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07/12/2007: "Knapp, Myhr, Ranker & Lichter"

Tuesday, July 10 2007, a very sad day for the citizens and voters of San Juan County. On this day the County Council voted to file a law suit against Alex Gavora who is the petitioner of the first Referendum in San Juan County.

The motion was made by Gene Knapp and seconded by Kevin Ranker with Mhyr and Lichter voting yes and Peterson and Rosenfeld voting no. The motion carried and now Ms. Gavora must defend herself (and all the voters that signed the petition to put the referendum on the ballot) in a court of law.
This Council is going to use your money, my money and Ms. Gavora’s money to drag her through court and force here to spend additional money to defend herself and the rest of the voters of San Juan County. Welcome to the American Way, San Juan County style, “Sue Thy Neighbor”.

It really does not matter how you spin this or what legal mumbo jumbo one uses to justify this action. The bottom line is if you decide to use the Referendum or Initiative process allowed in our Home Rule Charter you better have a war chest of money set aside because you can be open for legal action by our County Council and Prosecutor.

Oh, did I mention that the language for the Referendum was drawn up by the Prosecutors office, and also that it was the Prosecutors office that recommended the County file this law suit after the fact.

Oh, and did you know that Gene Knapp was one on the Freeholders that drafted the Home Rule Charter, which he just cut the leg off of? Our County Council could have avoided all of this by simply revoking the ordinance that created this new storm water tax and reopened the discussion on how to fund storm water.

Instead they opted to file suit against the first citizen/voter that filed a Referendum. The issue here is not the Storm Water Ordinance, but the method of funding, and whether the voters should have a say in the process.

I am sure that the new Spin Doctor (communications coordinator) will be able to twist this into something that resembles a good thing for the voters of San Juan County. Imagine what he could have done with the 73% vote on guest houses that the then three commissioners ignored (on this issue they ignored the advice of the Prosecutor).

Spin it any way you like, it is a classic case of the County Council (except two) ignoring the will of the voters. Oh, the campaign promises that have been forgotten! What happened to a more open and transparent government, and listening to the will of the voters? I don’t recall anything about suing the citizens/voters in any of these promises.



(Ray Bigler lives on San Juan Island and was a County Commissioner Candidate for District One)