Golden Recall Effort Fails

The recall appears to have originated with long standing grievances with the city, e.g., a “my way or the highway,” authoritarian attitude on the part of previous city councils learned on the Coors shop floor, transparency problems with the city manager and city staff. The flashpoint seems to have been City Council’s decision to remove the Daughters of the American Revolution from managing the Pioneer Museum. The presenting issue wasn’t large enough to motivate people to sign recall petitions, and so it was baked in the cake that the effort would fail. To avoid situations like these in the future City Council needs: (a) to continue its progress away from good old boy / Chamber of Commerce / Golden Good Government League rule and (b) to step up to its responsibility to give direction to city staff rather than to act as sock puppets for the city manager.