By Pauline Masson –
Social media pundit and political candidate Karla Stewart continued her Facebook page Believe in a Better Pacific claims against City Administrator Harold Selby, condemning him for his strong campaign for pay raises for all city employees.
In posts this week, Ms. Stewart, candidate for Pacific Ward 1 seat on board of aldermen, said Mr. Selby was hostile to her fellow candidates James Cleeve and Scott Lesh – and to her.
Her unhappiness with Mr. Selby fouses on his strong push last November and December for across the board pay raises for all city employees – and particularly in discussions about the raises between Mr. Selby, Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh.
A ten percent increase for all employees was approved in a rare re-vote at the December 19, board of aldermen (BOA) meeting. Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh originally voted no. But after Police Chief Scott Melies and Public Works Director Robert Brueggemann voiced disappointment, alderman Rafael Madrigal asked for a revote and the BOA unanimously approved the raises.
Following that meeting Ms. Stewart kicked off the ‘us against them’ campaign, posting on her Facebook page that she described as background, that Mr. Selby had been disrespectful to Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh.
This week she continued to tie the city administrator’s push for the pay raises to mis-treatment of her two fellow candidates.
She said, “Someone posted again that Aldermen Cleeve and Lesh did not want to approve across the board raises. They very much wanted to approve raises, but for some reason Interim City administrator didn’t think he had to show where the money was coming from, and that it could be sustained going forward.,”
Ms. Stewart seemed to miss the point that the aldermen approve all city budgets and payments and that for some reason Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh were not up on city finances.
Ms. Stewart went on to say that, “Mr Selby openly admitted in the meeting if someone didn’t agree with him, he didn’t want to talk to them.”
She concluded from that, that the aldermen thoughts or opinion were of no interest to him, and by extension, the peoples’ opinions and thoughts the aldermen represent did not matter to him.
Some readers disagreed with Ms. Stewart and posted comments. One post suggested that to support Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh, Ms. Stewart should write about something they had done for the city. That and other comments that challenged her position were removed.
The tone of this social media fracas involving candidates in a municipal election is a break from the usual VOTE FOR messages that get posted around our town. Ms. Stewart’s recent posts are not alone though, in offering opinions on local affairs. Her recent shot at Mr. Selby followed my February 15, Hometown Matters post on the contributions that he has made to the city.
As Pacific city administrator Mr. Selby brought an emergency management plan that still guides the city’s emergency needs, crafted a bed tax to raise funds to promote tourism, managed a flood buyout program that helped 35 families replace their flood destroyed homes, expanded our borders to the east, bringing the prison into the city, built a new state-of-the-art government center that is the envy of Franklin County, and developed an annual rodeo.
Ms. Stewart’s response to my adulation of Mr. Selby was swift and strident. She said Mr. Selby is not nice to her and to her fellow candidates Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh.
I have to tell you . . . folks, this is the wrong battle for a local small town election campaign.
In their first year in office, Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh were mis-led by former city administrator Steve Roth, who was, to put it in the most polite terms, a micro-manager. Mr. Roth instructed Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh, as new candidates, not to engage in conversation with citizens who appeared at BOA meetings – and they obeyed. He told them not to discuss a proposed ordinance on the first reading, which deprived the public of knowing what was coming – and they obeyed.
As they gained confidence that the BOA was in charge of its own activities, Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh became more open. Now they seem intent on showing their strength as they put Mr. Selby in his place and rely on Ms. Stewart to focus on the original fight over employee pay raises, and portray them (Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh) as being mistreated by a tough city administrator.
From the point of view of this old reporter, these candidates don’t even know what battle they are in. Mr. Selby is not a fighter. He is a lover — a schmoozer, an appeaser, a ‘here’s one more point to consider,’ communicator.
One of Ms. Stewart’s complaints was that Mr. Selby did not give Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh enough information about the city’s ability to afford the employee raises.
But in one public meeting, Mr.Cleeve complained that – on the question of pay raises – Mr. Selby had sent him entirely too many emails. He said he didn’t have time to read all those messages.
Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Lesh have yet to make public comments on Ms. Stewarts airing of the dispute, freeing her to carry their banners. Meanwhile, Ms. Stewart appears to be a bare knuckles campaigner, so we can probably expect more.
