Someone here in Pagosa Springs reminded me not long after I was dismissed from the County that when events turn against you; you quickly find out who your friends are. His insight proved to be true. Unfortunately, I cannot express my gratitude for those who came forward standing by me because they too may suffer negative repercussions for their noble efforts. However, I can talk about those who deserted me.
A tour of our new development services offices and lunch with John Ranson were on my agenda the day I was dismissed. I cancelled. Although I have included John in several communications I thought would make him a better candidate, he has never called or sought to contact me. I like John. When I was under incredible stresses as the department was being pulled in a number of directions, John made a point in a very public way of giving me credit for my efforts. However, I have to say I was really disappointed John never took the time or made the effort to contact me over these last few months as so many others have. It stands out in my mind because we have so much in common, and I really anticipated we would become good friends.
John may not rush to judgment on issues coming before the County as he did with me, but can this County afford to take that chance. I consider the loss of John’s friendship one of the great losses I suffered in all this. Unfortunately, I cannot endorse John’s candidacy for County Commissioner as a result of this experience. I feel strongly that John lacks the character and objectivity to serve this County. Rather, the County needs someone who will bring integrity to local government; someone like Ron Chacey.
Now, here we are, twenty-five days out from the 2008 national elections. It’s a Friday, and I am not expecting much in the news as my wife leaves to connect with her sister in Denver. I was not prepared for a day like this, but it was rejuvenating. My mind was elsewhere, but CNN and MSNBC brought me back over the course of the day.
The stock market had been attached to lead weights all week, but this Friday it seemed to resist gravity and come back time-and-again. The previous night I had heard pundits with wringing hands say the bottom was somewhere around 7,200, but the market seemed to have found a floor at 8,000. The oil market, which pundits had said would never see anything south of $100.00 @ barrel, was trending ever-lower causing an emergency meeting of OPEC. The world’s oil-producing countries were put on notice the American appetite for did have its limits.
The Bush Administration had been throwing billions-on-billions of dollars at a sliding housing market and stock market without result. However, with few options they reached out once more today to stave off a continuing crisis. This time it was connected with the international community and it appears to have held and established a floor to work from in bringing back the financial and housing markets.
After days of ever-more vicious attacks on Obama, the McCain finally came face-to-face with the volatile climate Republicans were creating. There were jeers from crowds being ginned up by McCain and Palin calling Obama a “terrorist” and cat-calls to “kill him”. Finally, today one woman in a one-on-one with McCain, said Obama was “an Arab” and McCain seemed to have had enough and changed gears. In a real turn-a-round, McCain told her Obama was not Arab, was an honorable man, and was simply offering a different opinion. McCain clearly found the floor, and sought to bring civility back to his campaign. It was a beautiful moment for which McCain deserves much credit.
At the end of the day came word the legislative report on Governor Palin’s actions in firing a State official for not firing her former brother-in-law finally came out. The conclusion was she violated ethical standards by interfering with State business for personal reasons. It put a floor on a public official’s ability to exercise power over staff – she abused her power in an unethical manner. There was no basis in fact or law to allow Todd Palin to intervene in State personnel issues.
The State of Colorado was previously faced with a proposed initiative to require “just cause” for firing an employee in the State of Colorado (Amendment 55). It, and three other initiatives (Amendments 53, 56 and 57) were withdrawn after an accommodation was reached to defeat an anti-labor initiative (Amendment 47) recently. The “just cause” initiative would have set a floor in how employees (both private and public) are treated. Like any good idea, it is likely to return.
If it were in affect here it would have helped me. After the County found itself in a financial mess and being devoid of political leadership to resolve those issues, a series of outrageous efforts were initiated to take the spotlight off elected officials. I was among the victims of that prolonged diatribe as were others like Bob Campbell and George Barter. Sadly, without the benefit of rational thought, transparency, and legally mandated due process there is not one employee safe from the arbitrary actions of someone in a power position to take advantage of the situation.
In my case, outrageous allegations were made, spurious and curious allegations, and although I was advised in writing that if I asked for a hearing on these issues in writing within four (4) hours, I was never given any right to defend myself. The worst part was that County officials released information from my personnel file to the Pagosa Sun, which led to a front-page article. The Pagosa Sun never contacted me or sought my side of the story, which indicates there is no floor to their standards of fairness. If there had been a law requiring “just cause” when Greg Schulte arbitrarily decided to terminate me – when nefarious allegations were made against George Barter, he could have defended himself. I would have at least had the opportunity to defend myself. When I needed good and decent people in office to assure fairness and due process, the County was found wanting.
If this country is really about law and not of men, then we need to develop good due process requirements that assure back-stabbing, and other low-life intrigue do not rule decisions that impact the public and members of the public, which all employees are. Upon information and belief I know there was never a background check on me, but there was someone who wanted to get me. It may be that I deserved to be fired, and it may be that my fellow victims may have deserved being dismissed, but our fellow employees will never know, nor will the public. I just hope that someday there are standards in place to prevent what happened to me, to George Barter, to Bob Campbell and to Mark Garcia from ever happening again.
After the “just cause” initiative surfaced, I researched the issue and eventually wrote an article for ICMA Public Management magazine recommending public entities consider looking at their personnel policies to assure good and defensible standards for disciplinary actions as a tool for attracting good employees. Montana has “just cause” as a statutory mandate, but is still ranked ahead of Colorado as being employer-friendly. Studies show the provision is a positive for Montana. It does not mean employees are tenured to the point they cannot be removed when needed, but it does mean employees are protected against being removed on a whim or arbitrarily. This is an initiative, which deserves to go before the voters because it puts a floor on the employer standards in dealing with their employees. Ron Chacey gets it!
Therefore, I sincerely hope you will vote for Ron Chacey – someone I believe has the qualities of character to put a floor on the arbitrariness, ineptitude and callous disregard for others. Ron will set appropriate standards and processes to objectively evaluate allegations for informed decisions and responsive measured actions. This community needs Ron Chacey.
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