Gary Hulsey's Dangerous Game

Pacific City Councilman Gary Hulsey has gone on record claiming that the city's new mayor, Cy Sun, didn't really earn the service medals he claims to have earned. Mr. Sun published his claims when he was a candidate for mayor.
Mr. Hulsey is a patriotic individual. After the pledge of allegiance at council meetings, he salutes the flag. I think his behavior is likely sincere. But sincere or not, his objections smack of an intent to betray the November election by having Mr. Sun removed from office.

It's not the first time Pacific voters would have been betrayed. Eight years ago, when Rich Hildreth became mayor, he was betraying the voters right out of the starting gate by lying to the council and undermining their authority. That power grab, and the council's acceptance of it, led to my resignation, followed by the appointment to my vacancy of an individual who had been given the boot, Councilman Clint Steiger. This inauspicious beginning laid the foundation for Mr. Hildreth's eventual fall from grace due to his greed and insensitivity.

Mr. Sun didn't get elected for his claims that he had service medals. He got elected because voters were fed up with the self-serving hypocrisy of a mayor who couldn't wait to get his hands in the cookie jar to pay for his FEMA training, who flagrantly misused the state's credit for personal advantage, and who repeatedly dominated and insulted members of the public. They were also fed up with a public safety director who had developed a reputation as a racial profiling scofflaw and a bully who has been accused in at least one deposition of requiring employees to view porn while on duty. Both Mr. Hulsey and Mr. Steiger had been members of the council's public safety committee, which has oversight over the public safety division.

If anyone should be closely scrutinized, it's the members of the council who repeatedly turned a blind eye to the corruption, and who still believe their inaction is blameless.

Instead of attacking the new mayor, it's time for members of the council, especially Mr. Hulsey, to look at their compliance with outrageous behavior.

Mr. Sun's service in the Korean War has no bearing on what was happening in Pacific. The council's enabling of boorish, bullying, dishonest behavior did have an impact, and the voters have told the elected officials as much.

While Mr. Hulsey and others are poring over documents to bolster their point of view, I'd like to suggest a really old document that is much more relevant—Luke 4:23: Physician, heal thyself.