What is leadership? That's an open question these days.
I grew up being taught by my deeply conservative Christian parents that leadership meant doing what was right, even if it cost you everything.
That real leaders gave up something of themselves for the good of those for whom they are responsible.
Perhaps the current leadership in Battle Ground grew up with a different definition. Because from where I sit, their brand of "leadership" seems to be doing whatever you desire, so long as no one can stop you, consequences be damned.
Already, this current leadership has cost the city legal representation, contracts, a qualified city manager (along with, in my estimation, about $500,000 in severance and search fees to replace her) and a risk of many more talented and dedicated civil servants heading for the exits, along with decades of invaluable institutional knowledge.
It has alienated members of our community, pitted neighbors against one another and left most of us in the middle scratching our heads and wondering why everything this current council does suddenly feels dedicated to such a small group of constituents.
When you are elected, whether it is by one vote or by a landslide, you earn the cursed obligation of representing all of your constituents, supporters or not. This is not merely a utopian ideal — it is how publicly funded entities must be run. Elsewise, you're telling members of the LGBTQ community that, even as you'll still gladly take their property and sales tax revenue, you'll actively raise a middle finger to them in the form of a nuclear family declaration during a month set aside for them, while ignoring Pride Month entirely. Good job.
But you've also opened your city up to potential civil rights abuse claims and other legal entanglements that will likely eat further into scarce public resources and reduce the amount of actual work the city can get done (you know, the streets, the crime solving, the land use management? The boring stuff).
And for what? A shiny religious intolerance merit badge that you don't even get to see until after you die? Nice.
What is leadership? They say you'll know it best by its absence.
Chris Brown
Battle Ground
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