Double standard in probe of mayor

“I did not give any direction to the city administrator, I made a request,” says Councilman Paul Johnson. It would seem the notion of the end justifies the means is alive and well at One City Plaza.

First, some background information is in order. At the Yuma City Council meeting of Jan. 18, a motion to investigate the mayor failed. That motion also included a provision “to direct the city administrator to provide city council with a name of a law firm ...”

Subsequently, on Jan. 25 a special meeting was held to reconsider the vote on the failed motion. For you Robert's Rules of Order buffs, you know that the time had passed for reconsideration and a member of the prevailing side must make the request. Yet no one would disclose the identity of the requester until it was finally, grudgingly wrested out of the city administrator. Where's Point-of-Order Johnson when you need him?

Moreover, the city code is clear in that only the mayor or a majority of the council may call a special meeting. The only involvement of staff in that process is “the caller must file an affidavit with the city clerk stating the name of all persons called and the time of such call.” The city administrator usurped and intruded into what belongs to the mayor and council alone by having the city clerk “call the meeting.”

Most egregious, however, was the city administrator's presumptuous grabbing of unauthorized authority, traveling to Phoenix and selecting a law firm, and then placing the hiring of said firm on the agenda (recall the motion failed, and the mayor as chairman puts items on the agenda or by a majority of council). From whence did the administrator's authority come? A single “request” by a councilman (Johnson) in no way equals the required majority vote of the council. Nonetheless, the council, in full view of Johnson's commandeering antics, remained silent.

Let me be clear, I am not defending the mayor; he is a big boy and can defend himself. The mayor has said that he is not opposed to an investigation by the “proper authorities.” I am speaking out because it is important that the good folks of Yuma understand the double standard and raw hypocrisy that is taking place.

It is most important to recognize that a private law firm hired and paid for (with taxpayers' dollars) by the very staff and members of council pursuing the mayor's ouster is not the proper authority. To the contrary, the job of the “independent” counsel is to do the bidding of their “clients” and dig up dirt, not to seek the truth.

Okeydokey then, let the staff and council clowns dig away; however, the good folks of Yuma should demand that when the bill comes, it be paid out of the pockets of the perpetrators of this fatuous farce. Meanwhile, for a fair and impartial investigation, they should emphatically insist that this entire issue be referred to the Office of the Attorney General. After all, he is already on the taxpayers' payroll.

Phil Clark

Yuma