Seven weeks out from the second recall election in the intensely colorful career of Carson City Clerk Jim Dear, he predictably remains his feisty self.
Oh, he is taking the Feb. 23 election as seriously as an onrushing car even though he sternly believes the recall motivation is as phony as Bernie Madoff.
“Campaigning is in my blood,” says the longtime former mayor who seems to relish the opportunity to reprove his popularity with the diverse voters of Carson. “This is a regular full-blown campaign.”
At tomorrow night’s City Council meeting, members who have vowed to embarrass Mr. Dear will seek to strip away more of his powers than they already have.
After stepping aside last year at this time to shrewdly run for city clerk – which pays five times the mayor’s salary – he handily won the office in March.
He barely had warmed his new chair before there was a familiar eruption.
“The same people who tried unsuccessfully to recall me as mayor in 2008 are behind this recall,” Mr. Dear said.
“My campaign is just like the ones I ran in 2006 and 2008 against the same person. This recall is led by Vera Robles DeWitt. She is close friends with (legally troubled Mayor) Albert Robles,” by now an arch-foe of Mr. Dear.
“She is falsely accusing me of charges (including racism). All of them are a bunch of nonsense.
“We will let the people decide: Does Vera Robles DeWitt run the city? Or do the people?” Mr. Dear asked. “Voters know the accusations against me are preposterous.”
Since the turn of the century, Mr. Dear is undefeated at the polls.
