Cy Sun was my neighbor

If Pacific's Mayor Cy Sun has demonstrated anything, it is that we should have confidence in democracy.
Just imagine—What if he were king?

There. Now don't you feel better?

Without getting involved in the rumors that are flying,  What I'd like to tell you is about my personal experience with Mr. Sun.

Until moving to Seattle, I lived just a few doors away from him, and we got to know each other. I learned that his life has not been easy, and perhaps because of that he is tough and determined. And perhaps those hardships are also the reason that he is arbitrary, capricious and thick headed. Even if his hearing were excellent (which it is not), he does not listen to opposing points of view.

Here is what Mr. Sun told me about himself:

On August 6, 1945, he was a child, visiting a relative in the country, with  a clear view of the city where his family was situated that day: Hiroshima. He probably didn't see the package labeled "Little Boy" descend from the Enola Gay, but he couldn't miss the firestorm that arose from the blast. Sometime later, as a young man, he was starving, and stowed away on a boat that took him to Hawaii, where he lived on the streets. Somehow—the details have escaped me—he made it into the army, serving in Korea. (He has the medals to prove he served with valor.) That an individual who can't speak English can work himself into the military and end up a war hero is a testimony to his determination. On the other hand, perhaps enduring the trauma to earn those medals might raise questions about a person's fitness for the demands of public office.

Mr. Sun told me he operates farms in Oregon. He also told me about his attitude as a business operator—tough with bankers, and rough-talking with people he disagreed with. I learned early-on there is little room for diplomacy in his black-and-white world. Farmers are practical: They slaughter animals, thin crops, clear land; and they are not sentimental about it.

Mr. Sun shared that he had Mexicans who worked his farms seasonally and then returned home. He built houses for them to live in when they worked. And these Mexicans appreciated it, but had no respect for illegal immigrants, he stated.

Somehow Mr. Sun has forgotten that he had once been an undocumented immigrant living on the streets in Hawaii.

I believe it was before he was elected that Mr. Sun slammed his fist into the palm of his hand and said he was going to get all Pacific's public officials out of office. He told me that when he was in the military he had been an axe man for a top ranking officer. I concluded he thought he could do the same thing once he was elected. At the same time he talked about working for "the people" and following the Constitution, which he apparently has great reverence for.

Following the election in which he became mayor, I reminded the city council of the abuses that had occurred in the past, including  police misconduct, racial profiling, and allowing a mayor to demean and dominate people who came to speak to the council. (It wasn't just the mayors who would be high-handed. For example, when I served as a member, the city council outlawed skatebording in the core of the city, but decided they wouldn't notify the public of the prohibition or even post "no skateboarding" signs. And the public safety director admitted he didn't know the boundaries for the no-skateboarding area.) 

I told the council they now had a mayor who once had been an undocumented immigrant. I said this was a case of "chickens coming home to roost." I left them with a copy of my comments.

And afterward I told Mr. Sun what I had done.

He told me not to bring up how he had come to America. I told him I had already done so, and that I had handed a statement to the council in a public meeting.

He told me to get the document back. I told him that was impossible—it was a public record.

He ordered me to get it back.

I was surprised, because there is nothing demeaning or damaging in what I said. He earned his United States citizenship at great risk to his life, and I don't see what risk there is in telling a story that is 60 years old.

I tried to explain to Mr. Sun that he had been a candidate for public office and that he was a public official. It was of interest to the public. He said it was his personal information. I tried to explain to him that when you run for public office this type of information is fair game. He insisted it was nobody's business, ordered me to retrieve the document, and threatened to sue me if I didn't get the document back from the city.

At this point I turned and walked away and I have not spoken to Mr. Sun since.

Any why would I? What is the point of trying to make sense out of nonsense? While Mr. Sun loves the idea of the Constitution, he doesn't appear to care much for the document itself.

Mr. Sun hasn't destroyed the town. The government was corrupt and a lot of public and private individuals had their heads in the sand. Mr. Sun  holds office because he knocked over a shakey house of cards which Pacific's public officials had erected over the prior 12 years. He was correct that the system was corrupt. But he also is corrupt, because he has further vandalized the body politic and further corroded any possible faith Pacific citizens could have in self governance.  He has turned a neglected mess into a disaster.

In that sense, Mr. Sun has brought us together. We're all in agreement that it's past time for him to go.

But where are the leaders who will craft a government that can act intelligently and selflessly? Show me a group of people who not only can work together constructively, but who also have the gumption to stand up to the bad apples so that Pacific gets out of the morass it's been in for the past 12 years and stays out. As disgusted as people are with Mr. Sun, they overlook the fact that they allowed the deterioration that led to his election.


As Pogo is so famously quoted, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

In 2001, I ran for public office on the slogan, "We Can Do Better." I no longer believe that. There is no evidence that Pacific has what it takes.

It's up to the residents of Pacific to prove me wrong.

Insurance Retrospective

In her Pacific City Signal, (http://pacificcitysignal.tumblr.com/) my friend, Jeanne Fancher, has been reporting on the Pacific mayor's dismissal of the city attorney and has intimated some concerns about the loss of insurance coverage. Here's a little "blast from the past" about insurance:

Back in the summer of 2001 the city's insurance carrier, Canfield and Associates, met with city officials and candidates to discuss city issues. This meeting was held after then-mayor Howard Erickson had drawn unflattering press coverage for causing the city to lose one of the two big insurance carriers for cities in Washington. (Canfield was the only other competitively priced insurer.)

At that time I was operating a Web site for all candidates, and on that site I included a report about what Canfield had told the officials and the candidates. Here's what I reported then, 11 years ago:

The city's new insurance carrier gave some pretty clear advice to the city council in a public meeting Tuesday, August 28: Get along with each other, follow established procedures and take your attorney's advice.

The city has already lost one insurance carrier, and it can't afford to be dropped by another carrier, Eric Homer, vice president of Canfield & Associates, Inc., told the council. Being dropped again could make the city uninsurable, or only able to purchase much less coverage at a far higher price.

Attending the insurance training session were Mayor Howard Erickson, Council President Karen McIver, Member Bernadine Harrison, and Rich Hildreth and Robert Smith, candidates for the council.

City Denied Insurance Three Times
After being dropped by its insurance carrier effective July 1, the city was turned down for insurance three times by Canfield & Associates before being accepted, Homer told those present.

He diplomatically but clearly stated what he expects of city leaders: "You're not going to fight on our dime." If Pacific is dropped by this carrier the prospects won't be good. According to Homer, "a two-time loser will be in a world of hurt to get insurance." 

He said his agency would be willing to hold a retreat for council members to help them learn how to work through disagreements. It's possible to agree to be agreeable even when you strongly disagree with another council member, he said.

Elected Officials Are The City

 
City council members represent the city 24 hours a day. They are always on duty, and they ARE the city, Homer said. They need to follow established procedures and they need to understand the limits of their roles, in order to avoid liability.

They also need to follow their attorney's advice. Homer said failing to follow procedure might mean that the insurance carrier won't protect them, and they could become personally liable in a lawsuit.

 An important implication of these comments still rings true today: Canfield insures Pacific with the intent of making a profit. It is not going to extend insurance if it looks like hefty payouts will exceed income.

If the city becomes uninsured, then the elected officials (who ARE the city) are unprotected from lawsuits, and only a fool would continue to serve, particularly in the current adversarial climate. In a nutshell: No insurance? No City.

One final comment here: If by "corruption" we  mean rot and the loss of integrity, I don't see how the election of Mayor Cy Sun has ended corruption. The disintegration seems to be continuing.

An offer you shouldn't refuse

Some Pacific residents seem to be upset about the current chaotic conditions in their city government. Well, it took them long enough.
 

This is the town that tolerated racial profiling and a public safety director who proudly wore on his chest -- on the night he was arrested and charged with DUI -- a T-shirt that celebrated the Chicago police riots of 1968 and proclaimed, "We kicked your father's ass, now it's your turn." When I placed a photo of his DUI booking on a T-shirt of my own, a city councilman complimented him on the likeness, and another councilman berated me for wearing the shirt, while ignoring the dishonor the public safety director had brought on the city.

This is not a city that has been blessed with enlightened leadership. The elected officials have  included alcoholics, an individual who used the advantage of public office to promote and benefit himself and individuals who encouraged the mentally ill to vilify their opponents. It takes a long time to close wounds like that, and the newest mayor shows no inclination to try.

I am absolutely convinced that at least eight out of 10 Pacific residents are disgusted with the kind of behavior I've mentioned here. And I understand why many haven't gotten involved. No intelligent person wants to hug the tar baby. But something has to be done and someone has to do it to move this city in a more positive direction. Either that, or get real and disincorporate.

Occasional feel-good stories about limited activities that warm the cockles of your heart aren't going to solve the problem. The turmoil is going to continue until a set of leaders emerge who understand what it means to operate a democratic government. Ignoring obvious abuses didn't cut it, and now the fat's in the fire, and rightly so.

It's going to take more than one or two leaders to get things back on track. It's going to take a village.

What has happened over the past 30 years is that the village has disappeared. When Pacific had 2,500 residents, people knew each other. There was a definite sense of community. There was a volunteer fire department that had a lot of local participants. People pitched in and paid attention. As the town became a city, things changed. For example, volunteer fire fighters were displaced by paid staff, many of whom didn't live in town and therefore didn't see residents as their neighbors. When your kids don't play together, that's a significant qualitative difference.

Twelve years ago, when I organized a small group of individuals into Pacific Candlelighters, we hoped we could launch projects that would attract Pacific residents in a community-building drive. But that got sidelined with the ongoing grudge matches in the city government and self-serving power grabs. Building community infrastructure became impossible. 

It is no coincidence that "community" and "communication" are so similar in appearance. They rely on the reality that "community" depends on "communication."

And so I'm going to make an offer to this aggregation of individuals who live within the boundaries of the corporate entite we refer to as "Pacific". The numbers on this blog site indicate about 10 people visit every day. That's a lot for a city this size.

My invitation is for the village to emerge through these pages. People who have something to offer are invited to use the space on this site to share their ideas about what they think should be happening in Pacific. I don't care if you are 18 or 80, rich or poor, or who you are. What I want to know is what you think can be done to make this a better city. Let's start simple: An open letter of up to 1,000 words from anyone who wants to submit it. I'll proofread it for libel and decency, but otherwise I will run it as is. 

Replies and expanded dialog will be encouraged.

And I'd like to include a little bit of information about the writers, so that people get to know each other. You can even submit a photo of yourself, if you like.

Given the current rate of hits on this site, your message likely would be seen by at least 50 people over the course of a month. And if you strike the right chord, people may just share what you have to say with others.

You don't have to express an opinion. You might want to point out something you think has gone unnoticed in the town. Maybe there is a neighbor, a city employee or an organization that deserves some recognition. Or maybe you have an activity you would like people to participate in. It don't care what you have to say. It's what's important to you that's important. I would only ask that the contributions be thoughtful, constructive, and not self-serving.

What I'm hoping for is that this will begin connecting people who can feed off each other in a manner that will heal this community, and by which new leaders can emerge and be recognized who have the gumption to work on the city's problems and build community.

I believe it was President Harry Truman who believed that any community of 5,000 people could probably generate a man fit to be president.

It's not all that new of  an idea. The Greek philosopher Plato said that the ideal republic would have 5040 citizens. (Athens had only about 20,000 people at about that time.)

Pacific likely has the human talent to address this city's problems and solve them, but it's going to take a village--and people who are committed to the concept of village--and open dialog.

Anyone who is interested may submit their statements to me at dancingpotter@gmail.com.  I'll post them here.

Sincerely,


Robert Smith