By Mark Adams, Stevensville
Brandon Dewey has a problem with the truth. In a recent edition of the Bitterroot Star (Sept. 30, 2020) he states, “The recall was placed on the ballot by a small committee of individuals.” This statement is totally false. The fact is 254 voters in the Town of Stevensville signed the Recall Petition. That number is just over the 251 signatures needed to put the issue on the ballot which is 20% of the approximately 1250 registered voters in Stevensville.
I was one of the signature gatherers and my area was from 3rd to 5th Street and from Main Street to the school. I will admit that I did not get the opportunity to talk with all the voters in my area, however, of the 60 people I did engage, only two were for Dewey, 18 were undecided, and 40 signed the petition. Two people out of 60 is only 3.3 percent. If you multiply 3.3 percent times 1250 you only get 41 votes. That my friends, is a small number, especially when you consider we had three months (90 days) to collect the signatures and we were basically done in three weeks. When you look at reality you see that the “small committee of individuals” statement does not hold water. Dewey has belittled the voters of Stevensville to make himself appear important.
Dewey also says in the same publication that Judge Recht’s ruling is “simply an opinion.” A ruling by a District Court Judge carries far more weight than a mere opinion by an attorney. A case in point would be Dewey’s own argument that the Stevensville Town Attorney had given approval to carry on. Judge Recht still ruled against Dewey. How come Dewey did not file an appeal to the Montana Supreme Court? Could it be Dewey understood that he did not stand a snowball’s chance in you know where?
Mark Harris, Stevensville says
I think that your math is flawed. I am one of the people you spoke with that supports Mayor Dewey. If your conversations with them was like your conversation with me, you never got to the point where we discussed anything.
I see the signs around town that are pro-Dewey and the ones that are pro-recall. The pro-Dewey ones are definitely not 3.3 per cent of the total signs. They’re at least fifty percent of the signs. Further, for a while, some pro-Dewey signs were disappearing and their owners were complaining that one day they were there and the next they were missing.
Some homes displaying pro-Dewey signs have been vandalized. People in the majority position don’t do this. They would wait for the recall to happen and be confident that they would win. Not the case here. The thing that stopped the vandalism was a public spotlight on it via social media. Once the vandals knew they were making their cause look bad, they ceased.
Time will tell.
Leanna Rodabaugh says
What is your reasoning for the missing RECALL signs. Mark, this makes no sense. Passions are high on both sides and people do stupid things. Just leave it at that. OK?