Karen Hess
Last Monday’s Haines Borough Assembly special meeting made a mockery of our election ordinances, the will of the voters, the rule of law, the authority of the superior court, and common decency.
Most of the public present favored seating Karen Hess in the vacant assembly Seat “E”, including assembly members Scott Rossman and Jerry Lapp. But in a clearly partisan move, members Daymond Hoffman, Joanne Waterman and Steve Vick refused to seat Hess, offering instead to seat almost any other member of the public.
Their actions mirrored those at last fall’s assembly meeting in which they voted to seat Greg Goodman in spite of his residency issues: the three obviously arrived prepared not to seat Hess under any circumstances, and then groped in vain for facts and logic that would justify their actions. Half of the audience walked out before the meeting was over, and comments by some caused a couple of assembly members to complain about being called “spineless,” and “prejudiced” by the public.
In the end, the assembly decided that, though borough code requires them to fill the vacancy in 30 days, there is no real penalty for violating borough code—so they will leave Seat “E” vacant for 4-1/2 months, until the October election. A special election for seat “E” will be held at that time. Meanwhile Haines voters remain under-represented on the assembly.
Worst of all was the shabby treatment of Karen Hess, a responsible Haines citizen who merely chose to run for office, contested the election of an unscrupulous candidate, and appealed to the court when the assembly didn’t do their job.
To summarize how we got here, Greg Goodman, backed by anti-cruise ship activist Gershon Cohen, ran for Assembly Seat “E” during the 2010 election cycle, but did not meet the borough code that requires him to be a resident of the borough for 1 year immediately preceding the election. When this information came to light, Mrs. Hess began a write-in campaign for Seat “E.” Goodman received over 50 percent of the vote; Hess received 43 percent.
Hess challenged Goodman’s eligibility under borough code, and the Assembly ordered an investigation as required. On October 26 the assembly met in special session and seated Goodman, in spite of his well-publicized ineligibility, without waiting for the complete results of the investigation. Hess appealed the decision to the Superior Court.
On May 11, Juneau Superior Court Judge Phillip Pallenberg ruled that the assembly had erred by seating Goodman, declared the seat vacant, and ordered the borough to fill the seat by special election. But borough code requires a vacant seat to be filled by assembly appointment within 30 days; a special election requires at least 45 days notice. Therefore, the borough attorney recommended filling the seat by appointment, then having a special election during the regular municipal election cycle in October.
The assembly solicited letters of interest from members of the community, and Monday’s assembly meeting was for the purpose of filling the vacancy from the list of folks who submitted letters.
Monday’s special meeting was attended by about 30 people, and during public comments 8 people spoke in favor of seating Hess, one in favor of seating Norm Smith, one argued against seating Hess, and Deborah Vogt spoke “as an attorney,” incorrectly condemning Hess for suing Goodman for monetary damages.
In spite of being reminded that Hess was not the “bad guy”— that the borough assembly erred and should correct their error— the meeting descended into a referendum on whether folks liked or didn’t like Hess.
Jerry Lapp made the first motion to seat Hess, seconded by Scott Rossman, who said, “The last two times we did this, we seated folks because they ran in the last election—those were Deborah Vogt and Donny Turner. Karen Hess ran in the 2010 election against Goodman, and she received the second highest number of votes. No one else even ran in the election – they didn’t show the interest that Mrs. Hess showed.” Lapp agreed.
But Daymond Hoffman opposed Hess’s appointment, reasoning that since Goodman received 60 percent of the votes and Hess received 40 percent, then appointing Hess to the seat would somehow “disenfranchise 60 percent of the voters.” Incredibly, his solution was to appoint anyone other than Hess. Somehow “disenfranchising” 100 percent of the voters was more desirable than doing what 40 percent of the voters wanted.
Waterman quickly chimed in that she agreed with Hoffman, and suggested appointing Norm Smith to the assembly to “take us back to square one,” until the special election in October. (Smith was the fourth assembly member who voted to seat Goodman last fall.) Waterman also appeared willing to appoint nearly anyone other than Hess.
Vick, marching to the same drummer as Hoffman and Waterman, “reasoned” that if Goodman had been removed from the ballot, then someone else would have stepped in; therefore, the fact that Hess received 40 percent of the votes wasn’t relevant. He also suggested a “compromise” solution, such as drawing names out of a hat.
During the course of the meeting motions to seat some of the candidates who submitted letters of interest including Norm Smith, Joann Ross-Cunningham, John Hirsch and John Brower all failed. After borough manager Mark Earnest suggested that the assembly “may want to consider going beyond, outside of the list,” Vick moved to appoint Norm Hughes, who did not submit a letter of intent and was not present. That motion also failed.
Finally, Hoffman asked, “What happens if we don’t. It says that we “shall” do it in the code, and, are we all going to go to jail? or …,” prompting a loud laugh from Waterman.
The mayor responded directly, “I don’t know what the consequences are.”
Hoffman continued, “Maybe we just…let it ride…and, what happens?”
To his credit, Vick pressed for an appointment, saying that he didn’t want to go against borough code.
After some discussion about having an election instead of an appointment, borough clerk Julie Cozzi pointed out that the elections ordinance prohibits a special election within 75 days of a regular election. With the 45-day notice that is required, it is not possible to have a special election before the general municipal election in October. Therefore, the special election would have to be concurrent with the general election.
The final motion that carried during the evening’s meeting was, “Due to the sitting borough assembly being unable to appoint someone to assembly Seat “E,” a special election will be called that will fall during the general election.” The motion carried 4 to 1 with Vick voting “no.” The election had already been ordered by the court; the assembly’s motion essentially accomplished nothing.
At the end of the 2-hour meeting, on the verge of tears, the mayor summed up the emotions in the room:
“I wish I could have broken a tie tonight. This would have been an easy decision for me to make… I think that as elected officials, many times we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. And I’m going to say right now, we’re all going to be damned for this decision tonight.”
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What observers saw Monday evening was a transformation in the assembly. There is no longer any pretense about trying to do what is best for Haines, or following the law or the wishes of the public. There is no more “Mr. Nice Guy.” Obedience to voters, the law, the courts, and common decency toward certain citizens went by the wayside. For three members of the assembly partisanship and special agendas trump everything.
If voters were disenfranchised, it is the result of a fraudulent campaign by Mr. Goodman and his supporters. The assembly at that time participated in the charade by seating Goodman without completing a proper investigation and weighing of the facts in spite of his well-publicized residency problem. Judge Pallenberg was not kind to the assembly when he wrote his judgment.
Now that the judge has ordered Seat E vacated, three assembly members refuse to do the honorable thing and seat Mrs. Hess until the special election simply because they (or whoever is giving them direction) do not like her. Their treatment of a private citizen in this matter is inexcusable.
And finally, they have made a mockery of the borough code, laughing about the fact that nobody’s going to throw them in jail.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people does not exist in Haines as long as the assembly allows themselves free reign to do whatever they wish, answering to no one. Every Haines voter who cares about the rule of law should be worried–and mad as hell.
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Read more about the Goodman affair.
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“What fools these mortals be” to quote Shakespeare. Every time that you think that our Assembly could not be worse, they prove us wrong. For elected officials to openly flout the law and then say, “what are you going to do about it?” sounds like a bunch of second graders (no insult to second graders intended). These people were elected to represent the people of Haines and conduct the people’s business in a professional manner. Instead, we see personal prejudices outweigh the best interests of our community. The proof in the pudding is the gross waste of public (our) funds on ridiculous public projects while those necessary needs of the community continue to go unmet. Since coming to Haines 11 years ago, we have watched a wonderful community go into a continuing downward spiral. Until the voters accept their responsibility, find competent candidates for office and elect them, we have no hope for change. The opportunity to correct the problem is in this November election. Recall the juvenile villains and start off the New Year with a clean slate of Assemblymen.
My heart goes out to Mayor Hill and her efforts to “herd cats” at the meetings. She has done an exemplary job of conducting the meetings in an unbiased manner according to the rules. It is unfortunate that some of the other members are ignorant of those rules or just don’t think that they apply to them. Mayor Hill, you will not “be damned” and when you decide to take some of the other spoiled brats out behind the woodshed and work them over with a switch (as they deserve) you will have a lot of support from the community.
I was at this meeting and being a new resident here in this community; I was really quite disgusted with the way the assembly acted. As stated by Al above, it was like watching little children. I don’t know the history of Karen Hess, or other members, however, it seems to me that if she was the only other one to run for that seat then she should be seated there until the regular election or everyone should have been able to act like adults and come to an agreement to seat someone until the election. I just wonder what some of the assembly members dislike about Karen so much that they under no circumstances let her be in that seat until the next election that’s only 4 months away. I was also amazed that some of the members were randomly calling out names of people to fill the seat that didn’t even submit interest!! Who does that!?! What does that say to the people who elected you to that position?! I say maybe it time for a clean up. Not everyone is going to be happy with decisions made, but that’s what you were elected to do. If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I agree with Al in his last paragraph to Mayor Hill. You will not “be dammed”.
The actions of Hoffman, Vick, and Waterman are pathetic. There are some great people in Haines. If this isn’t the wake-up call for those good people to rally the troops and run for assembly this fall, I don’t know what it will take. Good luck Haines. Glad I’m not there any more.
Reading Roger Maynard’s editorial on the last Borough Assembly meeting makes me realize what a pathetic little town this is. Assembly behavior reminds me of what’s going on in the Whitehouse today. Total disregard for Rules, Laws and the will of citizens that elected them. They seem to delight in mocking what is right and lawful and why they were elected. Mayor Hill, Rossman and Lapp should run the town, the others should stay home hug trees and concentrate on re-electing their President. I wish I could say I don’t live here anymore! I’m stuck here for now.
Being a tax paying resident of Haines, former elected official, property owner,now disappointed voter, in a few seated officials, I say there is small reward in public service, usually more personal feelings, of success, in projects, completed, and betterment of Haines.
Maintenance and future projects, may have to wait, for a full vote of the assembly.
How about just canceling all the meetings, until a full assembly can be seated?
If our now seated Assembly, has not represented the public, why has someone not forced a recall? What happened to fair representing, of the majority, the public spoke, in favor of Mrs. Hess, where was the responsibilities, of listening to the people? I can tell you many times, I voted not my desires, for what the public spoke, majority,ruled.
The words “disenfranchised the voters”, should be ignored, as the Assembly members did when they did not appoint, Mrs. Hess. We have been ignored when we said Mr. Goodman did not qualify, to be seated. I think the “Good Old Boys” may be back in Haines, do not vote to improve, or maintain, vote to build, Bigger, and Better, who cares how it is taken care of later.
I thank Mr. Lapp, Mr. Rossman, and Ms. Hill, for your serves. Karen Hess I thank you for trying to serve.
Best Regards,
Linda Geise
So….my questions are…..how does the sitting assembly propose to get things done in Haines……they need a 4-2 vote to pass anything…am I wrong…..if I am wrong, tell me how they will conduct business….if I am right…again I ask…how will they conduct business..how am I to respect or trust any of the three assembly members if they, by their own admission will ignore Borough code and Judge Pallenburg order of filling the seat temporary….disgust does not even discribe what I am feeling right now…..I truly believe a recall is in order…..they do not deserve to hold the office of assemblymen when they pull these kinds of tactics….
Pete,
Sometimes I feel the same way, especially when I have to write an article like this one.
The truth is, this is a pretty nice little town, but the assembly has made some very wrong decisions that are choking out parts of an already struggling private sector economy. We can’t afford to do that.
The reason we have this assembly problem is that too many well-qualified folks are content to stay home and mind our own business while less qualified people take control of the government. That group has some control now, and they will do ANYTHING to stay in power.
Apathy doesn’t just exist here — it’s a trend nationwide. The solution is 1.) find good, qualified folks to run for office (you?), and 2.) get out to vote (and get your friends to do the same.)
I agree with Diana Lapham. An immediate recall is in order for these 3 stooges.
Ms Hess should be seated post haste and should contact her Attorney and find out why the Judges order has been ignored.
I would like to thank those who spoke on my behalf at the Assembly meeting Monday night. I do have a great deal of support in this town and that is what keeps me fighting for the right to serve. I will not go into detail about Monday nights meeting as I believe everyone can only imagine how I feel. However, I would like to speak about Joanne Waterman’s attitude toward those at the meeting who stood up and spoke on my behalf. As each person courageously stood up to speak (that in itself is not easy for many people), Joanne Waterman promptly swivled around in her chair with her back to the audience, lazily leaned back and stared out the window at the parking lot. This was one of the most disrespectful actions I have ever seen an assembly person do. I was also not very proud of Damond Hoffman as he had a very hard time looking at anyone who spoke on my behalf, he would quickly avert his eyes to his papers in front of him, or simply look away and not at the person speaking. This Assembly showed their TRUE COLORS to me and everyone else. Please take this opportunity to be very vocal about this injustice.
Disgusted by our small-town politics. Ashamed that I know some of these people who are supposed to be public servants, who instead put themselves on their “high-horse” and expect to be respected! Feeling very angry that my rights are being violated and laughed at(literally) and pondering if this is going on in public, what is taking place behind closed doors in our local government?!
I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the decision of some members of our current assembly. What happened to voting? What happened to representation of the people? Regardless of who this involves, Karen Hess or John Q. Public, to totally disregard the legal votes of Haines taxpayers and citizens, and to disregard Borough code and the decision of Superior Court Judge Phillip Pallenberg is a slap in the face of all Haines residents. To act unprofessionally and prejudicial at an assembly meeting is totally inexcusable.
We can recall the assembly members who obviously do not serve the people, we can again file another lawsuit, but most effectively we can vocalize our responses and actively prepare for the next election. Yes, I am mad as hell and disgusted and ashamed. But no longer am I content to sit back and watch.
Have we had enough???
The Public Notice for the June 13, 2011 Special meeting Purpose reads ” Appoint Individual to Assembly Seat E to Serve Until the 2011 October General Election.
From the alaska Open meetings act; C. Reasonable Notice-Agenda Specificity and Clarity
The question of whether a matter to be considered must be listed specifically on a published or posted agenda presents another facet of the requirement of reasonable public notice. Apparently the court’s reasonable notice standard requires that
some important, complex, or controversial issues must be specifically identified in the advance notice of the meeting and
listed on the agenda.
No place did the notice show a special election. I believe that vote was against the law and should be considered void.
Bill Kurz
I too am ashamed and disgusted to be from Haines. I have lived here over 50 years and never have I seen such corrupt politics! Karen should have been seated as she had over 40% of the popular vote. To me it was a slam dunk but I didn’t realize we were running a personality contestor is it a no new industry in Haines contest! I agree with Diana… Will any work be able to be accomplished until after October. We should have a recall and elect some new members immediately. That would solve many problems!
Having spent about 30 minutes talking with Glen R. Hamburg (907-465-4813) at Community and Regional Affairs . It could be that the assembly has misunderstood the combination of the court order and borough code.
Haines Borough code and Title 29 state a vacancy is to be filled within 30 days by appointment.
The Judge ordered an election as to borough code be held to fill out the term.
Those are two different things. So setting a special election at the October General Election is fine. First the Assembly is required to appoint a person to fill Seat E till the election. Yes they did technically violate the open meeting act by setting the election at a meeting scheduled for appointing someone. Seems the state does not have violation police.
Thank you;
Bill Kurz
This just leaves me with two simple questions. 1) Who will be filing for the recall petition for Hoffman, Waterman, and Vick ? 2) Where/when will we be holding the signature drive?
After being at this assembly meeting and witnessing everything that took place and after reading all the comments. I have to agree with most of the comments made. They are all valid. Being new to the community I can honestly say I have never seen three people make it so clear that they were going to do everything in their power to make sure Karen Hess did not get seated. The rude behavior of Waterman displayed to Karen Hess was so unprofessional it was sickening. I believe this person is sitting in what is considered to be very professional position. Their reasons had absolutely no merit to them what so ever. They looked at us all like we were a bunch of fools. Had they pushed to keep the seat open until election time in October, it would have had some meaning to it. It was still the wrong answer but it would have had some purpose. But it was very obvious all three of them had an agenda. That was to put someone of their choice in that seat. Not the people’s choice, but their choice.
Taking all these issues into consideration, the one that disturbs me the most is how Waterman and Hoffman could both look Karen in the face and tell her they had nothing against her and they knew without a doubt she had all the credentials to fill the position. What the Heck was that all about. I spent 23 years in the military and I was also raised believing the honorable thing to do was to meet your enemy face to face and have the guts to stand up for what you believe in. It is nothing less than a coward or someone with a lot of guilt than cannot do so. This is what makes me the most uncomfortable about all this. These people were put into that position to represent the community as a whole and it is very clear they do not. I have serious issues with a person who is supposed to represent and cannot be up front and honest with the people. The people of Haines cannot sit by idle on this issue. It is time to do something about it. We all know that Karen Hess was and is the right answer as pointed out by Scott Rossman and Jerry Lapp.
I can’t believe what Hoffman, Waterman and Vick did. They are in this together. And they all want Norm Smith in the seat. Karen Hess ran and she should be on the assembly. Talk about politics to the meanness of it all. In a small town like this should not happen. Stop thinking of yourself and just your little group. That is exactly what you are doing Hoffman, Waterman and Vick. What you so you will reap, whether you believe that or not.
I think the judge should put “the three” in jail until they are voted out of office for disobeying his court order.
Tony,
Like most folks, you’re hoping for an “easy” solution…one where someone else fixes things without any effort on our part. The judge can’t really do what you’re asking under this circumstance.
If you read the CVN article, though, Glen Hamburg at the Division of Community & Regional affairs clearly points out that there are grounds to recall the present assembly members. A recall petition starts with a group of voters who care enough to do the research, file the petition, and work to make it happen.
It takes a bit of effort, but the state recall statutes are there so that voters have the proper tools when no other solution is available.
Karen Hess has been a productive resident to Haines. She has been involved in the fair, the Snowburner, the fishing derby, the Borough Assembly and Chamber of Commerce. She has worked tirelessly for the community. You don’t have to like her to respect the work ethic. I have worked with her and found her to be prepared to do the job at hand and to see it to its conclusion. I am disappointed that she was snubbed by the Assembly. There are few real worker bees in Haines. She put her name up and played the rules. The reason for such treatment escapes me. We all recognize the being a Assemblyman is hard and sometimes uncomfortable work. Do the right thing and seat Karen to the to the empty seat as required by law. You and the public will feel better for it. Personal dislike has no place in the public forum.
How about 8:00 AM at the borough offices to find out how we start the recall? I’m infuriated.
You all are right! Their is no law beyond the 58th parallel.I have seen this little town go through boom and bust many times. We need a functioning City council.They all must remember as soon as you go through the door to the meeting you are representing the people of this little town. All personal agendas must be left out the door. And make the best decisions with our tax payers and voters concerns.We have a split council out of operation right now. Our tax dollars hard at work getting things done?