City leaders have made Valley City the
laughing stock of the country
Recently, there have been two letters to the editor about the ongoing political crisis in Valley City, one from the wife of City Administrator Janalynn Jamison-Johnson and the other from Mike Morrissey. Both of these letters contain blatant propaganda and use denial, minimization, justification, and "blaming the victim" to make it seem like the "nay-sayers"--apparently anyone who disagrees with the decisions made by city and county government--are nothing more than people on the fringes of society.
People in Valley City really are outraged by what is going on within our local government. The City Administrator and other city leaders have made Valley City the laughing stock of the country with their heavy-handed tactics, outrageous behavior, and terrible mistakes in judgment.
Now Mrs. Johnson and Morrissey are using more propaganda to say that what the City Administrator did was not wrong by trying to portray CCI and its leaders as members of the fringe and by further "poisoning the well" (a term Morrissey should know about) to minimize the horrible evil that the City Administrator did in the last election and after the election. In essence what they are saying is it isn't so bad, and besides, your voice doesn't count. If you dare stand up and oppose something the small clique who currently leads city government wants, we are going to have the top city official "satirize" you under the guise of "freedom of speech", and then we are going to watch you to see if you make a small mistake so we can punish you. Doesn't anyone understand that David Johnson is not just an ordinary citizen expressing his political beliefs? He is the City Administrator, the chief local governmental official. The City Administrator is not just an average citizen, and he should be held to a much higher standard.
Morrissey even tries to say that there must be some truth to this because the people who were unjustifiably attacked by David Johnson's anonymous political advertisement are upset about what was said. This is almost like saying that what Don Imus said was not so bad because those young Rutgers female athletes really were like the derogatory things that Imus said about them.
We are concerned because we see Valley City government is acting to quell any dissent and drive anyone who disagrees with ill-conceived city policies into the ground. What David Johnson did was to create and promote an atmosphere of intimidation to stifle any dissent, and the real question is--since Morrissey raised the question--who is really acting like a dictator, CCI or the City Government?
There is so much that is good about Valley City, but its citizens are afraid to question its government because of what can happen to them. Valley City is getting to be more like a police state than the good place we remember it to be.
Let's just review what has happened to one of the candidates that ran for the city commission and put this controversy into perspective. First of all, the City Administrator launched a vicious--and anonymous--website against the CCI candidates. He didn't have the courage to accept responsibility for creating this website for 8 months. If this was "satire and parody", why didn't Johnson admit his role immediately? He is trying to hide behind "freedom of speech", but what he really did was a political hack job. There is nothing admirable about that, and he should be responsible for his immature actions and behaviors.
Second, Johnson suffered no real consequences for creating an abhorrent and offensive political website. He was just given a slap on the wrist, a two-week suspension for "conduct unbecoming a public employee."
The members of the City Commission, some of whom may have known about who created this website long before public pressure forced Johnson to admit he had done it and who benefited in the election, gave a very clear signal to the citizens of Valley City that they would not only tolerate their chief administrative officer engaging in political "dirty tricks", but they would close ranks and protect him once he was found out.
Was Johnson's punishment appropriate? Well, it would be interesting to see what the City Commission would have done about Johnson's "free speech" rights if he had created an anonymous web site that had opposed THEM!
Third, after the election, local governmental officials have tried to hound and prosecute dissenters into the ground. Bob Drake had to stand trial for objecting to Johnson's website by trying to keep Ryan Cunningham from broadcasting the website address--which Johnson graciously provided to Cunningham on city time--and thankfully the citizens on the jury found him Not Guilty. But City and County officials wrongfully tried to send Drake to jail, not just once, but over and over again, not for what he has done that was wrong, but for opposing decisions made by city officials.
Then City and County officials sent a deputy sheriff out to conduct surveillance of Drake to see if he was violating the law. (It is interesting that this same deputy sheriff was later fired for political reasons.) When they could not find that Drake had violated the law, they tried to use antiquated and inappropriate statutes to prosecute him and his wife about their business. These charges were later dismissed, but now the City is trying to enact other laws to prosecute Drake. Has anyone ever heard of Grandfather Clauses and ex post facto laws?
Johnson has taken many other steps to ruin Drake. Johnson even shut off the electricity to some of Drake's property illegally in the middle of the winter. Johnson tried to force other governmental officials to condemn Drake's property, but fortunately they refused. But this prosecution--and persecution--has continued.
What is the message being sent to the citizens of Valley City? The answer is obvious. If you stand up and try to redress wrongs in Valley City, like it says citizens can do in the United States Constitution, the small clique of city fathers and mothers who actually run city and county government in Valley City will use its vast governmental resources to ruin you. They will try to smear your reputation anonymously and hide behind the Internet, they will protect their own when they are caught, they will conduct surveillance on you to see if you are violating any laws, they will use the local courts to punish you over and over again, they will pass new laws to persecute you, they will shut off your electricity, they will try to condemn your property, and they will fire anyone who doesn't play along.
Sincerely,
CCI Vice President
Keith Colville