In Our View: Send Out The Clowns

No tigers or elephants or trapeze artists were in sight last week when the C-Tran Board of Directors convened for its first meeting of the year. Unfortunately for Clark County residents, however, there were some clowns. Yes, the local transit board gathered Tuesday and a circus broke out, with Clark County councilors detracting from any decorum and dignity that might otherwise have been present.

First, some background: Late last year, a special committee opted to reshuffle the makeup of the C-Tran Board of Directors, with Clark County’s representation being dropped from three members to two among the nine. Clark County councilors have disputed the decision and have claimed that the special committee violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act by failing to provide proper notice prior to the meeting at which the decision was made. County representatives have threatened legal action to challenge the decision.

That brings us to last week’s conclave. Despite now having two seats on the C-Tran board, all three county councilors — David Madore, Tom Mielke, and Jeanne Stewart — showed up for the meeting and took seats at the table. As recounted by Columbian reporter Eric Florip: “After it was determined Madore and Stewart would be the county’s two representatives, Councilor Tom Mielke remained at the table with the rest of the board. Madore at times asked for Mielke’s vote — though he doesn’t have one — ‘for the record.'”

All that was missing, apparently, was a fire-eater.

Following last year’s approval of the board shakeup, Clark County commissioners (as they then were known) instructed their legal staff to investigate whether C-Tran had followed the law. The Columbian has reported that C-Tran announced the meeting and published a legal notice more than a month in advance, but councilors claim the nature of that meeting was not made clear. Prior to Tuesday’s gathering, Madore handed out a letter from a lawyer asserting a violation, but no legal challenge has been filed.

Madore and the other councilors are entitled to pursue legal remedies to the situation; if the law was violated, it should be brought to light. But their sit-in at the C-Tran meeting was unbecoming for elected officials and served only to embarrass themselves and their constituents. Madore, meanwhile, tried to deliver another in a series of eye-gouges to C-Tran. “My allegiance is not to this organization,” he said. “My allegiance is not to the jurisdiction of Clark County. My allegiance is to the citizens.”

OK, so it’s not exactly “Give me liberty or give me death,” but Madore got his point across. The declaration, however, would carry more weight if Madore did not often act like a petulant child. His repeated attempts at bullying other government agencies has reduced him to the role of a lousy knife-thrower — when he’s not busy missing the target, he’s clumsily stabbing himself in the thigh.

That being said, some barbs also should be directed at the C-Tran Board and at chairman Jim Irish, who also is the mayor of La Center. While Anne McEnerny-Ogle, a member of the C-Tran board and the Vancouver City Council, raised questions about Mielke sitting at the table despite not being a member of the board, no action was taken to remove him.

Clark County residents deserve better than to have their representatives turn public-policy meetings into a clown show. We hope that only two county councilors see fit to arrive at the next meeting of the C-Tran board. But if all three decide to attend, they can drive in the same car. A little, tiny one.