PROGRESSIVES CONTROL YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT TOO

By Paul Walter
December 14, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

It's the Progressive Climate:

How the Grants Pass City Council Recall Affects All Americans

Government is supposed to be representative, at least ours is. Unfortunately, representation is an illusion in these times of ours when banks, developers, even church leadership, control the many local municipalities across the nation. Under the guise of community action and doing what is right for the public, our "representatives" continually increase government, spending and taxes. How amazing it was for Grants Pass, Oregon, to have elected four city council members who ran on the platform of keeping government small and accountable to the people - and they started to do it. They started digging into all aspects of the city's administration to get to the bottom of what has really been going on for years - the taking from the people and passing it to corporate interests. It didn't take long for the big machine to realize these councilors weren't afraid to deliver to the people what they promised, so what can be described as only the "good ol' boy club" sprang into action and successfully ousted a council that did indeed have its public's best interest at heart. It was a sad day, indeed, for the Southern Oregon city, and truly telling of what is going on all around our country.

For years, Grants Pass has been like many communities around the country. It had a city council whose members handed the keys of running the city over to paid administrators. These individuals feed the machine that is government. They rely more on "standards" than what the community really needs. They push their agendas and make their recommendations based, largely, on an economic model that heavily favors big business and large development and forgets that typically, the people are the ones who foot the bill. These administrators, when "overseen" by an elected council that simply passes whatever the administrator recommends, have free reign. But, every so often, when good people attend council meetings and see what is going on, the goliath agenda is exposed.

The Grants Pass City Council, under the guidance of a city manager, had been looking into a massive redevelopment project in its downtown area called the River District Plan. The numbers, potential enormous tax hikes, and possibility for eminent domain action made the public furious; so much so, the people successfully forced the council to table the plan. Due in part to years of councils that simply rubber-stamped each and every project without question, including the massive redevelopment effort, a group of fed-up individuals ran in a general election to replace members of the council. Their hope was to bring representation back to the people and away from the special interests. The public overwhelmingly elected Richard Michelon, Rob Pell, Mark Townes and Ward Warren to the council, and it was the first time that representation began to take root. Even a couple of sitting members of the council, council president Bill Kangas and councilor Lisa Berger, were swept-up in doing what is right and accountable for the people.

The Origins of the Recall

Almost immediately upon their election, and prior to them being sworn in, an agenda to see them removed was set in motion by a local political action committee called Positive Community Action (PCA). PCA had supported several defeated candidates during the election. On January 6, 2009, one day before the new councilors were sworn in, PCA sent out e-mails to their membership announcing their plans to "promote an agenda that will allow our local governments to do the job we expect of them ..." A seemingly innocent statement, but when coupled with their meeting on January 27, 2009, where they made witnessed statements calling for the harassing of the councilors at meetings, the casting of innuendoes and suspicions, and to generally throw-up road blocks for the new council, it shows their true agenda of ousting those new and duly-elected councilors.

Ex-City Manager David Frasher

And, it was from that moment, January 6, on that they were faced with road-blocks. Items that the council requested to see, such as budget and employee wage information, were blocked by then city manager, David Frasher. It has been reported that during the first meeting of the "new" council and Frasher on January 7, 2009, Frasher, "became belligerent, cursed out four of the councilors and almost knocked one of them down." As a council, which is supposed to work with the hired city manager for the greater good, having an unprecedented display of insubordination so early on gave them all the justification needed to seek Frasher's removal, yet they moved forward seeking to work with Frasher and his staff.

However, when the council refused to attend and pay for an estimated 20-30k dollar team-building (brainwashing) session, the move infuriated the situation. Several of the council felt that the money would be better saved or utilized in other areas, than spent on teaching them how to be a cohesive rubber stamp council. It was played-up in the local media as a renegade council not wanting to do what is right for the community. A full-blown effort of resistance to the council and their effort to be publicly responsible developed.

Frasher had already told several councilors that he had instructed his staff (the city's staff) to not take any direction straight from the council. This meant that information the council needed for conducting needed city business was often delayed or unavailable to them for their council sessions. According to a source speaking onder the condition of anonymity, "there was an orchestrated attempt to make the councilors look bad to the public, their constituents." And, it was working.

The local paper, Daily Courier, made obvious attempts to sway public opinion away from the councilors and toward a misinformed view that they were doing harm to the city.

The fact is that when they departed from the city manager's prescribed agenda, this council saved close to 4 million dollars in just 5 months. Still, those numbers were debated and said to not be real savings.

Frasher became increasingly hostile behind closed doors. To keep any information from leaking from the councilors to the general public about his management antics, Frasher delivered a letter to the councilors threatening personal lawsuits should they ever say anything negative about him. As a lawyer, David Frasher was covering his bases.

Meet City Manager David Frasher

Frasher was very careful to keep his true persona out of public view. Fortunately, it is one of record. How this man, an attorney, was able to even become a city administrator is beyond comprehension. When he applied for the position of Grants Pass City Manager there was a background check that was performed by a city contract employee by the name of Dan Runyon. Runyon has stated that he stands behind the investigation he did into Frasher's past. However, since this saga began there has been so much credible information gathered on Frasher's previous employment in both Ashland, Wisconsin, and Oak Grove, Missouri, as well as his personal life that one has to wonder why Runyon was contracted to do any investigating for the city at all.

In fact, Runyon, who was paid $3,500.00 of tax payer’s money, to investigate Frasher for the City of Grants Pass, has denied a request to release his report under the Freedom of Information Act.

Finally, the council had enough. Even though they were gagged as to their reasons, by Frasher's lawsuit threats, they moved forward with firing David Frasher at a public meeting.

The media spun it as a run-away council doing away with the best thing ever. But the facts are:

* David Frasher was witnessed acting as an impudent child by throwing tantrums at council meetings when he didn't get his way.
* He even allegedly threatened the life of a citizen who stood in the way of his agendas.
* I, even, had the opportunity of running into Frasher at a local growers' market. Making sure that no one was listening, but still being overheard by one witness and the woman whose hand Frasher was holding, he leaned toward me and said, “You are the ugliest mother F***er I have ever seen.â€