This past week I sent a letter to the editor where I offered up some advice and commentary on what I believe were some of Mayor Ron Badowski’s weaknesses and how he could perhaps consider them and possibly change the way he runs our government. The Wickenburg Sun, which makes it blatantly obvious each and every week who it is supportive of, cut the entire last sentence of my letter out. Let me know if you consider this last sentence to be endorsing any one particular candidate. That was the excuse Publisher Kevin Cloe gave me for not including it in the letter that was published in their newspaper.

Here it is, in its entirety:

AN OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR BADOWSKI

I heard from a number of friends who attended the Town Council Meeting on October 6th that you were very critical of my recent letter to the editor.  One of the things you pointed out was that, when you get on an airplane, you sit in the back of the plane and don’t try to tell the pilot how to fly the airplane. Your attempt at an analogy was interesting, but I think it fell far short of making any sense. The difference between you and me is that I was not elected by my fellow citizens to represent their interests and goals.  In my capacity as an airline captain, I readily accept professional advice from my airline’s dispatchers and load planners and together we come up with a flight plan to follow.  I also listen to input from the flight attendants about issues they are dealing with.  I don’t arrive at work with my mind made up about everything before we even begin.

Mayor Badowski, you can be very charming when you want to.  I still remember the lunch that you and I and our wives enjoyed together a few years ago.  I think, almost from the get-go though, we both recognized that we were not going to see eye-to-eye on a number of issues. But I also think we respected each other enough to realize that we both have a right to our individual opinions.  I think the townspeople would be a lot happier with you if that was the kind of interaction you had with them on a consistent basis.

I was hoping that, instead of immediately objecting to my letter, you might have taken a minute to sit back and just accept an opinion and consider it. I think the recall 2 years ago and the results of the primary election a little over a month ago prominently showed that people are very unhappy with the way you run our government. The people I’ve spoken with think that you completely ignore the input from everyday citizens. I believe your use of the 3 minute clock is a slap in the face of people who have taken the time and effort to research and put together a presentation.  A well-documented display of this occurred back when the Ringwood project was railroaded through and you failed to listen to or even acknowledge the views of the many citizens who showed up to voice their opposition.

Also, your acceptance of campaign money through contributions from local developers and entrepreneurs, while not “legally” a conflict of interest, certainly presents the “appearance”€ of conflict, especially when you later vote almost unanimously in favor of these same contributor’s proposed developments and projects.

It is my opinion that the citizens of Wickenburg are stating that they want a leader who treats their thoughts and ideas with dignity and respect. I believe that if you continue to ignore the citizens as you have, you are not that leader.

Webmaster Note: Mr. Ferman is not the first person to complain to me about the Wickenburg Sun‘s obvious biases this and every election season. But he is one of the first to send me a complete copy of a letter he submitted to the Sun that was printed with vital content removed. Has the Sun also edited one of your election-issue letters before publishing it? Use the Contact Us form to send us the original version and we might reprint it in its entirety here.

I firmly believe that a strong Chamber of Commerce is not only beneficial to Wickenburg, but is very important to the careful future expansion of our town. But, when is the Chamber doing its job and when is it overly extending its boundaries and becoming too controlling? The Chamber has been way too involved in this election, in my humble opinion.

The Chamber receives a very healthy amount of money from the town through BBB Tax money which is diverted to them. Before the Candidate’s Forum, Julie Brooks, the Executive Director of the Chamber, was asked if the Chamber was going to again support certain candidates as they did in the election two years ago. Her answer, according to reliable sources, was “No, we’re not into politics.” I believe, as a direct result from answers the candidates gave at the forum, the Chamber used this forum as a way to canvass and choose who they wanted to support. Within the same week, the Chamber sent out a flyer demonstrating their support to Mayor Badowski, Darrell Stadel John Cook and Rui Pereira to all the Chamber members. Who paid for this flyer? I am very concerned that the chamber is funneling money received from the town to support political candidates of their choosing. It may not be legally wrong, but is it ethically acceptable for them to do so? Is this an appropriate way for them to utilize the money given to them?

It is my opinion that we need to elect some people who have no connection whatsoever to the Chamber. We already have 3 members closely aligned with the Chamber (Kristi Henson, Secretary of the Chamber, Ron Badowski- Ex-officio Director of the Chamber & Scott Stewart- who sat on the Board of Directors in recent years) and who have voted to support funding to their organization and who have been quite vocal and supportive of it. There is the potential now to have 4 or more of the 7 members of Council having very close ties to the chamber ( Candidate Rui Pereira is married to a former president of the Board of Directors).

The Wickenburg Sun has been very open in its support of Mr. Pereira and Mayor Badowski. Any attempt to balance out the support of other candidates through Letters to the Editor have been effectively stopped by the policies of Kevin Cloe, the publisher. Is it any wonder that Mr. Cloe is also on the Board of Directors of the Chamber?

I believe we need to have more members of the Council seated who represent the interests of the majority of our citizens, not just the interests of a single organization.

I was blessed to have received the support of many of my fellow citizens in the last election. I am asking that the people who supported me 2 years ago consider voting for Scott Colbath and Tim Zoebel for Council and Kelly Blunt for Mayor. We need an injection of fresh faces and new ideas on the Council that will dictate the future of our town.

Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Councilman John Zerby’s Feb. 28th letter to the editor, in which he states that none of the “Loud Minority” was in attendance at the recent Town Council Retreat. I, for one, was out of town working and was unable to attend. Of all people, Mr. Zerby should understand what work-related conflict is about as he has the highest rate of absenteeism of any councilman at recent council meetings.

Even if I had been able to attend this retreat, what would have spurred my interest enough to do so, when our Town Council has demonstrated a dismal record of completely ignoring citizen input which conflicts with their ideas? There have been a number of concerned individuals who have taken the time and effort to address both Planning and Zoning and Town Council. From the start though, their ability to stand up and speak has been severely throttled by a prominent clock ticking away in front of them. After a severed input, they return home even more disillusioned by unanimous votes proving their attendance and participation was just a waste of time.

Then, when a citizen has dared to challenge the council vote by approaching the town staff with the intention of filing a referendum, they have received assistance and advice which subsequently proves to be technically incorrect. Even worse, the town’s attorney (whose salary is paid for through our taxes) repeatedly picks these referendums apart, getting them thrown out on inconsequential, very minor technicalities. Who has the town supported here — their citizens or the developers? The citizens who do venture out and dedicate a large amount of time collecting signatures, are left feeling completely frustrated as well. At no time has the council, elected to represent these citizens, come back and tried to help by readdressing any of these issues.

Mr. Zerby also noted that some developers were in attendance. These are individuals who contributed to the campaigns of several presently seated council members, and who are now attempting to change the rules which would allow expedited handling of any future development requests. Why wouldn’t they be there?

In the recent fall election, voters supported (through almost 50% of their vote) candidates and ideas that should be listened to. Irresponsible development, threatening Wickenburg’s character, was noted as one of the most pressing issues of voter concern. Every council vote dealing with development in the last few years has sidestepped this electorate concern, and has been completely unanimous in support of the developers. This biased track record sadly leaves no reasonable expectation of change, severely threatening the critical checks and balances of public participation.

Our citizens should indeed be proactive, and they will be. But the town council and mayor first need a stern reminder of their public vows made during the election process, about who they proclaim to represent, and in fact do represent-the town’s citizens. It is their civic responsibility, and the only means to true growth in our community!

Jim Ferman

I have been flying for over 35 years. I am a captain with a major airline and have more than 20,000 hours of flight experience flying everything from small Cessnas to Boeing 767′s. I believe I have a little more knowledge than the average person when dealing with this subject. From what I have seen and heard, the developer in question believes that, since the homes he is going to build are not all located in the direct extended centerline of the runway, he should be allowed to build there. The town in turn, has bowed to him, approved his development application and not listened to citizens’ concerns. The developer has threatened to sue the town to get what he wants.

Let’s take a look at a very real scenario that could potentially occur here….. a small twin-engine aircraft takes the runway at Wickenburg Airport for takeoff. The pilot pushes the throttles forward for takeoff and the aircraft accelerates. The aircraft becomes airborne at approximately 75-80 knots. Until the aircraft is able to accelerate to the airspeed where the rudder and ailerons become effective (approximately 100-110 knots), if one of the engines should quit, that aircraft will have a tendency to twist around the good engine (resulting in a turn). On a hot summer day, if the airplane is carrying a lot of weight, it essentially is almost uncontrollable for the first 15 seconds or so of flight if it loses an engine. Those homes lie directly within the first 15 seconds of flight.

In the event of an accident, any good aviation attorney who represents the survivors will take a good hard look into what happened. Among the first things he will want to know is why the town allowed houses to be built so close to the runway. Was the town warned that their approval of the project would potentially make them liable in the event of an accident? Did the FAA approve the placement of this project?

If the town is afraid of a lawsuit from this developer, they should keep in mind that, in the unfortunate event of an airplane accident, that suit will be peanuts in relation to a lawsuit brought by the survivors. I believe the town is being very short-sighted in their approval of this development. By approving and allowing this project to continue they are exposing the town to future lawsuits that will cost each and every one of us dearly. I respectfully ask the Town Council to re-examine this issue.

On Friday, October 27, at 10 AM there was a knock at my front door and it was Lyle Murdock, the Wickenburg Building Inspector. Since he has been involved in an ROC case against a couple of contractors who bungled a job in our back yard, he has been over here numerous times in the last 2 years, and I thought this was just a follow-up visit in conjunction with that project. Instead, it turned out to be a surprise inspection initiated by the Town of Wickenburg in reference to a complaint against me by an “anonymous party”. My initial reaction was to press Lyle for a warrant of some sort because I was appalled to think the town could just walk into my home without prior notice and without producing a copy of the complaint or a search warrant or anything that resembled reasonable proof that this was a legitimate complaint and not just a nuisance, harassment kind of complaint. However, since I like Mr. Murdock and I have dealt with him before, I allowed him free access to my guest house to look for an “unauthorized stove”. When we built the guest house 3 years ago, we were aware that we could not put an oven or a cooktop in it. The building inspector at the time was also aware of this building code and, being law-abiding citizens, we adhered to the code. Now, however, an anonymous person had filed a complaint. All the town had to do was look at the previous paperwork and they would have seen that there was no oven in this guest house. I told Mr. Murdock that this was an example of harassment and he commented, “I know.”

He completed his inspection and noted that, indeed, no oven existed. He took a number of photos and then stated that he had to go so he could file his report and that the Wickenburg Sun was waiting for his findings. At that point I knew this was more than just a neighbor with a gripe against me-why was the Wickenburg Sun suddenly interested in my guest house kitchen? Mr. Murdock didn’t know the answer to that question, so my wife and I went to Town Hall to ascertain just what was going on.

We spoke with the Town Planner, Miles Johnson, who was evasive, to say the very least. (Before we went to talk to him, I spoke with the previous Building Inspector who told me that once a complaint is submitted to the town, it becomes a matter of public record and therefore should be available for my wife and me to view. He also said that it was his practice to only investigate complaints that had a signed name on it. He did not investigate “anonymous” complaints.) To make a long story short, Mr. Johnson did not produce any paperwork for us. I told him that we expected that paperwork by Monday or I would speak to my attorney. I told him that I really would like to avoid that in order to avoid attorney’s fees for me and for the town. We will see what he comes up with.

Then we went to the Wickenburg Sun, but since it was 2:45 on a Friday afternoon, there was no one available to speak with. We called Janet DelTufo, the Wickenburg Sun reporter, and she told us that she didn’t know anything other than that Kevin Cloe had told her to follow up on this because the Sun was trying to confirm facts for an ad that was being placed. I cannot believe that the Wickenburg Sun would be that interested in my guest house. This whole matter stinks of complicity between the town and the Sun. This is an example of the smear campaign that my opposition is attempting to mount against me.

Mr. Murdock also mentioned that there had been several other inquiries by anonymous parties into other projects concerning my ROC complaint. They wanted to know whether Mr. Murdock was aware of what was going on in our back yard and whether or not we had permits for everything, which, of course we had.

My reaction to this whole episode is to realize that I am making an impact on Wickenburg politics and the other side is scared. It’s a sad commentary that they have to resort to such tactics in an attempt to counter the information I uncovered about my opponents, all of which is supported by facts and figures. It’s also interesting to note that a number of my political signs have been torn down or are missing.