Bonanza Column 245 - I'm Back

Just over a year ago I stopped writing this column when I took on a year-long contract as Chief Operating Officer of TRPA. I went there to do some specific things involving internal operations and organizational culture, and was for the most part successful – people tell me that they perceive the Agency as more customer-focused and easier to deal with. I believe that the processes we put in motion over the year I was there contributed to this and will continue to improve TRPA’s relationship with the public and its partner agencies.

That contract ended at the end of June and for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was pent-up demands from my corporate clients, I resumed my consulting and coaching practice. I still work with TRPA at about 30% time, doing staff training, development, and coaching. I remain committed to the Agency’s vision, mission, and goals, and feel that the 70 people who work there are the best of the best in the environmental field, and I consider it a privilege to contribute to their work.

So I’m back to my practice full time – I’m writing this from an airline lounge in Johannesburg, South Africa, on my way to a long-standing client in Botswana – and my training and coaching relationship with TRPA frees me up to resume this column which many people have been kind enough to say they’ve missed. I may address issues that involve TRPA from time to time, and when I do it will be as a private citizen, not in any way as a representative of the Agency.

The return of this column will be welcomed by some and less so by others. The guest columns in the Bonanza for the past year have been dominated by the Conservative perspective, and the need for balancing that point of view is why I began this column in 2004. Just as a reminder, I make no claim to balance or objectivity in this column –Jon Carroll, one of my favorite columnists, recently addressed this in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Every time I write a column about electoral politics, I am sure to get at least one letter saying "your bias is showing" and excoriating me for said bias. But I'm a columnist. I'm supposed to have bias. My views on a wide variety of matters are known, and I make every effort to argue my case forcefully, even using (dare I say it?) rhetorical devices to further my arguments. This is not illegal or unethical; it's my job description.”

I could not have said it better. My bias is unapologetically liberal/progressive. I’m pro-Obama, pro-Harry Reid, the whole package. I respect your right to disagree, and I stand on my right to represent that side of the political spectrum, and I refuse to believe that living in Incline Village takes that right away from me or from those who agree with me.

That said, I believe that the ideologies that guide politics on the National and State level mostly have no place on the local level. I have made common cause with my more conservative neighbors on a raft of local issues, where we agree far more than we differ, and I will continue to do that, so don’t be surprised when Jim Clark and I agree on local matters, which we mostly do.

In that last area, I’ve been distressed at what has been going on in our community for the past year or so. The level of rancor and divisiveness that, as far as I can tell, is being fostered and promoted by a very few people is truly unseemly. We’ve lost good people from the ranks of IVGID staff, and the ability of the IVGID Board and staff to manage the District’s affairs has been compromise by a ruthless onslaught of unfounded criticisms and accusations and even lawsuits that I would characterize as frivolous at best, and malicious at worst. While the worst offenders were roundly rejected by the voters in the primary, several candidates on the November ballot seem to be running on a “throw the rascals out” platform that I believe the current Board does not deserve and running against the staff, which is equally uncalled for. I’ll have more to say about this in columns to come, but I’m confident that the community’s electorate will see through these manipulative tactics.

See you on the Op-Ed page.