President George Washington is credited with completing his terms and setting the example for the peaceful transfer of power in our country’s fledgling democracy. The same democratic transfer should have happened in Novato with the position of mayor. Instead, the hand-off was politicized.
For an underlying motivation, one can look to the next November election, where Councilmembers Eric Lucan, Josh Fryday and Pam Drew may be vying with others for the three open council seats.
Novato’s mayor serves in an administrative and ceremonial position with no more power than the other council members. Drew was next up for mayor for receiving the second-highest vote count (4,975) in the 2015 election. Drew’s installation should have been a formality. Instead, an online petition with 189 unverified signatures was presented to the council, citing “incivility” as the reason
to block Drew from her rightful turn.
However, looking closely at the petition promoters, they are known campaign supporters of the majority council voting bloc of Lucan, Fryday and Councilwoman Denise Athas.
The petitioners and council majority have differed with Drew’s outspoken views on the controversial financial issues facing the city, mostly centered on the downtown and development. Many signers accused Drew of both incivility and disagreeing on issues they
supported, inferring that political disagreement equals incivility.
The same charges of incivility were leveled at Councilwoman Pat Eklund, days before the 2017 election, in a campaign tactic that is unfortunately becoming the norm.
While Eklund won re-election, the ugly lesson learned was that a negative campaign might be successful if it is started earlier.
The words “incivility” and “bullying” are now political weapons. They are hurled so forcefully at anyone with an opposing viewpoint that it’s difficult to determine who is the bully — the alleged perpetrator or the accuser.
The Novato City Council has a long history of dysfunction; and incivility has become the city’s corporate culture. Each council member has demonstrated incivility at the televised council meetings, setting a new low standard for conduct in the chambers.
During his presidential bid, the late Sen. John McCain defended his opponent when a supporter attempted to disparage Barack Obama. It was a courageous moment: “I want everyone to be respectful, and let’s make sure we are. Because that’s the way politics should be conducted in America.”
There was no such courage demonstrated by Lucan, Fryday and Athas. There were no corrections to Drew’s record. Each voted with the knowledge that some, and maybe all, of the accusations were out of context or wholly wrong. There wasn’t a process for objective investigation or defense.
The majority council voted 3-0 to install Lucan as mayor. It was affirmed with uncivil applause from the audience and shamelessly celebrated with cake afterwards.
Had Drew been appointed, Lucan would not have served as mayor during his term because he finished third in the election. Now, he will be mayor during a re-election campaign. In a final blow, Athas was named as mayor pro-tem. Those in power voted themselves to remain in power. They undermined the will of the voters and unleveled the playing field for the next election.
If the process for the fair and democratic appointment of Novato’s mayor can be so easily manipulated for political advantage, it must be changed.
This council’s vote served as an endorsement of a “go negative” campaign strategy and that is what Novato voters can expect until the election. The long-term fallout is to discourage diverse viewpoints and candidates from unrepresented parts of Novato from participating in local government.
The community and leadership of Novato should reject incivility by modeling civility in the council chambers and reject negative campaigning with their votes in the next election.
Tracey Ruiz, of Novato, is a freelance writer active in the Novato community. She holds an MBA in strategic leadership from Dominican University in San Rafael.
