Local Politics
I recently watched The Revisionaries, and after pulling my hair out during most of the film and thinking that maybe I do just need to rule the world, I mentioned to my brother that I felt that I should get more involved in local politics, because oh my god, people.
Funny you should say that, he said. Want to grab your torch and pitchfork and join me on Tuesday?
The background: Kevin Gray, Clark County's (now former) Director of Environmental Services, requested whistle-blower protection after launching an investigation into some county employees in Jan 2013. He lost his job, and then dropped the charges after receiving nearly 60,000 in severance pay. It so happened that the man he was accusing was the friend, neighbor, and major contributor to Republican County Commissioner Tom Mielke. You can read more about that here
Then, Republican Commissioners Mielke and David Madore circumvented the entire hiring process for the hiring of a new Director of Environmental Services and forced through the hiring of State Senator Don Benton, despite the fact he doesn't meet the requirements, the job was never posted, no one was ever interviewed, and he's not going to be available for this full-time position because he is a sitting state senator - one with a horrible record on environmental issues, and who gets campaign money from corporations that may well come into conflict with environmental concerns in Clark County. Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart correctly labeled the whole affair 'bullshit'. You can read more about that here (I recommend the audio on that one), here, and
All of which leads to last night.
About 200 people showed up to speak at the Counsel meeting at 6pm. I was in the overflow room downstairs, watching on a screen for the first 4 hours. According to the agenda, public comments would come almost first (possibly actually first - I've not been to one of these before). There was also a rather contended proposal to waive development and traffic impact study fees for new commercial projects scheduled for this meeting.
Mielke and Madore proposed changing the agenda. Chairman Stuart pointed out that that was both against the rules, and also, as the public had shown up at the appointed time to speak when they were told they would be able to, unfair to the many, many people who wished to. Mielke then proposed throwing out the rules for this meeting. And, because there are two of them and one of Stuart, they voted it through. And then voted to change the agenda. Stuart said he knew they had discussed this plan behind closed doors, and would be filing an ethics charge, which triggered the first standing ovation of the night. Later he retracted this, saying he had misheard a conversation, and had been assured nothing untoward was going on, so I imagine the ethics charge on the agenda change won't happen.
I will say that there were many people wishing to speak about the fee waiver issue, so they did get to speak before midnight, and I'm sure that was great. However, after watching all of this, I have no faith that Mielke or Madore care one whit what people had to say, so I'm not sure how much it mattered in terms of their votes.
I was, however, kind of glad I got to see it. The proposal is bad - there are not numbers to back this up. There is a lot of wishful thinking that enough new business will come in to create enough jobs to offset the ~3+ million a year the county will lose by waiving these fees. My brother also has an econ degree, and just sort of sat sputtering in horror at the utter lack of math. Further, there was a proposed amendment to the issue that hadn't been printed or made public, which Madore kept lobbying for - it was just not ready for discussion and voting. Oh, and did I mention that Madore had inserted phrases about how the county expected to gain revenue into the supposedly Commissioner-influence-free staff report, despite the fact that no, the staff didn't actually think that? Yeah, he did. But don't be mad at him, he says! He is new to this. We were giving him a sadz.
I left for a little while just before 9, to go home, get my knitting (the only hope of keeping my blood pressure down and my head of hair intact), put on some warmer clothes, and get a phone charger. When I got back, it was still going, though people had cleared out - instead of about 100 in the overflow room, we had maybe 30, and we were told there were some seats available upstairs.
Finally, it was time for the actual discussion of Benton's appointment
An article I read this morning said the numbers were something like 46 people speaking against Benton's hiring, and 4 or 5 people speaking for it. I would note that in those 4 or 5, I counted 4 references to "Agenda 21", so take that with a grain of salt. I suppose it's nice that the crackpots make the effort to make it clear, but ugh. (Haven't heard of Agenda 21 and the people who somehow think it's a plot by the UN/Antichrist? You can read more about the ridiculousness here.)
So yes. Lots of people spoke, and there were a lot of good points made. Someone pointed out a rules violation that Commissioner Stuart hadn't caught, but which sounds to me like solid ground on which to help remove Benton from this position. (Stuart said he would follow up). A former HR director for the county talked about just how brazen and blatant this kind of end run around the hiring process was. Lots of people threatened a recall vote.
We had been asked to be polite, and specifically not to swear - Stuart apologized for having used the phrase "bullshit" at the previous meeting, when calling out the other two on their cronyism. One of my favorite quotes of the night ended with a local man saying, "In the words of a man I admire greatly...'This is bullshit.'"
When the public comments were finally done (around 12:15 am), the commissioners all spoke briefly, which was really the part I wanted to see. Mielke shook his head sadly and told us how disappointed he was that so many people were just wrong, and didn't understand the facts of the matter, without ever actually mentioning what specifically was wrong, or offering any facts. But he was very disappointed in us all for disagreeing with him.
Madore said we didn't know what was in each others' hearts, so we should all just be nice, and try to understand each other, because we were giving him a sadz, or something. I actually do agree that hate it rarely a good thing, and that it is good to try to understand people, but there was such a tone of "let's all sing kumbayah, and then you can hug my sketchily appointed, totally unqualified hack appointee while you apologize for hurting my feelings" that I just had to roll my eyes. We were exhausted, but not that delirious, Madore.
Stuart thanked people for coming out (which I believe Madore did as well, to be fair), and said he was going to continue to push the issue. He said that a member of the public had pointed out a rule that was both violated and never waived during the course of the appointment (any emergency hiring should have gone through the chair, which it did not, or through a different official I can't recall), and said he'll pursue that as well. Stuart has some mad skillz when it comes to politely calling out his two fellow Commissioners, and I really like him a lot. He has my vote, next time it comes up.
And then, the aftermath:
I had been tweeting during it, mostly to keep me sane (Erinwithans, if people do the twitter thing). It was my first foray into actually posting, well, anything, really, on Twitter, and using it for more than occasional replies to the few people I follow. I got added to a list of tweeters (is that the right word?) at the meeting, and am now being followed by some people I don't know in real life. This is deeply, deeply weird.
Also weird, but way, WAY more awesome, was the fact that in the crowded elevator going down 6 floors at a half past midnight, an old man proudly told us today was his 98th birthday. So we all sang to him while the elevator went down. It was actually a really lovely way to end a frustrating night. And wow. Go him for spending 7 hours of his 98th birthday at a meeting so he could speak his mind to his county commissioners for 3 minutes. Bad. Ass.
People are talking recall, and I think a petition will be going up soon, if it hasn't already. We'll see where it goes from there. Vancouver is sometimes called "Vantucky" down in Portland, and it does have a serious conservative side, even when I keep thinking that it seems like it should be full of Portland-spirited people who don't like living in the city, like me.
So, all in all, it was totally exhausting and rather frustrating, but it felt really good. Flexible work means I'm probably going to show for at least some of the Tuesday morning meeting next week, where some of this discussion will be continued.
Also: Mad, mad props, as the kids say, to Rachel, who does this kind of thing at the statehouse with alarming frequency. I had not appreciated how much energy is required to sit and listen to these things: bravo, and thank you.
Funny you should say that, he said. Want to grab your torch and pitchfork and join me on Tuesday?
The background: Kevin Gray, Clark County's (now former) Director of Environmental Services, requested whistle-blower protection after launching an investigation into some county employees in Jan 2013. He lost his job, and then dropped the charges after receiving nearly 60,000 in severance pay. It so happened that the man he was accusing was the friend, neighbor, and major contributor to Republican County Commissioner Tom Mielke. You can read more about that here
Then, Republican Commissioners Mielke and David Madore circumvented the entire hiring process for the hiring of a new Director of Environmental Services and forced through the hiring of State Senator Don Benton, despite the fact he doesn't meet the requirements, the job was never posted, no one was ever interviewed, and he's not going to be available for this full-time position because he is a sitting state senator - one with a horrible record on environmental issues, and who gets campaign money from corporations that may well come into conflict with environmental concerns in Clark County. Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart correctly labeled the whole affair 'bullshit'. You can read more about that here (I recommend the audio on that one), here, and
All of which leads to last night.
About 200 people showed up to speak at the Counsel meeting at 6pm. I was in the overflow room downstairs, watching on a screen for the first 4 hours. According to the agenda, public comments would come almost first (possibly actually first - I've not been to one of these before). There was also a rather contended proposal to waive development and traffic impact study fees for new commercial projects scheduled for this meeting.
Mielke and Madore proposed changing the agenda. Chairman Stuart pointed out that that was both against the rules, and also, as the public had shown up at the appointed time to speak when they were told they would be able to, unfair to the many, many people who wished to. Mielke then proposed throwing out the rules for this meeting. And, because there are two of them and one of Stuart, they voted it through. And then voted to change the agenda. Stuart said he knew they had discussed this plan behind closed doors, and would be filing an ethics charge, which triggered the first standing ovation of the night. Later he retracted this, saying he had misheard a conversation, and had been assured nothing untoward was going on, so I imagine the ethics charge on the agenda change won't happen.
I will say that there were many people wishing to speak about the fee waiver issue, so they did get to speak before midnight, and I'm sure that was great. However, after watching all of this, I have no faith that Mielke or Madore care one whit what people had to say, so I'm not sure how much it mattered in terms of their votes.
I was, however, kind of glad I got to see it. The proposal is bad - there are not numbers to back this up. There is a lot of wishful thinking that enough new business will come in to create enough jobs to offset the ~3+ million a year the county will lose by waiving these fees. My brother also has an econ degree, and just sort of sat sputtering in horror at the utter lack of math. Further, there was a proposed amendment to the issue that hadn't been printed or made public, which Madore kept lobbying for - it was just not ready for discussion and voting. Oh, and did I mention that Madore had inserted phrases about how the county expected to gain revenue into the supposedly Commissioner-influence-free staff report, despite the fact that no, the staff didn't actually think that? Yeah, he did. But don't be mad at him, he says! He is new to this. We were giving him a sadz.
I left for a little while just before 9, to go home, get my knitting (the only hope of keeping my blood pressure down and my head of hair intact), put on some warmer clothes, and get a phone charger. When I got back, it was still going, though people had cleared out - instead of about 100 in the overflow room, we had maybe 30, and we were told there were some seats available upstairs.
Finally, it was time for the actual discussion of Benton's appointment
An article I read this morning said the numbers were something like 46 people speaking against Benton's hiring, and 4 or 5 people speaking for it. I would note that in those 4 or 5, I counted 4 references to "Agenda 21", so take that with a grain of salt. I suppose it's nice that the crackpots make the effort to make it clear, but ugh. (Haven't heard of Agenda 21 and the people who somehow think it's a plot by the UN/Antichrist? You can read more about the ridiculousness here.)
So yes. Lots of people spoke, and there were a lot of good points made. Someone pointed out a rules violation that Commissioner Stuart hadn't caught, but which sounds to me like solid ground on which to help remove Benton from this position. (Stuart said he would follow up). A former HR director for the county talked about just how brazen and blatant this kind of end run around the hiring process was. Lots of people threatened a recall vote.
We had been asked to be polite, and specifically not to swear - Stuart apologized for having used the phrase "bullshit" at the previous meeting, when calling out the other two on their cronyism. One of my favorite quotes of the night ended with a local man saying, "In the words of a man I admire greatly...'This is bullshit.'"
When the public comments were finally done (around 12:15 am), the commissioners all spoke briefly, which was really the part I wanted to see. Mielke shook his head sadly and told us how disappointed he was that so many people were just wrong, and didn't understand the facts of the matter, without ever actually mentioning what specifically was wrong, or offering any facts. But he was very disappointed in us all for disagreeing with him.
Madore said we didn't know what was in each others' hearts, so we should all just be nice, and try to understand each other, because we were giving him a sadz, or something. I actually do agree that hate it rarely a good thing, and that it is good to try to understand people, but there was such a tone of "let's all sing kumbayah, and then you can hug my sketchily appointed, totally unqualified hack appointee while you apologize for hurting my feelings" that I just had to roll my eyes. We were exhausted, but not that delirious, Madore.
Stuart thanked people for coming out (which I believe Madore did as well, to be fair), and said he was going to continue to push the issue. He said that a member of the public had pointed out a rule that was both violated and never waived during the course of the appointment (any emergency hiring should have gone through the chair, which it did not, or through a different official I can't recall), and said he'll pursue that as well. Stuart has some mad skillz when it comes to politely calling out his two fellow Commissioners, and I really like him a lot. He has my vote, next time it comes up.
And then, the aftermath:
I had been tweeting during it, mostly to keep me sane (Erinwithans, if people do the twitter thing). It was my first foray into actually posting, well, anything, really, on Twitter, and using it for more than occasional replies to the few people I follow. I got added to a list of tweeters (is that the right word?) at the meeting, and am now being followed by some people I don't know in real life. This is deeply, deeply weird.
Also weird, but way, WAY more awesome, was the fact that in the crowded elevator going down 6 floors at a half past midnight, an old man proudly told us today was his 98th birthday. So we all sang to him while the elevator went down. It was actually a really lovely way to end a frustrating night. And wow. Go him for spending 7 hours of his 98th birthday at a meeting so he could speak his mind to his county commissioners for 3 minutes. Bad. Ass.
People are talking recall, and I think a petition will be going up soon, if it hasn't already. We'll see where it goes from there. Vancouver is sometimes called "Vantucky" down in Portland, and it does have a serious conservative side, even when I keep thinking that it seems like it should be full of Portland-spirited people who don't like living in the city, like me.
So, all in all, it was totally exhausting and rather frustrating, but it felt really good. Flexible work means I'm probably going to show for at least some of the Tuesday morning meeting next week, where some of this discussion will be continued.
Also: Mad, mad props, as the kids say, to Rachel, who does this kind of thing at the statehouse with alarming frequency. I had not appreciated how much energy is required to sit and listen to these things: bravo, and thank you.