's endorsement and - yes - to call for her immediate resignation. The rest of the council and all current candidates for the office should do the same.
At the same time, let's never forget Eschliman's promise she might "run for a higher office someday." That's a very scary proposition when she's proven herself unfit to serve even one more day in the office she currently holds. |
