"Good Old Boy" Politics in Grass Valley City Council Race

Oh my goodness! The field of candidates for the Grass Valley City Council may not even be complete yet and the gloves are already off. Let's take a few minutes to break this campaign down and examine the state of local politics using the city council race as the primer.

Currently, the Grass Valley City Council consists of some really good folks who are doing great things in Grass Valley. Lisa Swarthout and Howard Levine are both downtown small business owners and registered Democrats. Dan Miller is also a downtown small business owner, but he is a registered Republican. Jan Arbuckle is retired and is a registered Republican. Jason Fouyer is an engineer and is not affiliated with a political party.

Obviously, the current councilpeople are a very diverse group. They are all great people, and after giving the matter much thought, I truly cannot think of a single, valid reason to remove anyone of them from office. Like I said, great people, and if I lived in Grass Valley, I would be voting for anyone of the five. The best part about the council is that, despite partisan differences, they are relatively and amazingly non-political. From my perspective, I see five people striving for what they feel is best for Grass Valley absent political theater and endless political games. For someone who observes local and national politics on a daily basis and having viewed the local and non-sensical partisanship in Indiana while I was in law school, the chemistry of this council is extraordinarily refreshing.

That said and in The Union on July 15, 2014, Jim Firth (chairman of the Nevada County Democrats) clearly stated his reason for running for City Council again. Firth stated, "It's time to end the reign of the good old boy/girl network." The debate rages as to where this offensive campaign narrative originated. Some people are blaming Firth, while Jeff Pelline (former editor of The Union) predictably is blaming his former employer for the publisher's op-ed which humorourly criticized "the good old boy/girl network" narrative.  In order to determine from where this somewhat offensive campaign narrative originated, one need to look no further than Pelline's blog. Pelline created this narrative during the Miller/Lamphier election while bashing Dan Miller's campaign as being "the good old boy network's" attempt to oust Lamphier. The examples are here, here, and here.

While it is very true (and he will readily admit it) Todd Juvinall is a bombthrower, in this instance though, Todd hit the nail on the head here stating, "Actually, if I recall, Pelline posted over the years his disdain for the GOB's. I think he started it and Firth picked it up from him."

This GOB narrative is the same narrative created by Pelline and on which both Lamphier ran against Miller and Firth now is running for city council. If Pelline is looking for someone to blame, he need only to look in the mirror.

In response to Firth's GOB comment at the onset of his campaign, Jim Heming, publisher of The Union, asked an entirely appropriate question of the GOB narrative in his op-ed titled "Are you a good ol' boy?"

Well, what is the GOB network? In Nevada County, the GOB network are the job-creators and volunteers and elected officials who get things done in this community. The GOB network are a very politically diverse group making their community a better place through charity and volunteerism and absent petty partisanship. Local elected officials, local businesses owners, and members of Rotary, the Chambers of Commerce, SYRCL, and others working (almost all of the time without pay) to give back to their community. Pelline, Firth, and Lamphier are looking to end this network? Why seek to destroy that which gives so much to the local community?

My suspicion is that the reason is simply political. In their most recent elections, neither Firth nor Lamphier (both high profile democrats) were supported by fellow democrats on the city council. On his local liberal political blog, Pelline was unable to move the needle in favor of Lamphier in the most recent supervisor's race with the GOB narrative. This narrative is simply evidence of axe-grinding and the fissure within the local democrat party along with its ardent supporters, like Pelline.

Moderate democrats are not supporting the more radical elements of their own party, as our elected leaders in Grass Valley know very well what the introduction of such radical elements to the city council will bring - the type of endless politicking that has plagued both local offices nationwide and Congress.

This debate will be a great debate for the City of Grass Valley. Do we want a well-run city in the heart of western Nevada County that leads without petty partisanship, or do we want to have a city council resembling Congress? The answer will be determined in November, but this GOB narrative will be around for a long time.