COUNCILMEMBER MARCHAND HONORED AS ELECTED OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR BY AMVETS POST 19 /VETERANS FOR PEACE
On Memorial Day, Councilmember Paul S. Marchand was honored by Amvets Post 19/Veterans for Peace as "Elected Official of the Year" at a Memorial Day luncheon at the Villas Resort in Cathedral City, California.
Receiving this honor is a wonderful surprise for me,. I had no idea that I was being considered for the award until recently. What is especially touching is knowing that last year's honoree was Palm Springs Councilmember Ginny Foat, whom I consider a good friend. It is truly special to be in such wonderful company.
In addition to being a very special award for me because it was unsought, unexpected, and unanticipated, the award is also special because so many friends and supporters came out to be present for its presentation. The luncheon at the Villas was sold out, and I was especially honored to have the company of David Roth, running in the Democratic Congressional primary in the 45th Congressional District and Assembly candidates Steve Clute (80th A.D.) and Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean (65th A.D.) I was also grateful for the presence of Cathedral City Mayor Pro Tem. Greg Pettis and Desert Hot Springs Mayor Pro Tem. Gary Bosworth, as well as that of Laurie Stalnaker from the Central Labor Council, Joe Duffle from UFVW Local 1167, Chuck McDaniel from IBEW 440, former 45th CD candidate and now Democrats of the Desert president Elle Kurpiewski, and so many other friends, family and supporters.
Finally, a further word of thanks to post commander Tom Swann and the members of AmVets Post 19 and Veterans for Peace for selecting me to receive this honor.
Being named Elected Official of the Year represents a challenge to me to continue working as hard as I can for my constituents.
Remarks Given at Luncheon (Revised and Extended)
In the venerable tradition of the Congressional Record, I take this opportunity to "revise and extend" my off-the-cuff remarks from yesterday:
Brothers and sisters, hermanos y hermanas, the most special gift of all is the one that comes as a surprise.
This award is special to me because it was unsought, unexpected, and unanticipated.
It is also truly special to me because so many of you have taken time out of your holiday to be here.
On this memorial day, it is not only appropriate that we remember those whom we have loved but see no longer, who have fallen in this country’s service, but also that we ask basic questions about this nation’s foreign policy.
Let me preach heresy and sedition for a moment by suggesting that we can never allow our foreign policy to foreclose the military option. Diplomacy needs the threat force to be credible, and the military solution can never be taken off the table.
However, the current administration seems to have embraced a polity of taking diplomacy off the table, of reaching the military solution first, last, and always.
On this Memorial Day, I submit that we have not only the right, but in fact the duty, to insist that if we are going to send our young people off to foreign lands to face foreign shot, foreign shell, foreign steel, and foreign fighters, we do so in the service of a well thought out policy that has a coherent beginning, middle, and exit strategy.
We must not allow the precious lives of our citizen soldiers to be regarded as inconsequential things, to be put at risk or in harm’s way upon the mere whim or caprice of whatever administration occupies the White House.
Yet, what can we do in local politics to influence foreign policy?
The Russians have a proverb: God is high, and the Tsar is far away.
So too in America, God is high, and Washington City is far away.
Yet we have tools to shape policy that the subjects of the Romanov Dynasty did not, and incrementally, city by city, county by county, state by state, region by region, the citizens of this nation can begin to address the single most deranging factor in our foreign policy, and that is our dependence on nonrenewable foreign fossil fuels.
If we are to wage peace, we must wage war on extravagant energy consumption. Too many of our fuel sources are in the hands of Middle Eastern rulers, or Venezuelan colonels who bear this country no love, and do not have her best interests at heart, and whose people are in the street, shouting "death to America," or "abajo los Estados Unidos."
For us in Cathedral City, waging war on energy extravagance has taken the form of embracing the Downtown Energy Initiative that I brought to my Council colleagues three years ago, and which has been in operation since last October.
It is a combination of energy-efficient best practices designed to enhance the City’s energy efficiency and capital improvements, which take advantage of the clean, environmentally green, abundant light of the sun, to save the city nearly $200,000 per year on its energy costs. This long term is a win-win-win-win.
For starters this long-term(at least 25 year) program will potentially save Cathedral City tens or even scores of millions of dollars over the next two to three decades. Once the initial capital costs have been recovered, which should happen in as few as nine years, the City will enjoy ever-increasing savings on its energy costs as those costs continue to rise.
Second, the Downtown Energy Savings and Conservation Initiative will remove more than 500 tons of noxious pollutants from our city’s atmosphere, helping Cathedral City and Southern California as a whole incrementally attack its malodorous reputation as being one of the most polluted regions in the country.
Third, we are setting an example to other California cities and to our own private sector that solar power is not a pipe-dream, but that it can be an important part of an energy reducing strategy that reduces costs and consumption at the same time.
Finally, by helping reduce overall demand on fossil fuels, Cathedral City’s energy conservation initiative helps enhance this country’s energy independence, helping to making this nation stronger, safer, and more secure.
And I can’t think of a better way to honor the sacrifices of those whose lives we celebrate today than to work to reduce the drivers of conflict by reducing the energy dependency that engenders such conflicts in the first place.
Let me thank Tom Swann and AmVets 19/Veterans for Peace for this award. Let me thank all of you for coming to be here today. Let me thank those both living and dead, who have served this nation and defended her cause.
God bless you, God bless Cathedral City. God Bless America.
On Memorial Day, Councilmember Paul S. Marchand was honored by Amvets Post 19/Veterans for Peace as "Elected Official of the Year" at a Memorial Day luncheon at the Villas Resort in Cathedral City, California.
Receiving this honor is a wonderful surprise for me,. I had no idea that I was being considered for the award until recently. What is especially touching is knowing that last year's honoree was Palm Springs Councilmember Ginny Foat, whom I consider a good friend. It is truly special to be in such wonderful company.
In addition to being a very special award for me because it was unsought, unexpected, and unanticipated, the award is also special because so many friends and supporters came out to be present for its presentation. The luncheon at the Villas was sold out, and I was especially honored to have the company of David Roth, running in the Democratic Congressional primary in the 45th Congressional District and Assembly candidates Steve Clute (80th A.D.) and Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean (65th A.D.) I was also grateful for the presence of Cathedral City Mayor Pro Tem. Greg Pettis and Desert Hot Springs Mayor Pro Tem. Gary Bosworth, as well as that of Laurie Stalnaker from the Central Labor Council, Joe Duffle from UFVW Local 1167, Chuck McDaniel from IBEW 440, former 45th CD candidate and now Democrats of the Desert president Elle Kurpiewski, and so many other friends, family and supporters.
Finally, a further word of thanks to post commander Tom Swann and the members of AmVets Post 19 and Veterans for Peace for selecting me to receive this honor.
Being named Elected Official of the Year represents a challenge to me to continue working as hard as I can for my constituents.
Remarks Given at Luncheon (Revised and Extended)
In the venerable tradition of the Congressional Record, I take this opportunity to "revise and extend" my off-the-cuff remarks from yesterday:
Brothers and sisters, hermanos y hermanas, the most special gift of all is the one that comes as a surprise.
This award is special to me because it was unsought, unexpected, and unanticipated.
It is also truly special to me because so many of you have taken time out of your holiday to be here.
On this memorial day, it is not only appropriate that we remember those whom we have loved but see no longer, who have fallen in this country’s service, but also that we ask basic questions about this nation’s foreign policy.
Let me preach heresy and sedition for a moment by suggesting that we can never allow our foreign policy to foreclose the military option. Diplomacy needs the threat force to be credible, and the military solution can never be taken off the table.
However, the current administration seems to have embraced a polity of taking diplomacy off the table, of reaching the military solution first, last, and always.
On this Memorial Day, I submit that we have not only the right, but in fact the duty, to insist that if we are going to send our young people off to foreign lands to face foreign shot, foreign shell, foreign steel, and foreign fighters, we do so in the service of a well thought out policy that has a coherent beginning, middle, and exit strategy.
We must not allow the precious lives of our citizen soldiers to be regarded as inconsequential things, to be put at risk or in harm’s way upon the mere whim or caprice of whatever administration occupies the White House.
Yet, what can we do in local politics to influence foreign policy?
The Russians have a proverb: God is high, and the Tsar is far away.
So too in America, God is high, and Washington City is far away.
Yet we have tools to shape policy that the subjects of the Romanov Dynasty did not, and incrementally, city by city, county by county, state by state, region by region, the citizens of this nation can begin to address the single most deranging factor in our foreign policy, and that is our dependence on nonrenewable foreign fossil fuels.
If we are to wage peace, we must wage war on extravagant energy consumption. Too many of our fuel sources are in the hands of Middle Eastern rulers, or Venezuelan colonels who bear this country no love, and do not have her best interests at heart, and whose people are in the street, shouting "death to America," or "abajo los Estados Unidos."
For us in Cathedral City, waging war on energy extravagance has taken the form of embracing the Downtown Energy Initiative that I brought to my Council colleagues three years ago, and which has been in operation since last October.
It is a combination of energy-efficient best practices designed to enhance the City’s energy efficiency and capital improvements, which take advantage of the clean, environmentally green, abundant light of the sun, to save the city nearly $200,000 per year on its energy costs. This long term is a win-win-win-win.
For starters this long-term(at least 25 year) program will potentially save Cathedral City tens or even scores of millions of dollars over the next two to three decades. Once the initial capital costs have been recovered, which should happen in as few as nine years, the City will enjoy ever-increasing savings on its energy costs as those costs continue to rise.
Second, the Downtown Energy Savings and Conservation Initiative will remove more than 500 tons of noxious pollutants from our city’s atmosphere, helping Cathedral City and Southern California as a whole incrementally attack its malodorous reputation as being one of the most polluted regions in the country.
Third, we are setting an example to other California cities and to our own private sector that solar power is not a pipe-dream, but that it can be an important part of an energy reducing strategy that reduces costs and consumption at the same time.
Finally, by helping reduce overall demand on fossil fuels, Cathedral City’s energy conservation initiative helps enhance this country’s energy independence, helping to making this nation stronger, safer, and more secure.
And I can’t think of a better way to honor the sacrifices of those whose lives we celebrate today than to work to reduce the drivers of conflict by reducing the energy dependency that engenders such conflicts in the first place.
Let me thank Tom Swann and AmVets 19/Veterans for Peace for this award. Let me thank all of you for coming to be here today. Let me thank those both living and dead, who have served this nation and defended her cause.
God bless you, God bless Cathedral City. God Bless America.
posted by Paul S. Marchand | 3:55 PM
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