“Especially thankful for our county manager,” he would say.
That was what he said in public. But just a couple of weeks earlier — in private — a different side of Madore was playing out.
The Columbian has known about the two faces of Madore for some time, but it was boiling over now.
The tip I received was passed along to our county reporter, Kaitlin Gillespie, who — as always — did a great job with her story.
We didn’t have the damning emails at that point, but still did the story for two reasons:
• We were able to confirm it with the person who had received the emails: McCauley.
• The county — as is the case with many governments — will typically delay the release of email because, well, it can.
Essentially, our story said McCauley felt concerned about his job after receiving those strongly worded emails from Madore.
Madore was put on the defensive once again. And this time, he thought he had a way out of the mess he created.
He’d just make stuff up.
So he headed to his Facebook page. You know, the one he calls a newspaper?
He began to spin his tale:
“I heard a few minutes ago that there is a nonsensical rumor being spread from an obviously unreliable source that the county council fired our county manager, Mark McCauley, today. It’s nonsense.
“I just called and talked with Mr. McCauley to see if he heard the same nonsensical rumor. He already figured it was nonsense as was evident by us working together as a team today as we often do.
“He’s good. I’m good. And the silliness is simply silliness.”
Madore loves to call The Columbian an unreliable source and that, frankly, is when he’s in a good mood. When he’s in a bad mood, he calls us a cancer on the community.
What happened next was expected: His followers piled on. The hounds were smelling blood.
“The Columbian’s BIG SCOOP reminds me of grade school gossip. ‘I heard that he said that someone told him that she said that they knew that he said that ….!’ Oh my! Tabloid journalism at it worst.”
That was from Anna Miller. You remember her, right? When Madore was elected three years ago, he said he would need additional administrative help because he would be doing the peoples’ work, and there was plenty of that to do! So he began paying Miller out of his own pocket. She’d have a desk and stuff over at the county. And she would deliver Madore’s words of wisdom to whatever county staffer needed a — ah — course correction.
She hasn’t been seen at the county offices for several weeks, and sources have told me Madore has quietly let her go.
Of course, Miller wasn’t the only one joining the pack, howling about how bad The Columbian was.
“Hahahaha!!! The Columbian is being renamed as, ‘Clark County Enquirer,’ ” Matthew Blount wrote.
Even my right-wing blogger buddy Lew Waters couldn’t resist backing Madore on this one:
“Take your lumps, Lefty, your smear effort slapped you right in your kisser.”
There was just one tiny, little problem.
Our story was accurate.
The only stuff being made up was by Madore.
Frankly, I was surprised so many of Madore’s followers fell for the slick move he pulled. It’s an age-old trick that politicians use: Reframe the issue so you don’t have to comment on the real issue. Can you go back and spot the Madore trick? This is a test, so take your time. I bet you caught it now. Madore falsely says we reported the council “fired our county manager.”
No such thing was ever said by us.
And once he lied about that — well — the dogs were released!
You see, Madore didn’t want to address the real issue: Did he send a scathing email that put the county manager on edge? So he simply made up an issue.
The real issue — as our story stated — was the concern the county manager had for his job after getting that email. Our story accurately reported McCauley’s unease. And McCauley — in fact — confirmed that unease to us on two occasions.
Madore didn’t count on us going after the emails that were the center of our original story. Those emails would either bolster McCauley’s view that he felt his job was threatened, or bolster Madore’s view that everything was rosy between the two when we did our original story.
As you might imagine, Madore began to sweat the email release. And — as noted — the county’s legal team took some time to see if our request could be rejected based on its being a “performance evaluation.”
But I know enough about public records to know that wouldn’t fly. Not with its being sent to a county manager, who serves at the pleasure of the county council.
So with a deadline rapidly approaching, the county finally released the documents.
And guess what?
They supported our story and not Madore’s made-up version.
I’ve included the main one at the bottom of this column, but let me give you a few highlights.
• “I find it necessary to write … to correct a problem area that appears to be getting worse,” Madore wrote to McCauley.
• Madore spoke about the need for a county manager to have people skills and good judgment. He then added, “When those skills are lacking, moral(e) falls, directors feel unsupported and staff stress levels increase.”
• Madore said McCauley had not completed certain things. “Your actions since then have made matters worse.”
• Madore also complained about a county department. “Our Planning Department misinformed the board on a critical … issue.”
• Madore also was not happy that McCauley had criticized Don Benton, the director of the county’s environmental services department. “You interrupted the DES staff meeting … and publicly humiliated (Benton, implying) … that he didn’t know what was going on in his department.”
• “It grieves me to have to confront you about this unsatisfactory performance. This unprofessional behavior and poor judgment is not what I would (have) expected,” Madore also wrote.
I’m sort of thinking January can not come soon enough for McCauley and the county workers.
And this community.
That’s when newly elected county Chair Marc Boldt shows up and Madore is relegated to an outer seat. Oh, Madore will be around for one more year before he’s up for re-election. But that outer seat will suit him well.
It was time for a change. And with Rep. Liz Pike losing her bid to join Madore’s side and Julie Olson and Boldt coming on to the county council, the community is in much better hands.
And I couldn’t help thinking of a hashtag.
#BoldtIsComing. #BoldtIsComing.
