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Vol.
I No. 8 Plaudits and Brickbats Vagabond Journalist Instead of some interminably self-promoting racket about how great we’ve been in pointing out the most obvious of news stories over the last year, I thought it best to get some insight into which way the unconventional wisdom is swinging as local politics faces a series of escalating showdowns this election year. While I take full responsibility for any irreverence therein, these rankings reflect the general mood I’ve detected among our Editorial Board, our volunteer staff and the wider populist community. Feel free to send your own in, so we can all keep score. Rising Stars
Sinking Hopes
Her betrayals of the public interest on police review (where her claim of conflicting interest appeared disingenuous), medical marijuana, services for the poor and independence from an overly-powerful City Manager may have bought her some friendships from conservative Democrats like Elizabeth Conner and Alex Stillman. While Groves’ symbolic votes against Bush will fool the foolish and anger most Republicans, turning her back on her Green base has cost her much of her support there, with fiscal-minded moderates none too happy with Groves’ pandering to public employees and willingness to choose the insider track on who will replace Dan Hauser. Where precisely in Arcata does Harmony intend to find the votes to win in 2008, having alienated both the left, the right and the radical center?
Perhaps some day these miniature water cannons will become museum pieces, dedicated not only to the tragically inhumane ways our society has treated the homeless, but as a reminder of how misused even something as purportedly idealistic as the Green Party can be by one such as Sopoci-Belknap. At the one meeting of theirs she did attend last year, she demonstrated a characteristic haughtiness and lashed out with psuedointellectual invective at any idea not pre-approved by Democracy Unlimited. Her conduct on the Water Board is scarce better, as she lets whole meetings go by with no meaningful input, even allowing the District to move forward with a study process that recognizes water export to southern California as a perfectly legal and safe way to make money, contrary to past pledges. Kaitlin may have squeaked into office because her opponent was an ossified incumbent who didn’t as much run for office as stumble, but she will surely not have such an easy time of it a couple of years hence. |
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Copyright © 2005-06, Humboldt Sentinel. All rights reserved. |
1.
Paul Pitino: Part of the majority of new members on the Arcata
City Council this year, Paul Pitino has near-always found himself on the
ethically superior side of any given issue, thus in the minority just
as often. Pitino sides rightly with Mayor Michael Machi on reigning in
powerful City Manager Dan Hauser, and at the same meeting can side just
as correctly with Councilmember Dave Meserve on issues of social justice
and civil rights. His brave stand on behalf of a logging moratorium in
the Arcata Community Forest is also worthy of note, and we expect Pitino
to continue to exhibit a strong independent streak in the selection of
a new City Manager who will bring more transparency to an Arcata City
Hall increasingly hunkered down.
2.
Sarah Clickner: Finally, somebody on the Elementary School Board
in Arcata who wasn’t handpicked by the folks already in charge,
what a relief. This group is in serious need of some openness and transparency
to its operations, starting with putting their meetings on television
and inviting the community to participate. With reheated lunches cooked
off site, at times by Taco Bell, as well as ongoing bullying issues, fresh
ideas are sorely needed. As Bloomfield school is closed the Arcata School
District will face many tough staffing choices and the parents, students
and taxpayers need to play a direct role in those. Sarah Clickner as a
former teacher herself will be a voice of reason and compassion in the
year ahead.
3.
Shane Brinton: Having an 18-year-old on the school board wasn’t
quite as unprecedented as a Green Party majority on the City Council,
but Arcata’s Shane Brinton has nonetheless overcome considerable
odds and a divided field to earn a governing seat for the Northern Humboldt
Union High School District. His reasons for winning sprung quite naturally
from his earnest desire to represent young people, who are often either
absent or misrepresented in other local governments. While some have cast
him as single-issue focused in regards to his opposition to military recruitment,
his willingness to take principled stands on issues such as sex education,
socially responsible investing, discrimination and even dining options
will surely distinguish him over the next four years in a District ripe
for change.
1.
Harmony Groves: Electing a fresh-faced recent graduate from Humboldt
State in 2004, who by her own admission had spent less than three years
in the town, may have seemed like a good idea at the time. The novelty
has quickly worn off, as have many of the campaign promises of Harmony
Groves, who turned around in a few short months from voting in favor of
public comment before 11:00 p.m. or midnight, to voting in favor of sending
free speech time back into late night exile. Somehow public comment at
a reasonable hour is a feat those revolutionaries in Eureka, Fortuna,
Trinidad and the Board of Supervisors can manage, but in Arcata the public
and the media are to be feared. Under the new reign of Groves the press
box has been converted into an armed post, with the Chief of Police or
one of his lieutenants on guard against excessive displays of freedom
at all times of the meeting, whether the cop of choice actually have something
to contribute to Council’s discussion or not.
2.
Jeff Leonard: Many had high hopes for Jeff just over three years
ago when he was swept to office on the promise of staying responsive to
the public. But as his fellow Democrat Pat Higgins put it so well this
week, the problem isn’t that politicians aren’t responsive,
its that they’re responsive to a small band of wealthy interests.
Leonard’s abysmal pandering to the interests of Rob and Cherie Arkley
in the matter of the Balloon Tract reeks of a successful lobbying push
by the influential pair, who don’t seem satisfied with control of
a mere majority of the Council. How Leonard can argue against receiving
grant funding because a developer wants to minimize the involvement of
public agencies is beyond the pale, as was his vote against Heartwood
Institute founder Robert Fasic to join the Planning Commission. Jeff’s
lame excuse was that he didn’t like how the Peter LaVallee went
about his appointment, even though it was clear to any observer after
the Council majority shot down his first try with the overqualified but
Green-baited Xandra Manns that the Mayor would have to take some extra
effort to overcome an anti-liberal bias emanating from Mike Jones and
Virginia Bass-Jackson especially. Leonard’s alliance with them has
doomed his chances to play the reformer, and Eureka’s apparently
new populist majority will remember this November.
3.
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap: Although low on this list due to the relative
lack of influence the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District wields considering
its position as a middleman for city and special district water systems,
newly-elected Director Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap has given new meaning to
the phrase: “Turn the hoses on them!” It was not only with
her support, but it was actually her idea to use their abundance of the
wet stuff to install the most absurd devices ringing what’s now
known as “the Water Building” in more ways than one. Check
them out for yourself over at District headquarters on J Street after-hours,
they’re sure to become a tourist attraction.