9/14/2010 Council Meeting Videos: Pope Asked to Resign
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Below are three videos from the meeting. During that meeting, as seen in the first video below, Gary Dielman, representing several citizens who attended, and many more who did not, confronted Councilor Pope with his behavior on that night, when Mr. Pope chose to have a pizza and beer party with several former city officials who opposed the firing of former City Manager Steve Brocato, instead of attending to his duties at a Council meeting at which the Council was considering issues concerning the hiring of a new City Manager.
During the meeting of September 14, two City Councilors, and Mr. Dielman, asked Councilor Pope to resign.
Here are the three videos:
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This is part one (of three) videos from the meeting of September 14, 2010.
In this clip , Former Councilor, school teacher, probation department head, and my favorite Baker County historian, Gary Dielman, as a representative of several citizens, asks Council and Mr. Pope three questions:
1. "Why wasn't he there on the 24th of August" for important Council sessions?
2. "Why did Councilor Pope cross Washington Street from his [law] office and confront Chris Christie? and
3. Why did Councilor Pope think he had a right to straddle Chris Christie's front wheel of his bicycle, thereby detaining him, making him a captive audience, uh . . . for the comments he [Pope] was making to Christie, which I believe were very offensive." . . . .
Mr. Pope responds with, among other things, that:
"I can only tell you, Mr. Dielman, I was glad to be able to occupy Mr. Christie and Mr. Bland after dark with perhaps the hope of keeping them out of a tavern."
Of course, this last is classic Milo, the intelligent and legally trained old spinmeister at work. He takes the focus off his bad behavior, which included drinking with anti-Council friends during an important Council meeting he chose to miss, urinating outside his law office, and detaining a person on the public right of way. Instead of facing the facts, he spins the focus onto his saving you from his own imaginings of Mr. Bland's and my alleged future behavior, as if he were some sort of good hearted woman fighting the evils of alcohol in the days leading up to its ban during the prohibition period. The problem is this fictional narrative only existed in his head for self-serving purposes. Jason and I, across the street on public property, were simply preparing to go home separately, and I was intent on getting back to my computer to process the photos I had taken.
See Also:
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010
What was Milo Pope Doing While AWOL from the August 24, 2010 Council Meeting?
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
Follow-up on Councilor Pope’s “Fellowship” with Steve Brocato and Friends.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Butterflies and Minor Aggravations
Video #1:
Citizen Asks Councilor Pope Tough Questions-091410.m4v
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Here is part two (of three) videos from the meeting of September 14, 2010.
In this clip from the September 14, 2010 Baker City Council meeting, Steve Bogart, interim City Manager, states that basically, the County District Attorney will determine whether there were any "illegal actions" on the part of Mr. Pope. In reality, the DA has said that he will likely be referring the file to a DA in another county for that, due to a possible conflict of interest on his part. In any event, anyone, including Gary Dielman, can read the statutes and determine for themselves whether or not they think a violation of any city or Oregon statute has occurred, even if a DA my not concur.
Councilor Calder then offers objections to Mr. Pope's conduct, and provides more historical context to his actions, including his "Ground Hog Day" style "squeaking" about the Brocato firing, and his meeting with the former City Manager who is suing the city, with many former city officials of similar opinion attending Milo's party that night during a Council meeting.
Both Councilor Calder and Mr. Dielman then express their wish that Councilor Pope resign.
Mr Pope declines, alleging that he was spied upon (as opposed to reporters covering his whereabouts), while ignoring the problem of who he was meeting with. He states that "there is nothing I could tell him [Mr. Brocato] that, that, he can't find out from city archives." This was a particularly interesting statement, given that the city, while Mr. Brocato's friend and Assistant City Manager, Ms. Watkins, (who was meeting with Mr. Pope and Mr. Brocato that particular evening during the Council meeting) was working for the city when the city, in June of this year, dumped a truckload of city "archives" at the local recycle center.
City "Archives" in Baker Sanitary DumpsterSee: "House Cleaning at City Hall"
Mr. Pope, in a "Ground Hog Day" moment, then refers to the firing of Mr. Brocato as "craven and cowardly," even though it took tremendous courage for the four Councilors to fire Mr. Brocato.
Video #2
Citizen and Councilor Ask Councilor Pope To Resign ( #2-091410).m4v
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This is part three (of three) from an event at the Baker City Council meeting on September 14, 2010.
In this clip from the September 14, 2010 Baker City Council meeting, planner Jenny Long talks about planning issues, including concerns about obstruction of stop signs by tree branches, etc., and about lower lying limbs from trees getting in the way of school busses and privately owned vehicles, like garbage trucks. She is, or will be, sending out letters to affected property owners to ask them to correct these conditions.
Councilor Duman asks Councilor Pope to consider resigning.
Councilor Bonebrake apologizes to Councilor Pope for events I am unaware of and do not understand.
Councilor Pope declines to resign, stating that his privacy has been invaded, despite the fact that he is a public figure who chose to evade a Council meeting and who was observed urinating in a public place downtown, in violation of a city ordinance. State statutes do not support any allegation of invasion of personal privacy--See: ORS 163.700
Councilor Clair Button assures Mr. Pope that the Council doesn't have the authority to throw him out. He also states that "It would be good if we all re-read [Council] Resolution 3407, and thought about the words in there--I haven't felt craven in quite a few years." (Res. 3407 addresses the appropriateness of talking ill about other Councilors.)
Councilor Aletha Bonebrake thanks departing City Manager Steve Bogart for his service.
Council Comments (Part Three 091410)
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