Local moves that don’t pass the ‘test’

Here we go again: Another round of elected officials in Chico facing a recall attempt.

This time, it’s a group of progressives taking aim at Mayor Andrew Coolidge and Councilor Sean Morgan — with veiled hints there could be more to come.

Our position on recalls has been consistent. We think recalls should be reserved for the most serious of circumstances, where elected officials are flat-out refusing to uphold their sworn duties or are guilty of illegal or highly unethical acts.

Otherwise, recalls are nothing more than just another weapon in the belts of power brokers and political action groups, an attempt to overturn the will of the voters. And sadly, it’s turning into a trend in Chico.

We opposed the attempted recall of councilor Kary Ory and Mayor Randall Stone in May 2019; not surprisingly, many supporters of this latest attempt opposed that one, using many of the same reasons opponents of this one are using now. (“Waste of time and money, overturning the results of a lawful election, we could hire another police officer with what this is going to cost” … by now, you probably know it all by heart.) We also opposed the recall of four Chico Unified School District trustees and, on another level, the recall attempt of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

And we’re opposing this one, too,

This isn’t to say we agree with every decision Coolidge or Morgan have made, any more than we agreed with every action taken by Ory and Stone. But in broad terms, we believe both men are guilty of nothing other than following the will of the voters who put them into office.

And that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Elections have consequences, and if voters aren’t happy with the consequences, they get to vote for somebody else in the next election — not erase the will of the voters in the last one.

The timing of the recall is most worrisome to us. More divisiveness is the last thing this city needs right now.

The decision to open a “resting site” near the Chico Airport — a move that prompted Senior Judge Morrison England to deliver his now-famous “straight-face test” line — was indeed a costly misstep by this council. But the council obviously learned from that, and the proof is in what they did next: solicit bids to operate a 354-bed shelter at the site of the BMX track near the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds.

That site, and that kind of facility, is a huge step toward what many progressives in town have wanted for a long time. We praised that move and said the key to its success would be advocacy groups and the city and county setting aside politics and joining together to make it work.

We honestly thought that plan, at that site, was something that might finally lead to a spirit of progress and teamwork in town. And it still could.

But first, we get another recall attempt?

The whole thing strikes us as a partisan power grab trying to pass itself off as a nonpartisan effort — just like most similar attempts.

Typically, the political games aren’t limited to one side of the aisle. Just as one group called “Chico Voters” has sprung up to initiate the recall, another called “Chico Stewards for the Parks and Waterways” has filed a motion to intervene in the ongoing Warren v. Chico case. That motion represents the worst of the far right side of Chico politics; just as actual progress is being made toward providing much-needed homeless solutions and clearing the path for the city to again enforce its laws regarding camping on public property — here comes Rob Berry, as if by clockwork, with yet another round of courtroom filings.

We trust this won’t pass the straight-face test any more than the airport resting site; if nothing else, the judge may be interested in seeing what some of Butte’s County’s other environmental groups have to say about the “stewards.”

Months into this, a solution is near that should — should — give people on all sides of the homeless issues some reason to applaud actual progress. And to some degree, they have. But we’re also getting more court filings, tone-deaf demands and, yes, even a recall attempt.

It shouldn’t succeed. But can it?

Morgan is a fierce, unapologetic advocate for his beliefs, and the 62 percent vote tally he got in District 1 last fall shows his platform has the support of his voters. Coolidge’s margin in more-liberal District 5 was much less but, we agree with a majority of his actions and like the level of civility and maturity he’s brought to the mayor’s chair.

This council has made mistakes, including a couple of costly ones. It’s hardly unique that way. And in a time where non-partisanship is truly needed for Chico to heal and make progress on a myriad of issues, this latest recall attempt is another costly — and divisive — mistake that is best avoided.

Besides, we shudder to think what the backlash is going to be if it succeeds. If there’s still a high road in Chico politics, it’s getting awfully hard to see it from here.