I want to be proud to be a Gibson citizen, but the local political climate makes it tough. Gibson is a dysfunctional political family in which there is no common goal other than being hateful and obstructionary to the opposing side.
New mayor Gwen Arrigon – in the interest of full disclosure, my spouse – was sworn in less than two weeks ago and at her first town meeting on Thursday, Dec. 16, commissioners Eric Stubbs, Margie Whitlock, and Josh Byrd snubbed their duties – all absent, presumably to prevent a legal quorum and effectively cancelled the organizational meeting. A few days later, signs appeared around town, expressing essentially that “Gwen is Bad For Gibson – Vote her Out Next Time!” The signs should go a long way toward balancing a hopelessly failing budget and failing infrastructure that in past months has drawn close scrutiny from state officials … although sarcasm probably won’t help either.
Back in the spring, Gibson’s long-time town clerk resigned, followed closely out the door by the town attorney. Using the old “where there’s smoke” adage, someone seems to know something about an impending fire and instead of making an effort to face whatever calamity is coming down the pike toward Gibson, the trio of commissioners and their faithful followers are taking a strategy to just log-jam anything the new mayor might do, specifically prior to anything being done. Now she and the other remaining commissioners have amateur paparazzi taking pics of them for reasons unknown, other than simple intimidation. Gwen talking to a town employee – snap. Gwen walking out of the Town Hall – snap.
All this has occurred before she has ever officially even led a meeting or asked anything of commissioners. As somebody like Frank Zappa once said, “You don’t have to love me, but don’t hate me before you know me.” (I’m guessing about that being Frank Zappa but it sounds likely.) A politician is voted into office to make decisions after hearing all sides of an issue, but some Gibson town commissioners haven’t allowed the first argument to be made. Before the inaugural gavel drops, the fake news cycle has already begun.
The Trump saga taught us many lessons, not the least of which is that fake news can be a political weapon. The Gibson mayor campaign was an ongoing game of political Frogger in which Gwen would have been destroyed several times by the latest fake news spreading through the Gibson rumor mill – filling our front yard with solar panels was my favorite – but at the last second, she always seemed to jump the right direction at the right time to avoid calamity. Perhaps the more important takeaway from recent politics is that those who have something to hide or to lose are the people most aggressively spreading the fake news.
What do they think she plans that is so horrible in their minds? How does that differ from their dream for Gibson? Everyone wants peace, prosperity, and safety… I know Gwen does, but she also wants to balance the budget, create a more professional office marked by accountability and transparency, and improve the infrastructure and business climate of the town, creating an atmosphere of community and inclusion. Can the other side say they don’t want that?
The atmosphere in Gibson has become so toxic that commissioners supporting the mayor don’t feel safe coming to the town meeting. Inappropriate confrontation between commissioners at town meetings has become common. One commissioner recently faced an angry confrontation at his home concerning a matter that was responsibility of the entire commission as a group. The latest sign and paparazzi capers are just more examples of a culture of intimidation and rancor that included consistent theft and damage of campaign signs and outright violation of election laws concerning when and where signs could be placed, and protocol for electioneering at the polls.
The new mayor aspires to create professionalism and structure in a town government that still has no attorney, no discernable bylaws, and struggles to consistently maintain any manner of traditional leadership structure, which has recently cost the town access to state and federal programs. Before she was even sworn in, Gwen was called to help a citizen with a very unfortunate kerfuffle involving Gibson town cemetery plots, a situation that was completely avoidable had appropriate record-keeping and policies been in place.
After being elected mayor, Gwen did her homework with hours of phone calls and meetings with state governmental agencies to become informed in the workings of town government because she got absolutely zero information from the outgoing administration. She never even got a key to the town office. She knew if she didn’t hit the ground running upon swearing in, she would be tackled in the backfield. Her preparation protocol was completely approved, and in fact recommended by the state officials helping her prepare but that didn’t keep the fake news rumor mill from accusing her of impropriety, or “getting out of her lane” as one commissioner described it.
As a citizen of Gibson, I hope commissioners will consider what those watching from the outside must be thinking as they refuse to conduct governmental business to prove whatever point. The point I see is that they are acting in an attempt to further intimidate Gwen Arrigon, and Commissioners Jerry Glover and Adam Liles, who showed up last week along with a healthy group of citizens to conduct town business last week and were forced to cancel the meeting because of lack of quorum. I hope other Gibson voters see it too. I invite media to the next town meeting to see for themselves whether commissioners will show up.
While gridlock and chaos reign, someone needs to take the high ground to do something that will actually benefit the citizens and reputation of Gibson.