The embers of partisan rivalry flared into full conflagration Tuesday night, drowning out a pretty routine agenda at the Chico City Council and perhaps setting the stage for a rancor-filled election season.
The disposition of a former group home, electronic cigarettes, offers of a donated sculpture and traffic safety were on the docket; but policy briefly took a backseat to political theater as the mayor delivered a slamming soliloquy against a rival over complaints that campaign finance reports were improperly removed from the city’s website. The two men represent opposing council factions.
In a reprimand lasting eleven minutes, Mayor Mark Sorensen accused Councilman Randall Stone of slander, bullying, being hate filled and spreading evil lies.
“Mr. Stone’s Facebook diatribe contained false, misleading and defamatory statements and merely, as was reported, merely the latest bullying and abuse of city staff,” Sorensen said.
Stone drew harsh criticism from conservatives after publicizing a Chico policeman’s Facebook page that had a photoshopped picture of President Obama as a witch doctor with a bone through his nose. Stone had questioned the officer’s ability to act without racial bias.
The new controversy surrounds the removal of campaign finance records from the city’s website. Stone questioned whether the action was politically motivated. The city clerk issued a denial.
Brief bursts of drama aside, the meeting was productive and largely cordial. The council extended prohibitions on cigarettes to their electronic cousins. It moved ahead with plans to sell the vacant, former site of a domestic violence shelter and chose to proceed with a traffic safety study in the south-campus area.
Additionally, the council accepted donation of a bicycle-related sculpture to be installed near sycamore pool and rejected a request for a building fee waiver from a developer planning to lease a new local office to the California Highway Patrol.