|
—Editorial—
Here We Go Again...
Just as we finally received closure on last year’s efforts to recall Baker City Mayor Dennis Dorrah and Councilor Beverly Calder, a new recall effort has been instigated, this time for Councilor Milo Pope. Although we can appreciate Dick Haynes asserting his rights to try and remove someone from office he feels is not conducive to a “quality and productive government” — we’re just plain tired of all of this.
We would like to see a cohesive council who can work together and be civil to each other. We (at this newspaper) have visited with all of these councilors and the mayor over varying issues and at different times, and have found each of them to be pleasant, intelligent and easy to talk to. But sometimes when they get together they become like oil and water — they can’t seem to mix their expertise and opinions into an agreeable blend of ideas and actions.
We’re not saying they don’t have good ideas, they do. And we are not saying they don’t make decisions, they do, but we would just like to see them be able to reach a consensus without all of the arguing and drama that takes place, and the resulting after effects by those who don’t agree with that consensus. We are beginning to wonder if we should submit our city council for consideration to a producer for a reality TV series...
Some may argue that they’ve seen things run pretty smoothly at council meetings, so have we, but the times they don’t are the ones people will focus on.
We think Haynes and others are talking recall because of the frustration they feel over our council who has obviously been divided in the past and continues to show signs of further discord. We are also concerned that some councilors who are up for re-election this year (Calder, Bryan, Button and Mayor Dorrah) will chose not to run again because of all of this, which would be a shame — there are some very bright individuals on council now. And we are concerned that others considering running for the first time will not want to get involved because of what they have seen take place over the last year.
We know these talented individuals who all have fine qualities to bring to the table won’t always agree and we don’t expect them to, but we do believe with a little effort they could agree to get along with and be respectful of each other.
We don’t feel this discord is the entire fault of any individual, because as they say it takes two to tango. In this case we would like to see all seven councilors and the Mayor fox trot in unison for the good of the City, whether they agree with each other or not. Then maybe we could stop doing the recall boogie.
—Letter To The Editor—
Recall Violations Weren’t ‘Ridiculous’
To The Editor:
In last Friday's Baker City Herald, Jamey Hardy, chief petitioner of the Recall Dorrah and Calder Committee, was quoted as saying, "It was ridiculous for it (Elections Division’s investigation of recall violations) to go as far as it did in the first place. We knew we weren't doing anything wrong."
Oh, really!
Elections Division investigator Alana Guiney didn't think the complaints were "ridiculous," as may be seen in her letter to Hardy dated March 1, 2010:
"There were an uncanny number of double signatures in this campaign... We received multiple complaints relating to the content of the recall petition, the inconsistencies regarding double signing, and the possibility of police officers collecting in uniform. There were also issues regarding possible false signatures."
And in a letter to Milo Pope, Guiney wrote, "...there were a huge number of double signers and other issues."
Guiney concluded, "Considering the relatively small number of signatures needed for the recall, the number of problems were disproportionate and troubling."
"In the first place," to use Hardy's words, what should NOT have happened was the Dorrah-Calder recall attempt.
O.K., let's move on.
Well, not quite yet.
There's still the unresolved issue of who financed the recall campaign.
Oregon election law requires campaign financing be open to public scrutiny. Campaigns must report within seven days all financial transactions. So, we know that the Recall Dorrah and Calder Committee had three individual contributions of $198 each. And Milo Pope made inkind contributions of $704 and $897 to finance his big ads.
But who donated $666 and $2,041 of the transaction type “Personal Expenditure for Reimbursement” dated Oct. 8 and 13, 2009? These loan-like transactions form the bulk of the recall committee’s finances.
When I inquired of the Elections Division, I was told there’s a loophole in election finance law. That type of transaction does not get a contributor attached to it until the recall committee either reimburses the person or closes its books.
The recall is not over until the public knows who put up the bulk of the money to finance it.
Gary Dielman
Baker City
|
