Thinking About Sedona

Losing our right to vote

by Paul Chevalier

Vice Mayor John Bradshaw and councilors Nancy Scagnelli, Pud Colquitt and Dan Surber, have control of our City Council, and they are determined to keep it.

These four councilors decided that they will fill the empty council position, vacated by Marc Sterling, with

Paul Chevalier

someone who will serve out the full three years remaining in his term, rather than just one year followed by an election to fill this council position for the remaining two years.

The law allows the council to make either choice. One argument that Vice Mayor Bradshaw and other councilors used to try to justify their decision to make a three year appointment is it takes a year for a new council member to know enough about what he is doing to make good decisions.

Does this argument have any credence? If we were to believe it, we would have to believe that Councilor Sterling, who only served 11 months, didn’t know what he was doing when he cast votes.

Now, I did not agree with most of Councilor Sterling’s key decisions, but I never questioned his competence to make decisions, and I still don’t. Sterling is an intelligent, and educated man. He knew what he was doing when he made decisions during his time as a member of our City Council.

If we are to accept Bradshaw’s argument, then council members should not be permitted to vote during their first year in office. However, we are not hearing that proposal from anyone on the council.

Still unsure about the merits of Bradshaw’s argument? Then consider this – why is it that when a U. S. Senator quits or dies before his term of office is complete, the Senate vacancy is filled by his state government only for the period until the next general election, which is never three years away?

If you believe that the above argument is questionable, then perhaps there is some other reason why Vice Mayor Bradshaw, councilors Scagnelli, Colquitt, and Surber voted for appointing a person their choosing to serve on the council for the full three years remaining in Sterling’s term.

Vice Mayor Bradshaw did provide another reason for his decision at the council meeting at which this decision was made.

Bradshaw commented that, in Sedona, we have trouble getting enough people to run for council. Therefore, Bradshaw said that, since we already have a lot of council seats to fill in our next general election in 2010, it was better for the majority of the council to fill this position (Sterling’s) on the council full three years, instead of for one year and allowing the public to pick the candidate for the remaining two years.

Did Bradshaw and his followers really deny the people of Sedona the right to elect the replacement for Counselor Sterling at the regular general election in 2010 because they thought that there would not be enough candidates in 2010?

If so, that is arrogant.

How many candidates are enough in their opinion? We were not told. If they sincerely believe this argument, then they are telling us that they can see the future. Based on their past council decision-making performance, this is in serious doubt.

Bradshaw and his followers’ action marginalizes the most basic democratic principle of them all – the right of the people to elect its own government. Bradshaw and his followers make spurious arguments and talk down to us, as if we were idiots who are incapable of recognizing the truth or making informed decisions.

When truth be told, there is only one good reason Bradshaw, Scagnelli, Colquitt, and Surber are denying us the right to vote to fill the last two years of Sterling’s term. They want to try to ensure that they keep a majority of like-minded people on the council, after the election in 2010. In their view, the end – keeping power – justifies the means. They are not bothered by the assault on democracy that denies us the right to vote.

I have learned that what makes our nation better than most others is our democratic principles. Every child is taught that the lynch pin of every democracy is the people’s right to vote for its government representatives.

This latest decision by Vice Mayor Bradshaw, counselors Scagnelli, Colquitt, and Surber took away that right when it did not need to do so. This tyrannical action flies in the face of our democratic need to choose our own City Council.

In the last decade, we have seen too many civil rights eroded or abolished by our federal and state governments.

Now, in Sedona, we have just been given a wake up call – which should make us understand – that losing civil rights is not just a threat at the national or state level. It has already happened in our Sedona.

Articles of interest:

Red Rock Village rezoning:
Another out-of-town developer asks for way too much,
offers way too little in return
By Marlene Rayner

The role of the Sedona City Council: Rulers or Representatives?
What is the role for our City Council? To rule us, or to represent us?
By Paul Chevalier