Just as the Ft. Collins City Council was first learning of a recall effort against Ft. Collins Councilwoman Lisa Poppaw Tuesday night, Loveland Councilwoman Donna Rice was raising similar questions regarding Loveland’s membership in a controversial group that is the lynch pin of the recall effort complaint against Poppaw. see story and video
Wednesday Loveland’s City Hall was buzzing with rumors regarding Rice’s apparent knowledge that Loveland’s membership in Local Government’s for Sustainability would soon become a political hot potato. Rice’s apparent public attempt to inoculate herself from criticism while coaxing her Republican colleagues out into the open on the issue only created confusion Tuesday night. Not until those colleagues learned of the Ft. Collins recall effort the next morning did Rice’s comments appear to have proper context.
The Loveland 912 Project has been critical of the city’s membership in the organization but previous 912 concerns have not manifested themselves into any action by Rice on behalf of her constituents. On the contrary, Rice is an open apologist for influential developer McWhinney Enterprises and a city tax scheme that appears to run counter to the 14th Amendment of the constitution that guarantees equal protection under the law to all citizens.
Party affiliations of Loveland City Council members have traditionally been misleading as it was the Republicans of the previous council who voted for eminent domain for a private purpose, attempted to raise taxes and creating a two-tiered sales tax in Loveland where McWhinney is allowed to divert 40% of the sales taxes collected by their tenants into an entity controlled by McWhinney. Following the previous municipal election, the pro-tax Republicans on Loveland’s council gathered to celebrate the new lodging tax approved by the voters as an important victory.
In Loveland, the tail often wags the dog. This means instead of council setting the agenda and giving direction to the city manager the city manager, Don Williams, traditionally weighs heavy in political decisions by council like whether or not the city will participate in the Local Government’s for Sustainability organization. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that no member of the city council chose to defend the city’s membership in the group but instead allowed Don Williams to respond to Rice by providing the city’s explanation of why Loveland is a member.
Further evidence of Loveland’s peculiar politics on council was Councilman Klassen’s inane questions last Tuesday to the city attorney regarding how far he can go in opposing anti-tax ballot initiatives scheduled for November’s ballot. Klassen, like other Republicans on the council, appears to get his marching orders from the city manager and left of center groups like the League of Cities both of whom oppose the upcoming ballot initiatives.
Rice appears to be independent of the others but whether she is independent of the recall effort in Ft. Collins is another question that needs to be answered. In the meantime, William’s skirt may no longer be wide enough for others to hide behind to protect them from criticism of the city’s decisions. Williams response the membership in the Local Governments for Sustainability only cost the city $400 is an odd argument. If the KKK only cost $200 per year would the City of Loveland join that group as well? Especially if the KKK offered software tools the city staff wanted to use in exchange for membership?
Given the political recall effort in Ft. Collins it would behoove every member of Loveland’s City Council to understand what groups the city is a member of and be able to articulate the city’s reasons for participation or on the contrary offer evidence of what they did to oppose membership.
Rice may have been fishing on behalf of the same people responsible for the Ft. Collins recall to see how her colleagues would respond. It appears that none of them took the bait — so far.
