There’s no mistaking several recent incidents in the chambers of various local city halls and the county supervisors offices with the Jan. 6 violent insurrection at our U.S. Capitol. But all of these incidents exposed our democracy’s recent troubles with the peaceful and respectful passing of power from one party or officer to the next.
Could the local incidents, that one participant called “not our finest hour,” share any underlying infirmities with the Jan. 6 historical blemish on our republic? Probably not, but shouldn’t we explore how not to repeat anymore “less than finest hour” moments?
Last week, President Joe Biden convened a three-day Summit for Democracy, intended to rally the world’s democracies against anti-democratic threats and the rise of authoritarian governments like Russia, China and others. “American democracy is an ongoing struggle to live up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions; to commit ourselves to the founding idea of our nation captured in our Declaration of Independence,” Biden said.
All democracies are imperfect, living experiments, whether they are part of the international order or just a small, local government body. We, the people, are still in search of the “more perfect union” our U.S. Constitution mentions.
The mostly ceremonial passing of the mayor’s gavel from one elected council member to another didn’t go very smoothly last week in Cloverdale or Sebastopol. Todd Lands was selected as Cloverdale’s new mayor following a series of split votes by his fellow council members. In Sebastopol, Sarah Gurney was selected as the new mayor but she removed herself from the post when her choice for vice mayor was not approved. Following what some council members called “theatrics,” “awkward” and “sour feelings,” Patrick Slayter was selected as mayor by a vivid gesture of compromise.
The night Healdsburg was to choose a new mayor, an unruly mob gathered outside of city hall, protesting the city’s public health mandate that requires full vaccinations by individuals for entrance to the council chambers. Ozzie Jimenez was selected as mayor, as unvaccinated council member Skylaer Palacios continued to call the city’s vaccination requirement undemocratic and racist. The Town of Windsor’s selection for a new mayor was much less dramatic with Sam Salmon continuing as mayor until elections in 2022. The special election is required to replace disgraced ex-mayor Dominic Foppoli, who resigned last year under a weight of sexual misconduct and rape allegations.
The transfer of power in the form of realigning election districts for the five county supervisorial districts last week also wasn’t a picture of democratic diplomacy and decorum. After rejecting the recommendations of their own redistricting advisory committee, the five supervisors went through a noisy week of charges and counter charges over who was playing politics and who was trying to rig or “unrig” the fair realignment of the county’s five geographic-based districts.
No longer is America where other nations or people should look for a shiny example of the world’s best democracy. According to the latest survey by Freedom House, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank, America’s democracy only ranks 53rd among all democratic nations. A majority of members of the GOP Republican party do not accept Biden as the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. They do not believe in fair elections or the democratic process of voting. The U.S. now has a partisan Supreme Court that mirrors the severe political divide between the nation’s most conservative and liberal voters. The U.S. Senate is gridlocked by its own filibuster rules. More and more Congressional seats are becoming non-competitive due to gerrymandered district boundaries. Newly enacted voter suppression measures are being passed in many states. Even school board elections in many places have become vitriolic culture clash skirmishes.
Woe is us when we can’t even share democracy’s gavel.
