Editor's Note: Mike Geraci has previously been contracted by the City of Victor as a communications strategist and has no affiliation with The Valley Signal.
One of the greatest strengths of American democracy is the ability of citizens to organize around issues they care about. Victor "watchdogs" Collective PAC is evidence that grassroots organizing remains alive and well as America marks its Semiquincentennial.
But the Founders didn't just create a system that empowered citizens to organize. They intended a republic that depended on citizens exercising that power through reasoned deliberation, evidence, civic virtue, and the ability to disagree without assuming the worst of one another.
In PAC founder Carol Nowakowski's recent opinion announcing her PAC she frames the recall of Mayor Frohlich as, "... never personal. It was always about culture." On that point, we agree. But she has identified the wrong culture.
Carol says the recall was about a culture of governance. I believe it reflects something equally concerning: a culture of suspicion and cynicism.
The challenge with Carol's case, and the broader case made for the Mayor's recall, is that it consistently, and with conviction, selects the evidence that reinforces conclusions already reached while discounting evidence that points in another direction.
Throughout her opinion, nearly every disagreement is attributed to hidden, vague, and ulterior motives. Unnamed developers' interests. Plans "designed to fail." Behind-the-scenes players. A "growth-at-any-costs agenda." Lawsuits described as weapons.
Engineering reports that challenge the preferred narrative are dismissed. Legal advice is discredited because of nepotism accusations. DEQ guidance is questioned as flawed. Financial analyses are treated as suspect. Consultants become compromised or conflicted the moment their conclusions diverge.