Through the friend of a friend

whose sister works at a bank here in town and serves as a notary, I was able to get a copy of the third protest filed against the potential recall of Cody Walker.

Here's how you protest a recall,
not like the crap pasted below

PROTEST AGAINST THE RECALL OF ESTES PARK MAYOR PRO-TEM CODY REX WALKER

After transcription and data analysis, the submitted petitions to recall Cody Rex Walker consist of some 575 signatures (after removal of individuals who signed the petition multiple times, and after disregarding names and addresses heavily crossed out, apparently prior to notarization and submission).  There is no way to sugar-coat this:  The majority of the recall petition signers were women over the age of 50.  This is not surprising, as it reflects the demographic of the retirement community that is Estes Park, and mirrors the powerful voting bloc that determined the outcome of Estes Park’s two most recent local elections.  However, an advocacy group as powerful as the National Rifle Association, or Japan’s long-ruling LDP party, should be respected but not necessarily cowed to.  It should be recognized this loose-knit lobbying group may be a group that, like Violet Weston, the matriarch of “August: Osage County”, views its offspring as a constant disappointment, and strongly believes that, no matter what Estes Park does, or whatever decision Estes Park’s ruling body makes, it is prima facie wrong because they did not sign off on it.  Solipsism is not a particularly coherent form of polity.

Indeed, it must also be acknowledged this is not a group underrepresented at the local level.  At last count, there were at least 12 local nonprofit organizations comprised of and devoted to the advocacy needs of this cohort.  Generally, petitions are circulated for a marginalized segment of society, one whose views have not been heard, or have been heard and ignored.  The views that Cody Walker’s actions regarding a proposed mountain coaster were improper have been heard at the town and, more importantly, at the county level, where jurisdiction over the issue resides.  If the people living within the greater Estes Park region are unhappy with the communication network available at 200 West Oak Street in Fort Collins, as I am, there are methods in place to rectify this.  In fact, a scheduled election of the Larimer County commissioner representing district 3 (and not Panem District 3) which includes Estes Park is on the horizon.  How many of the petition signers have filed to run?  How many of the petition signers will host parties in their own home introducing candidates to their neighborhoods, and, more importantly, will I be invited (and do I need to bring snacks)?

Here’s a sentence I kind of like that didn’t fit anywhere else:  Should we constantly reset the town clocks to march solely to the beat of the Sousa drum? 

Because the vast majority of petition signers signed both recall petitions (signers of only one petition represented no more than 2% of the Todd Jirsa recall petition and 4% of the Cody Walker recall petition signers, respectively), the vast majority of the validated signatures came from a “core” group of some 550 petition signers (and at least 391 validated signers, in the case of Mayor Todd Jirsa) advocating a recall of both town board members.  There is simply no delicate way to ignore what the numbers indicate:  Older white women, who are upset with Mayor Pro-Tem Cody Walker, potentially for reasons unrelated to the proposed mountain coaster, are the spearhead of this recall.  I am not an older white woman, so while I try to empathize, I just can’t.  Do allegations of malfeasance rise to the level where a recall is warranted, or necessary?  We are not talking child kidnapping here, or the embezzlement of 20,000 to 25,000 dollars.

It is thus fair to consider this group (with no greater than a 5% margin of error) as homogeneous, both in their opinion of local governance and their desire to be heard.  I have great reverence for my elders, in fact, I am nearing the age myself when the AARP promotional material clogging my mailbox for the past decade will start to apply.  Given that, though, there should be a balance, and the town should not yield to pressure from the largest voting bloc solely because of chronology or years of experience, or Tom Brady would win every Super Bowl until the sun explodes, for chrissakes.

Because so many of the petition signers are residents of the Good Samaritan Society, as reflected by a physical address of 1901 Ptarmigan Trail or adjoining Ptarmigan Trail addresses provided by over 50 of the “core” petition signers, the delicate issue of “at risk” adults (male or female, although, again, mostly female) who felt an obligation to sign based on information or encouragement provided by caregivers must be raised.  It is no secret that administrators, former administrators, employees, and former employees of the facility signed the petitions.  The issue is somewhat akin to a physics teacher in a high-school classroom “suggesting” that students purchase the book “Dune” by Frank Herbert if they desire a better grade.  When the petition gatherers essentially “set up shop” on the 1901 Ptarmigan Trail campus in an effort to procure more names for their recall petitions, it is unclear how many of these names would have been obtained if the signing station had been set up down the street, at Salud, for example, or Sombrero Stables.  This petitioner for redress is well aware that people with mobility issues should not be discriminated against when it comes to exercising their democratic privileges.  However, the recall committee should also be aware that individuals who have signed away their power of attorney because of declining mental faculties are probably not the strongest spokespeople in the petition-signers arsenal.

This protestor is quite cognizant of how raising this issue is fraught with charges of ageism, or enlarged prostatism, or whatever.  However, the hearing officer must be impartial, and not dismiss concerns of “was this release of liability on the dangers of whitewater rafting through the tempest of local Estes Park government signed with a complete awareness of what the issue is, or even who the current Mayor Pro-Tem is?” simply because the protestor’s last name happens to be difficult to pronounce, and his writings tinged with a mixture of insolence and bad Tom Tomorrow imitations.

Do allegations of malfeasance rise to the level where a recall is warranted, or necessary?  Or is this recall equivalent to the disappointment when, once Easter is over, Safeway discounts all the Easter candy by 70%, and the M&Ms disappear within minutes (if there ever were any bags of Easter egg M&Ms above the price tag to begin with, Safeway) leaving only the chalky Balmer (referred to derisively in my family as M-Balmer) chocolate on the shelves. 

We’ve all pined for our Paddy Chayefsky moment, our chance to stand atop a desk and yell “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.”  But that self-empowerment knife cuts both ways.  For everyone who signed these petitions, there are probably an equal number of citizens in the community who wonder how the recall organizers managed to do such a poor job of vetting potential petition signers, clogging the forms with invalid signatures of residents who lived outside of town limits or weren’t even registered to vote, to the tune of 30% invalidation, allowing multiple people to sign both petitions multiple times, some of whom were neighbors and should have known better.  (I say “probably”, but it’s not like I’m going to put up a petition on Change.org to find out.  Or maybe I am.)  This wasted the time and energy of the Town Clerk, and could have been avoided.  If they are this bad at organizing a recall effort, why should we believe they are any better at governance?

In summary: (1) The majority of petition signers on the Mayor Pro-Tem Cody Rex Walker recall already have their political views well represented, and can exercise their constitution right to attempt removing him from office at no additional expense to the town through an election already scheduled, whose arrival date at the time of holding a proposed special election is shorter than the average human gestation, if they so desire.  (2) The concern of “at-risk” adults subtly coerced into signing a document they were not fully versed on (or capable of saying “No” to) with repercussions real or perceived if they didn’t is genuine, and attempts will be made through in-person interviews or recorded video or audio “StoryCorps”-type open microphones to convince the hearing officer of this fact.  (3) Balmer chocolate is not worth consuming at any price.

With kindest regards, I remain, etc.

I certify that the document produced regarding the protest against the recall of Estes Park Mayor Pro-Tem Cody Rex Walker was written (initially in longhand) by me, with limited help from Wikipedia, and is truthful to the best of my knowledge and ability to recognize truth whether it appears in a Monarch butterfly alighting on milkweed or the first crisp bite of a Braeburn apple.