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  My View:

Let's Look at the Facts and Forget About Innuendo...

      by Dixie A. Walter
      November 3, 2005

      This community hovers at historic crossroads. The town can change with the times, or remain status quo. It all depends on you, an informed voter, and the upcoming  general election. However, important issues haven't been discussed more than superficially, if even looked at briefly. 
      These issues need to be looked at carefully. There are numerous issues which need to be discussed, but for some reason the opponents of Bobbi Allison for Mayor have been mostly stuck on personal attacks against her. All the while serving up glowing praise for Tommy Smallwood, also running for mayor.
      Neglecting important issues, in favor of the cult of personality,  is a total disservice, and an insult, to community members who are issue-oriented, and not willing to be constantly told Candidate Allison is "idiotic," a liar who fakes vicious and cold-hearted attacks against herself concerning the tragic death of her only daughter. To even suggest a grieving mother would do such a thing shows me a heart made of stone. But it was done by the owner of the hard copy paper who displayed not one shred of empathy.
      So here's the way the past ten weeks of the hard copy paper breaks down. Bobbi Allison has never done anything right in her entire life. No matter if she helped the town receive a $150,000 grant, she is now being demonized as trying to "derail" the very grant she helped the town obtain. 
      The fact that she sits on the Pierce County Regional Council that approved the grant was never made  public by the hard copy paper when the grant was okayed. However, Mayor Bruce Rath made sure he pointed out to the planning commission that "Bobbi is on that council," and could help us get the grant. Nope, doing right by the town was ignored. Yet someone, who evidently doesn't understand the issue, is reporting lies which vilify Allison's role.
      I had occasion recently to sit in front of some supporters of Tommy Smallwood for Mayor during a council meeting. If Bobbi Allison even opened her mouth, one woman would moan and make  little snippy asides. This was done before the person even knew what the councilmember was going to say. 

So Let's Refresh...

       So let's refresh. Bobbi Allison can do nothing right. No matter what she does it's a negative and will throw the town into the pits of hell. On the other hand Tommy Smallwood can do no wrong. Whatever he does if elected will send the town soaring to heaven on wings of angels. No one is as demonic as Bobbi has been painted, nor is anyone as saintly as Tommy as been portrayed. They are simply humans, both with faults and both with good qualities.
       I have known Smallwood since he was a kid. Tommy hung around with my cousin, Skip Haynes. He was a nice kid and is a nice man I'm sure. I lost track of him because he left Eatonville decades ago and only returned under two years ago. As a consequence he has no institutional knowledge of the town, or what has been going on here in the past ten or twenty years during his long absence.
       Tommy is the son of George and Millie Smallwood. George was a local politician, mayor at one time, and the local game warden. His mom worked at various places in town. I remember her at Christensen's Department Store. 
        Bobbi is the daughter of Bob and Betty Allison. Both were business people in town, as were her aunt and uncle, so she was raised in the small business owner's "culture" in Eatonville. This has given her experience with the ups and downs of small town businesses ever since she can remember. Empathizing with the struggles of small merchants is one of Bobbi's strong suits.

Shall we Try to be Balanced?

        During the recent candidates' forum both mayoral candidates answered mostly the same questions. Bobbi was hit with a sexist question, "As a woman do you feel you would best represent the women of our town as mayor?"  She fielded the question quickly and deftly. "As a woman I believe I will represent all the residents of the town." It was a silly question but did expose some of the underlying misogyny about a woman running for mayor. There were women, and some men, who wondered why Tommy wasn't asked what he would do for men if he were elected.
        Take away all the hatred and meanness of some of the anti-Bobbi faction, take away the seeming perfection of her opponent. And then let's look at them as neither demon, nor saint and look at them neutrally, just using facts.
        Which candidate has the experience and qualifications to lead a municipality?  Smallwood has no experience in town government. He has been on the town planning commission around a year. He states in his brochure that his other community service was helping with a clean up of the Kid's Pond/Smallwood Park. His body of work was for one huge corporation. And while there he worked with a thirteen million dollar budget.
        Allison has extensive experience in government from the State Legislature to Lakewood where she works for the planning department. She understands land use problems, which Eatonville surely faces. Bobbi has also built up an impressive number of contacts and resources in the past few years. She is respected by various agencies for her thorough study of various issues. Bobbi can pick up the phone and reach any number of knowledgeable people to assist with questions pertaining to the town. She also studied to be a legal secretary, and understanding legalese is very important.
        As well as being an elected official, Bobbi also spent two years on the Eatonville Planning Commission, and sits on the Pierce County Law and Justice Commission and the Pierce County Regional Council. While admitting she has not handled a budget as large as Smallwood has, she has the advantage of working with government budgets, while Smallwood says he never has done.

Full-Time Mayor?

      Smallwood answered the following question asked at the forum, "Ms. Allison mentioned that this town runs by a hired administrator. How do you think that your role specifically affects that administrator or vice versa?" Smallwood's answer, " I think it’s a dual role, I think the mayor and manager have to be hand-in-hand to make the town run very smoothly. I think the job is a large job, that’s why we have a manager to help the mayor run the town." (Emphasis added.)
      I agree with the concept. However,  Eatonville is not a manager-council form of government. We are a mayor-council government. The difference is like calling a quarter horse a zebra. In a mayor-council government the mayor is elected by the people. Often a town administrator is hired to do the day-to-day work of the town/city. In the manager-council government the manager runs the town. The council selects a mayor and the mayor is little more than a figurehead. 
       A couple of years ago I researched towns and cities under 5000 population. Whenever I saw council/manager listed as a town government the word "code (meaning code city)" was there too. I also saw that towns/cities can be a code city and keep a mayor/council form of government. But if the community was a council/manager they were always code city. It's very complicated and Eatonville voters have thrown out the issue twice. But it will come up again, maybe sooner than later. I'm not sure if that is the direction those who want to change the government are heading or not, but it appears that way to me. Check it out for yourself. Profiles of cities in Washington State  from MRSC.
       I would have felt much more comfortable knowing Tommy Smallwood was aware of the significant  differences between the forms of government, and understood them, instead of using them interchangeably.

Allison Wants Public Participation...

       The hard copy paper's owner states on October 12, "Why do some politicians promise things they can't deliver? The answer is simple. It's a deceptive practice designed to get people who don't know any better to vote for them." He goes on to emphatically say, "A recent brochure from mayoral candidate Bobbi Allison is an outstanding example of promises which cannot be delivered and of political deception..." Then he goes on to point out that Bobbi can't possibly "cut utility taxes in half..."
        Anyone who reads can see by the brochure in question that Allison is on record stating, "Put before the council a resolution to reduce the the utility tax by half..." And the writer, whose crystal ball must be very clear, goes on to say such a resolution would fail and Bobbi knows it. "If she has all of her senses." He says utility taxes would have to be raised if they were to cut the utility tax. Huh? Does that make sense to you?
       Then there is the part about how worried people would be if a full state audit were called for by Bobbi. Now, I'm just wondering, why a state audit is such a touchy subject...Heck, even if it did cost $20,000 that's not  much less than diamond plating a new town truck. The man says, "There is a 'full and complete' audit of Eatonville records on a regular basis..." Wrong again. 
      There is not a 'full and complete' audit on a regular basis. The audits done on a regular basis are not complete. The auditors look at various parts of the town, not the "complete" records. If what he says were true then the town would be paying for a "full and complete" audit on a regular basis. It's a "big waste of taxpayer's money" when Allison suggests it and not a waste when the writer says it happens on a regular basis. Huh again? This is just confusing to me.
      Another "impossible" thing Bobbi put on record was to put before the council, "...a resolution to allow voters to decide whether or not to sell the electrical utility. This could decrease costs to you, and improve services in emergencies." And why is it a bad thing to let citizens decide an important issue? 
        

Public Records Brought up at Forum

       "As mayor of Eatonville how would you approach open public records?"

     Smallwood: I have proposed, and looked into, and actually worked with, and helped maintain a system before; it’s called document sharing. I believe we should have a Web site where anybody can come in and actually look at the documents on a read-only basis and find out the information they really need.  
     This system would actually go back and archive over the years so we would have a good safe record of  all our records. But it would also be so we could basically, if anybody wanted to look at any records, they could look at it easily with quick access and actually different levels of the city, they could look at different levels. But any citizen could go in and look at what they wanted to look at and get that information very easily.  
     I think getting information to people will make the town stronger. So I think that’s the best thing we can do.

    Allison:  We are required under public records to follow certain steps and regulations that we have to adhere to, by Washington State law. So while it’s wonderful for all of us to say that all of the records are open and public, there are certain measures put in place, and guidelines put upon all municipalities, that they must adhere to, whether we like them or not.  
     We must make sure that those steps are adhered too. So I have no problem with everything being open and above board, but I would assure that our steps and requirements as mandated are met. For complete transcription of mayoral candidates question and answer please see Forum

Public Records Can be a Problem, Especially for ENN in the Past Two Years...

     The first time ENN began having a  "problem" getting prompt public records was when Councilmember Ray Harper, a Boeing employee, became Mayor Pro tem. For the first time in over thirty years, when asking for public records, I was thwarted. Not only thwarted, but under "Public Records Disclosure" the "Mayor's Handbook" states: "Be aware of your obligation to disclose city documents to the public, upon request. For example, when there is a request from the public for disclosure of a city document, the city must respond to the disclosure request in writing within five working days. The short time limit requires that the city staff have clear guidelines for how to process these requests. Most cities have adopted public disclosure procedures.
     "You should understand that many city records are exempt from disclosure, and there are even statutes which prohibit disclosure of some records. (See Appendix 3, Public Records Disclosure, for more details on what is disclosable.)" 
     Some public records cannot be disclosed. However, a government willing to work with citizens, and media, will explain that certain information, of a personal nature, can be redacted, blacked out, and the records can be obtained. This means, of course, a government which follows the laws and has no reason to attempt hiding records.
      As publisher of ENN I have often asked for public records from Eatonville and other agencies. I have even asked Eatonville for public records requests from citizens a couple of times. What I found interesting is how  few people actually ask for public records in this small town. So, unless someone is getting public records without filling out the town's form, I can't see where anyone from the other news media in town has been denied anything. There are no documented requests, so how can you be denied if you don't ask for anything? 

ENN Was Lied to About Public Records - Below is one Example...

       In a  July 21, 2005,  public records request, ENN asked, in writing, for a copy of the police report, and insurance claim regarding the break-in of the water system. Quoting ENN's request verbatim, "I believe it happened sometime toward the end of 2002. It may have been in November." The request is stamped as received, July 21, 2005 by the town hall.
     This request was sent to the Eatonville Police Department (EPD) and town hall staff, which includes town clerk, Carrie Lynn Loffelmacher, Within 24 hours ENN had been contacted by Gaille Finley from EPD, who said the requested public documents were prepared, and available, for pick-up at the town hall front counter. The requested documents from EPD  were picked up by ENN. However, the stall came through Town Clerk Loffelmacher  who sent the letter below:

 Clerk States, "Claim was not filed
 by the Town."

 

But She is Wrong...

 

And Wrong Again...

     Carrie Lynn Loffelmacher's name is all over the various insurance claim papers, about eighteen pages. Why she saw fit to tell me no claim was filed is beyond me, but I won't buy the old standby, "I forgot," which is the only excuse the clerk could possibly come up with. This is just one example of duplicity. I'm still waiting for public records request concerning a letter written by former public works director Jamieson Van Eaton. Information has been held from me. 
      Even worse in my opinion is the fact that as an elected official Bobbi Allison has been required to fill out public records requests, this isn't done in other municipalities. Other town governments don't require this of their councilmembers, why does Eatonville? 

The Issue of Health...

     Below is an email I sent to Tommy Smallwood October 16 asking him about the state of his health. The health of both candidates is an issue because Eatonville has gone down the road of having a mayor who became seriously ill through no fault of his own. However, the illness caused a lot of instability in town government with just about every councilmember becoming mayor pro-tem.

 

Subj: IT'S DIXIE WALTER WITH A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS  Date: 10/17/2005 7:26:33 P.M. Pacific Standard Time From: Maatkra To: tomandkaren@rainierconnect.com, tom@tomsmallwood.com Right-click picture(s) to display picture options