Stop the selective persecution

To the editor:

It seems that City Manager Brocato and Mayor Petry can't be content to fritter away the budget surplus by recruiting expensive "rock stars," giving extravagant and unwarranted raises to favored city staff, or by improving the airport playground for people who are wealthy like them. Now, in my humble opinion, they seem to want to amuse themselves by bullying Councilor Calder out of public service with a campaign of spurious charges, mean-spirited public statements and threats of censure.

Friday's article in the Herald didn't put the bogus charges in the context of the ordinance, so it would be easy for the public to get an inaccurate picture of what is occurring, especially in light of the inane quotes from Brocato and Petry.

Ordinance: "AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE REVISION OF CITY REGULATIONS REGARDING TRAFFIC REGULATIONS; etc." A quick reading reveals that it is about regulating pedestrian and vehicle traffic, as well as parking. It has nothing to do with controlling what someone poster paints on the sidewalk in front of their business during one of our city's summer festivities.

The Mayor and City Manager are making a really lame attempt to charge her with violating an ordinance that has nothing to do with the "crime" she was supposed to have committed. This isn't the first time the City has done this. According to city e-mail from Brocato to Petry and others:

"Councilor Calder in my tenure as city manager, has violated the law regarding sidewalks on three occasions."

None of this is true, according to Calder and common sense. It would seem to be a serious distortion of the truth on Brocato's part, because Calder says she actually WON the case in court! Aye Yi Yi.... The other two cases involve painting for festivities, for which the ordinance also does not apply.

There is a selective prosecution aspect to this, as not only is the ordinance not applicable to Calder's "dots," but it IS applicable to a sign in front of Councilor Dorrah's business on Campbell Street (York's).

See http://bakercountyblog.blogspot.com/

It's really worse than we know.

Christopher Christie

Baker City