Will Rogers famously quipped, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging,” meaning of course, if you find yourself increasingly on shaky ground, especially in politics, reassess your position and approach differently.
Locally, we see County Councilor David Madore, who has announced his intent to run for reelection this year, the brunt of many negative editorials and an increasing din of public opposition.
Madore was elected by a wide margin in 2012 in hopes of seeing a much needed shift to the right in county governance. But it seems winning by such a margin went to his head and he forgot that governing is a team effort, not an authoritative one.
I gladly lent the full support of this blog to him back then, but slowly noticed a strong hint of arrogance along the way in his actions of he and he alone knew best, leading me to pen an Open Letter to him shortly after assuming office as I witnessed him handing those opposed to him all of the ammo they needed to smear him with.
But he doesn’t listen and continued down the same path and once assuming chair position of the county commission, pushed his views over any other, alienating staff and department heads along the way.
It is no secret that I stopped supporting him some time ago, partly over his arrogance towards others, but largely due to his actions directed at me, outlined some time ago here and here and of late, what I refer to as a Nastygram he copied me that he sent to at least one other, unknown if it went to more. Previous efforts that I considered an attempt to ‘buy me’ were rebuked.
He even once challenged me openly, entering a discussion on my facebook page daring me to go public with what I hold against him, reminding me that years ago his website, then under the management of another, posted a favorable video interview of me and even saying at one point, “If you don’t share anything else, then we all should understand that there is nothing else,” as if he were the final arbiter of my emotions.
Contrary to what some believe, my skin is much thicker than realized, but this is a pattern many have witnessed for some time now as he continues to lash out at others that do not necessarily agree with him that sees his effort to have the temporary County Manager ousted before being confirmed as the permanent County Manager.
We also see it as he continually refers to the three fellow County Councilor’s as “the three Liberals,” even though each has roots to the Republican Party, even though the chair, Marc Boldt ran as “no party affiliation.”
Suffice it to say that he is alienating many voters and in my opinion, the only saving grace for him if he is reelected will be that councilors under the new home rule charter, proposed and voted in largely due to his actions as a County Commissioner, will be elected by districts now and not a countywide vote.
I am told that at tonight’s council meeting, several citizens plan to attend specifically to show and express support for the staff that Madore has increasingly lashing out against. Given citizen outrage against him in the past, I expect a full house tonight.
As said above, he has announced his intent to run for reelection and if the exchange I witnessed last evening is indicative of how he intends to run his campaign, all of the money in the world could not buy him a win.
I do not know John Blom but that is no way to approach a primary challenge nor should such a devious plot be discussed in public, but that seems to be the modus operandi of the new Clark County Republican hierarchy we witnessed a couple of years ago as a letter was sent out instructing selected PCO’s on how to encourage their challengers to withdraw, thereby stacking PCO slots to the favor of one point of view in the party.
Madore and his small band of devoted merry followers appear to believe they will be able to repeat that feat this election, but at the county level.
Some are even questioning the mental state of Madore’s mind as he keeps lashing out at so many, labeling those that vote contrary to his views in derogatory manner in nearly daily posts on his facebook “newspaper,” as he renamed his page to a while back after announcing he was going to “launch a newspaper by the end of 2014.”
He has even dropped strong hints of crime committed by those that disagree with him, causing the county to bring in outside attorney’s to investigate the actions of fellow councilors, the County Manager and even the County Attorneys.
Many of us had high expectations of Madore in his own way; I guess he tried to implement them. But he forgot along the way that governing requires collaboration and compromise. It is not up to the views of one elected official to run roughshod over the rest.
And when you have engaged in such actions and the pushback begins, especially when you find yourself in the minority on a council, it is political suicide to lash out and alienate all of those you depend on to run departments or cast votes for policy you prefer.
It is in that light of Madore digging himself into such a hole and his efforts to continue digging that I hereby announce he is a full fledged member of the Order of the Golden Shovel.
You dug your own hole, David. You must now either climb out of it on your own or end up buried in it.
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