OUR VIEW: Heated rhetoric of City's leaders

This column has reported an apparent “us v. the public” mentality at City Hall, in which some elected leaders have taken to criticism and name-calling of citizens who participate in the process and challenge the system.

Vice Mayor Larry Small sent an e-mail to a variety of city leaders and the entire City Council in July that said The Gazette’s limited-government editorial philosophy is “completely out of sync with the citizens” of Colorado Springs, despite the fact elections consistently suggest otherwise. His e-mail criticized The Gazette’s loyalty to its parent company’s beloved and deceased founder — a provider of employment, a creator of wealth, and a generous philanthropist in this community.

Councilman Jerry Heimlicher used an interview with the Colorado Springs Independent to call libertarians and Gazette opinion writers “misfits” and “malcontents.” Later, Heimlicher publicly criticized the will of voters, writing: “One third of the people are dictating how we are governed and what will happen to services.”

Councilman Bernie Herpin also went public in his criticism of citizens, saying only a minority of Springs residents vote, and most who bother to vote don’t participate in the city’s Park and Recreation programs and go through life hoping they won’t need firefighters or cops.

The rhetoric against citizen participation in government became even stronger this week, when Small responded to a polite e-mail from Independent Publisher John Weiss with a name-calling nastygram that threatened public embarrassment.

Weiss wants City Council to put a measure on the November ballot that would eliminate the city’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and replace it with a law that would merely require taxpayer approval of tax increases. Gone would be the formula Weiss and other TABOR critics believe ratchets down government revenue. With a mass e-mail and an editorial Thursday, Weiss asked supporters of his proposal to contact Small and four other council members he said are “wavering” on the issue.

After Small received e-mails urging his support, he sent an e-mail to Weiss.

It complained that Weiss had singled out him and three other council members, and suggested that Weiss direct citizens to contact all council members.

“I think you should wise up about how to deal with elected officials,” Small wrote. “Targeting me is not the way to get my support. You may have just lost it by this antic.”

So now it’s an “antic” to urge citizen communication with key elected officials? In what universe?

Weiss responded with warrantless capitulation: “I apologize. If I had to do it over again, I would have done it differently … I did not know Council SOPs (standard operation procedures). In the future, I will do as you recommend. I want you to know that while you and I may differ on some small issues, I have great respect for your knowledge, service and integrity to our community. My hope was that by asking your constituents to contact you to explain (in their own words — not a form letter) why they thought Council should allow citizens to vote on this issue in November, it would convince Council that people do want to vote on this issue now.”

That was a respectful e-mail, written in a spirit of respectful and civilized dialogue. Here is how Small replied:

“You are misleading the public on this issue. First, doing away with the City TABOR will not free us of the State TABOR. By not being free from the State TABOR we will have no fiscal relief. Additionally, I AM NOT WAVERING ON THIS ISSUE. I MADE MY POSITION CLEAR AT THE LAST COUNCIL MEETING WHEN WE DISCUSSED THIS ITEM AND WHY I FELT IT SERVED NO PURPOSE. Bottom line John, you are a liar and I will publicly say so Monday when you are before us. Never count on my support again.”

Small has it exactly backwards. Elected officials are supposed to court support from the people, not the other way around.

In 2008, former state Rep. Douglas Bruce used his foot to shoo a photographer who bothered him during a prayer. That was an act of disrespect by a public official toward a private citizen. The media and the public were outraged, and Bruce paid for it.

In Small’s case, we have a ranking city official calling a concerned citizen a “liar,” and threatening to embarrass him at a council meeting in response to a slight political disagreement. And the so-called “liar” isn’t even a critic of Small. He’s a man who wrote the vice mayor to express his respect, to apologize for something that warranted no apology, and to acknowledge the politician’s integrity and knowledge.

Citizens who participate in the political process deserve respect from city officials. Lately, they have received a lot of contempt. No wonder citizens don’t trust them with their money.