On taking the bit between your teeth

The people who are pushing recall of Pacific Mayor Cy Sun might want to know where the title for today's blog comes from. It was in a stanza in a John Dryden satirical poem, the Medal, written in 1682:

But this new Jehu spurs the hot-mounted horse,
Instructs the beast to know his native force,
To take the bit between his teeth and fly
To the next headlong steep of anarchy.

Recall might get you everything you hope for, but you are playing the game of brinksmanship with a man who may be able to determine the fate of the city simply by ignoring you.

There might be another way to get things done, if you think creatively. It's always exhilarating to have a good donnybrook, but even if you win, you can lose. Sometimes it's better to lose, so that you can win. Thinking is the hardest work you can ever do. It can be far more exhausting than physical labor. But now it's time to think, and think hard.

I was involved in an almost useless political experiment 11 years ago, working with people who had the bit in their teeth and wouldn't spit it out. And they clearly lacked the determination to think. They took the easy way out. Before you dismiss this as old history, you might consider the fact that this particular piece of history built the foundation on which we stand today. Both action and inaction have consequences.

Here's the story:

In the year 2000, Gary Van Hee was booted off the city council. Prior to his removal, there had been a heated election over the possibility of the city obtaining a "prison." It actually was a detention center for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to hold undocumented immigrants. But the opponents were arguing that Pacific would become the home of felons, and all sorts of bogeymen. The campaign was crazy. When it was over, there was a split on the council, with almost half the members in the camp of Mayor Howard Erickson.

Mr. Van Hee had worked out an agreement with the previous council that he would be excused to attend night classes. However, the new council discovered that they had not taken formal votes to excuse him, and they took the opportunity of that oversight to oust him. The vote was 3-3 and Mr. Erickson broke the tie. Strangely, as I recall, Van Hee did not vote on his own behalf.

The community was aroused and came to observe. The council met in the old school gymnasium by city hall to decide Mr. Van Hee's fate. The gym was packed with ordinary folks. In the front row of spectators, the local crazy lady was mouthing the words toward Councilwoman Bernadine Harrison, "and you're next!" Nothing subtle about that. When the meeting was over there was a seething rage among the voters.

Mrs. Harrison and others circulated a petition to take the city to a council manager form of government. There was no difficulty gathering the requisite number of signatures from the restive populace. The petition was submitted to the county and the paperwork came back to the city to authorize a spring election for Proposition 1, converting Pacific to a council-manager form of government.

Mayor Erickson "lost" the paperwork.
The paperwork was delivered again.
Mayor Erickson "lost" the paperwork. Again.

Meanwhile, I contacted Mrs. Harrison and asked her, "well, are you folks going to form a committee, or just sit around?" I initiated the creation of the Proposition 1 committee, volunteered to coordinate it until a chair could be selected, and we began meeting at the library on Ellingson Road.

Councilwoman Karen McIver, who had voted for Van Hee's removal, was having a change of heart, and volunteered to file the paperwork for the election, since the Mayor obviously wasn't going to. (This should have been grounds for recall, but a prior effort to recall Mr. Erickson when he had been mayor before had failed.)

As coordinator, I tried to persuade the committee to adopt a rather unusual position: Allow Howard Erickson to sabotage the election.

I pointed out to the Proposition 1 committee that Mr. Erickson had managed to defeat his prececessor, Mayor Debra Jorgensen, because she had lost her credibility over the detention center issue. Now it was Mr. Erickson who had lost his credibility over the removal of Mr. Van Hee from office.

Why would anyone at this stage believe us, I asked. What credibility does this committee have? We are going to lose this election. Wouldn't it be better to simply let the mayor  show his true colors? He would be thumbing his nose at the voters, the public and the election process and save us the embarrassment of losing. There would be a firestorm of press coverage. The voters would be outraged and ready for a change.

"Oh, no!" decided the committee. We MUST have our election!

Yeah, right. King County took over the city's voting booths to prevent further irregularities. We lost by two thirds. The following November, there were five council positions open, and supporters for Mr. Erickson were running for all five seats. Four of them lost, and the fifth one would have lost if we let the mayor have his way.

You see, the crazy person, sent out a mailing opposing Proposition 1, and she used that to savage Bernadine Harrison, softening her up for defeat in November. (Of course, her name didn't show up any place, because it was an illegal mailing, but no-one with a lick of sense doubted who was behind it.) If there had been no election for Proposition 1, there would have been no character assassination of a council candidate in the fall election.

If these people hadn't taken the bit in their teeth, if they had thought rationally about the benefit of losing, there is an exceedingly good chance that an angry electorate, well aware of Mr. Erickson's abuses, would have cast aside ALL his cronies and cooled his jets. There would be a supermajority of non-Erickson council members, able to override his vetoes, if they stuck together.

My message to the recall committee is this: take the bit out of your teeth and figure out how to get some decent department heads hired. Consider the value of losing. If your only focus is on destroying Cy Sun,you are playing a high risk and irresponsible game. You might start by talking to Mr. Sun's friends to see whether they want the outcome that Pacific is heading for. They might be a little upset with what's coming down the road. He might listen to them.

And here's a question for you: Has anyone ever apologized to him for calling him a liar about his war medals? You need to make sure that base is covered. Never underestimate the power of an insult. This is no prediction that an alternate method will succeed. But if you don't try something other than what you are doing, you are as bright as the Proposition 1 committee was 11 years ago.

Afterthought:  There was a useful piece of information generated from the Proposition 1 election. On election day, Richard Hildreth, who would be mayor in only a couple years, stood with me at the Pacific Post Office and we watched voters show up to cast ballots across the street. He took the time to regale me with stories about the crazy lady, and the rap sheet he had collected on her. I might be wrong, but I think he said he had a few hundred pages of documents, including one that she had provided, identifying her mental illness.  I find it particularly disgusting that there were people in town who clearly knew she was ill, and cynically exploited her anyway. One of them was a very close neighbor. This is just one more reason why I have no pity for this government.