Coastal Voices Guest Opinion: Fight back against corruption

Decades of ignoring power allows that power to transform into something unrecognizable. Each new group comes along, with a few old members left to guide them and teach them. Next thing you know, the new members are covering for the mistakes of past members, and a new branch of corruption is formed. One hallmark of a corrupt government is an apathetic populace. They blindly trust the leadership they voted for to represent them and don’t ask questions.

Another hallmark of corruption is a stenographic media that does not investigate claims made by governing officials. Instead of reporting on discrepancies, or claims filed with the state for falsified payroll and non-payment of overtime at the sewer project, the focus of the reporting has been on me and has proven to be an effective distraction from the facts. I may sell a lot of papers, but the people of this city are not being informed. Why can’t truth sell papers? I think it could if it were given a fair chance. People truly want to know what their leadership is doing, how it affects their lives.

One truth that never made it mainstream is what brought me to my fight against corruption in City Hall. When I went in to count the Prop 218. protest votes in ’07, red flags went up after discovering the first 100 votes that were not counted by our former city clerk, Dianne Nickerson. That was just an indicator. When we passed 200 votes not counted, that was a pattern. And that’s just the ones we know about. While the claim is made that the missing votes were not enough to change the result, the very fact that there were such large discrepancies shows the whole voting process as suspect. We deserved fairness. They just wanted us to go away, but I couldn’t leave it alone with all the unanswered questions.

One casualty of corruption is fact. Facts about the wastewater treatment plant are being kept from the public. The censure was designed to shut me up so I would have a harder time asking questions and getting documents in my hands to prove more corruption. The latest assault on fact is the claim that if we roll back sewer rates, the state will come in and tax us to death and life as we know it will cease. This is a scare tactic. There are other alternatives, they just don’t want to discuss them because then we just might have to fire some people who have been abusing the public’s trust, and cut back on payroll and hours for others in order to make ends meet and stop living in fantasyland.

Our residents are a little less scared, a little less fearful.  Looks like some of our voters are discontent and doing something about it. They’re signing petitions to roll back sewer rates and to recall two council members who keep rubber-stamping expenses on the sewer project without asking questions. Try to keep in mind that scare tactics have worked in the past so why should they stop using them now? What does fear and scare tactics have to do with corruption?  Everything!  Two years ago I was frightened. I felt like the city was blackmailing me. They signed contracts to construct the wastewater treatment plant. Then they started construction. Then they talked at us about the Prop. 218 vote. 

Corruption thrives where it resides.  Like cancer, it’s hard to get rid of, but not impossible. Don’t be scared. Living in fear is worse. If a 62 year-old grandma can stand up to these bullies, so can you. I’ve met hundreds of you in the last year that have been worrying about losing your homes, turning off your electricity in order to eat and not having jobs. You just have to decide to fight back against the tyranny of corruption.

Donna Westfall is a Crescent City Council member.