Predicting stuff is risky business, but we all love to take a shot.
Me, too!
So, three years ago, I began a column with this quote from a Bette Davis movie, “All About Eve.”
“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
The column was about incoming County Commissioner David Madore.
And with Madore now running for county chair, residents will get to decide if they want the bumpy nights to continue.
OK, OK, maybe it wasn’t the most difficult prediction. But — what the heck — I did fire that warning shot, and it’s pretty safe to say that prediction has come true.
If I might, let me quote a few other things from that column in 2012.
“It’s going to be one roller coaster of a ride. And it will be bumpy. Very bumpy.
“Madore you see, doesn’t feel like he was elected to maintain the status quo. Shake, rattle and roll will be his rally cry.
“This ain’t ‘Wayne’s World.’ It’s Madore’s World.”
o o o
A lot has happened since Madore took office. And none of it has been smooth. Bumpy, mind you, doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. But, like ice cream and poor hires, too much of anything will cripple you.
If you’ve been following along, you know — for example — that county commissioners are no longer called commissioners. They’re county councilors. That was part of a massive overhaul voters demanded when they approved a county charter form of government.
A charter government here had been rejected multiple times by voters. But that was before Madore and County Councilor Tom Mielke joined forces to create havoc. Yep, you can blame the M&M boys for the charter’s passage.
Part of the new charter also calls for increasing the board from three to five members. When you do the math, you can see why that was important. The M&M boys count as two. And on a three-member board, that adds up to chaos.
Now, one of the two new seats created is something called the county chair. Think of it as a weak mayor of a city. The chair won’t have any real extra superpowers, but will essentially be the face of the council.
And Madore is running hard to be that face. Not only does Madore have a ton of personal money to pour into this race, he has somehow managed to convince two big-money guys who live in the neighborhood to support a PAC that, in turn, supports Madore.
That would be Ken Fisher, founder and CEO of multibillion-dollar money management firm Fisher Investments, and Clyde Holland, CEO of multifamily development and management company Holland Partner Group.
When you combine Fisher’s, Holland’s and Madore’s money, you have approximately enough money to buy Costa Rica. But instead, they bought a ton of TV ads touting a smiling Madore as The One.
His partner in crime — Mielke — is also running. So are County Councilor Jeanne Stewart, former County Commissioner Marc Boldt and Battle Ground Councilor Mike Dalesandro.
For me, voters have an opportunity to try to steady the ship or go along with the big money and keep the bumpy ride bumpy.
If you opt for the latter, just remember to fasten that seat belt.
But regardless of how you vote, vote!
