As you all know, I have been subjected to a massive smear campaign of late because of exposing some underhanded tactics by the Clark County Republican Party, here and here. It backfired on them as a surprising number of people, young and old, Democrat and Republican even an Independent or two sent me messages of support, agreeing that what I exposed needed to be exposed.
It is widely believed that this current group of what I can only describe as “hotheads” was funded in their takeover of the CCGOP by current County Commissioner, David Madore, also owner of US Digital. Whether he has any direct involvement in this smear campaign, I really do not know, but he told me he does not and added he has no idea who they are.
I find that last part a bit hard to believe.
Few people have noticed that I stopped leaving supportive comments on Commissioner Madore’s facebook page, not even “liking” them on facebook for several months now. Whether it is out of spite over this smear campaign or not, it is time I revealed why.
Behind that calm, always smiling, Christian demeanor lurks the heart of a ruthless businessman that basks in all of the glory and praise he can draw to himself. And he has no problem stepping on people to get it in order to make himself look like he is on top of things in Clark County, when he is anything but.
I posted a screen shot the other night of a brief exchange I had with him right after Oregon announced they were not going to go ahead with their “Oregon Only” plan on the CRC. Lurking in the background was that hastily agreed upon contract between C-Tran and Trimet that obligates Clark County to accept their light rail or pay a $5 Million penalty as well as grants eminent domain rights to Clark County Property to Trimet through C-Tran.
As you can see in the screen shot, I asked about that contract and was told by Commissioner Madore that it was “irrelevant, null and void.”
While I am not an attorney nor do I have any actual legal background, I saw nothing in that contract that would terminate it if the CRC plan failed to be approved and I couldn’t accept that it was just “irrelevant, null and void.”
To get further information, March 8, 2014 I composed an email to our elected Representatives and copied it to Commissioner Madore (so he wouldn’t think I was doing something behind his back) asking,
“Now that Oregon has killed the CRC, at least for now, what becomes of that 40-page contract the C-Tran Gang of Five pushed us into last September?”
“If it isn’t terminated, might it be used in the future to once again lock us into another battle over light rail?”
On March 10, 2014, Commissioner Madore forwarded to me a response Representative Liz Pike received from C-Tran President Jeff Hamm addressing the contract, saying,
“I have not received the transmittal referenced below from Representative Pike, but in any case the C-Tran – TriMet agreement for the operation and maintenance of the CRC light rail extension is predicated upon the project being built. If the project is not built, the contract is not in force. There are no obligations for either party.”
Nothing there that would indicate to me that the contact was “irrelevant, null and void,” as Commissioner Madore described it. And the response is actually somewhat vague in regards to any termination of the contract or whether it could come back in full force one day, should the CRC or a similar project once again come to bear.
Bear in mind that every one of these elected officials I contacted about this fully realize I am a blogger, evidenced by the many times I have had personal conversations with each and have been reminded at the time that the conversation was “off the record,” a request I have always honored.
It is therefore a reasonable assumption that when I make such requests for information, it is for use on a blog post. I will show you the relevancy of this point shortly.
On March 14, 2014 I received an email from Matt Hunter of Senator Don Benton’s office who was the main person I requested this information from. That email read,
“Just wanted to let you know that Senator Benton and I are working with legislative staff to get answers to your questions. We will be in touch.”
Oddly enough, this particular email was addressed only to me and not to the rest I originally included, but it didn’t mean much, leaving me thinking they were dealing with me personally and working to get the information I requested.
That same evening, as I have on several evenings before, I looked at Commissioner Madore’s facebook page to see if he had posted any information on what he is doing on the County Commission, as he often posts such updates nearly every day. I was nearly floored to find the following, since deleted or missing from his front page, but still can be seen in his timeline photos;
C-Tran – High Capacity Transit – unfinished business:
Clark County citizens are still left exposed to the threat of unauthorized High Capacity Transit – Light Rail and the son of Light Rail – Bus Rapid Transit. The orphaned TriMet contract, like a cancer in remission, is hanging there with no expiration for some future attack on Clark County.
Even though the CRC is twice dead, voters should know where candidates for city council and county commissioner stand on Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit. Clark County voters said No to ridiculously expensive High Capacity Transit in every election. We should know which candidates will continue to push High Capacity Transit against the will of the people.
As a commissioner, responsible for choosing the next Clark County Commissioner for position 3, I will consider this as I seek to appoint a faithful representative of the people.
The following excerpts from emails forwarded to me by Senator Don Benton explain the problem: (emphasis added)
The post went on to list all of the information that I had requested after Commissioner Madore confidently said the contract was “irrelevant, null and void.”
Bear in mind too, this went up on Commissioner Madore’s page the same evening that I was told Senator Benton was “still looking into it,” me being who initially asked for the information and Commissioner Madore plainly stating that he had received the information from Senator Benton.
Also remember, I had included Commissioner Madore in all of the emails I sent, not wanting to cause him to think I was going behind his back, so there is no way he could not have known this was information that I was requesting.
Four days later, March 18, 2014 I received another email from Matt Hunter of Senator Benton’s office containing the very information received by Commissioner Madore on the 14th, when I was told they were still looking into it.
This may not sound like much to complain about, but remember that David Madore ran for office on a platform advocating citizens being able to “Prosper and Thrive.” He is quite wealthy while I am living near the poverty level.
Yet, when it comes to my effort to “Prosper and Thrive” by building up this blog in hopes of one day supplementing my meager retirement, by putting out information that the newspaper of record apparently wasn’t seeking and Commissioner Madore was convinced was “irrelevant, null and void,” the information was somehow diverted to him to be made public, days before being sent to me, directly undermining my blog efforts in my opinion.
See email chain here
Remember too, on January 17, 2014 Commissioner Madore stated on his facebook page,
“2014 should mark the year when a new Clark County Media rises to fill the void. The vacuum will be filed with a credible relevant objective reliable professional news and information source that truly serves the citizens of our community. Stay tuned.”
The creation of such a media was repeated in a February 3, 2014 Columbian video interview.
I am left wondering if his plan was to divert relevant information away from me and take it, presenting it as if he were the one initially on top of things and build up his proposed venture or feed his ego?
I ponder such a thought as in 2012, when he was running for County Commissioner, there was another instance of his taking my work and receiving credit, up until I called him on it publicly. I will cover that act in a future post.
I have no delusion nor do I make any call that this is an offense that should cause him to step down, he can still do good for the community. But for me personally, these acts of his have caused me to look at him much differently than before, especially after spending nearly two hours in private messaging yesterday concerning the current smearing of me, the gist of which was that I should back-off and try to get along with the anonymous smearers.
I deserve better, we all deserve better and undermining me as he has done does not leave me very impressed with the man. It cost him mine and my wifes support and vote in 2012 and will no doubt be the same in any future public endeavors he may undertake.
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