Dateline Carson – They didn’t come to bury Caesar…oh, yes they did.
No need to wonder what City Clerk Jim Dear was thinking last evening at 7:30 as his career-long political nemesis Vera Robles DeWitt stood before the Carson City Council.
With a lilt in her strong voice, Mrs. Robles DeWitt, leader of a Dear recall election for the second time, explained — with unsuppressed glee — her strategy for dethroning the city clerk she dreads. To merry applause in the upper-story Carson Council Chambers, Mrs. Robles DeWitt sang out “We did it.” Happily she related how volunteers had collected 50 percent more (now certified) signatures than needed to warrant a recall election in 90 days.
As he sat in his elevated, glassed-in, soundproof booth at the rear of Council Chambers, no need to wonder what Mr. Dear was thinking as he listened to his main political executioner because, typically, he was willing to unveil his feelings.
“Political baloney, that is what this is,” Mr. Dear said. “One hundred percent motivated by the selfish political interests” of the leader of the recall effort.
He characterized Vera Robles DeWitt as a “frustrated, failed” would-be politician, a onetime member of the City Council whom he charged has grown increasingly bitter while losing successive attempts to win “any office she can, but losing every time.”
Mr. Dear, meanwhile, is undefeated in his 21st century political career that spans 11 controversial years as mayor and 8½ controversial months as city clerk.
“Vera Robles DeWitt is the same person who led the recall effort against me in 2006 through 2008,” Mr. Dear said. “We defeated the recall because, just like this time, they fabricated false accusations (racism, abuse of power, incompetence). They are doing it again.”
After Mrs. Robles DeWitt told the newspaper she could not recall the reasons for the last recall attempt, “that was because they were all lies,” Mr. Dear said. “Just like these are lies.”
His eyes twinkled as he recollected “what my mom taught me – don’t lie because you are going to have to remember what the lie was.”
As for Mrs. Robles DeWitt’s motivation, “she always has been obsessed with control. She is very bitter because she is out of office. She was defeated for re-election in 1992. Ever since 1992,” Mr. Dear said, “she has made numerous attempts to get elected to office in Carson. Every time, the voters turn her down.”
She has lost, Mr. Dear theorizes, “because primarily she is a negative force in the community, negative thinking, negative acting. Occasionally, she smiles and acts friendly. Basically, though, she is detrimental. Nothing productive or positive about her.”
This morning, Mr. Dear is ready to launch a campaign to retain his city clerk mantle.
