by Travis Mateer
Bob Campbell is suddenly my favorite City Council person. Previously, I didn’t have a favorite, but now Bob is it. I’ll get to why in just a moment.
First, on January 11th, I wrote this post about Bob, urban camping, and the term “side-rails”, which showed me that Bob was going to try REALLY HARD to be a politician. Part of being a politician is raising money, and that’s where Bob has a problem, and that problem is whether or not to subsidize a farm connected to County Commissioner, Josh Slotnick.
Here’s an excerpt from the Missoulian article where the title does most of the heavy lifting: Missoula City Council member alleges ‘pay to play’ scheme, draws sharp rebukes. From the link (emphasis mine):
Campbell made the accusation when speaking in opposition to a motion before the council to award up to $310,000 in 2018 Open Space Bond funds to the Corner Farm. The money will allow Corner Farm, an 8-acre working veggie farm on Tower Road, to be purchased by a nonprofit called Trust Montana. The land, including a riparian area, will be protected from development in perpetuity so that it can be used for agriculture. The farm produces about 40,000 pounds of food per year and is currently owned by Neva Hassanein. At the end of the meeting, the council approved using the funding on an 8-2 vote.
In a prepared statement, Campbell said he had “cause for concern” with the project because Hassanein has made political donations to several elected officials, including county commissioner Dave Strohmaier, city council member Mirtha Becerra and mayor Andrea Davis.
Campbell said county commissioner Strohmaier and commissioner Juanita Vero voted to approve a zoning variance that would allow an agricultural business as an accessory use on the property.
“One of my main concerns with this proposal today is the appearance of reproach by my constituents and the public in general,” Campbell said.
I’m glad that Bob is concerned about appearances because, as I’ve written about on this topic, the appearance isn’t great, but that’s why narrative control is so important. With the decision before council to subsidize Corner Farms, Bob’s public accusation is damaging that narrative control and I LOVE IT!
Part of my enjoyment is seeing how political cuckoldry works. To demonstrate this process, here’s Mike Nugent’s approach to dealing with bad optics:
City council member Mike Nugent was the first to respond. He said that land use has put lots of pressure on agriculture in Missoula, and protecting farmland is something the city has struggled with for a long time, he added.
“This is something we’ve been directed by the voters to try,” he explained.
Then, Nugent said he had some concerns with Campbell’s speech. Nugent noted that Hassanein had opposed his campaign for mayor, and that county commissioner Josh Slotnick (who used to own the Corner Farm land) also opposed his campaign. But, Nugent said, he was still voting for the project.
“Just like I’m not voting ‘no’ because I have previous political disagreements with some of the people involved, I believe that my colleagues are also voting yes outside of any of those things,” Nugent said. “I give them the benefit of the doubt on that. I appreciate (Campbell) bringing that up, and it’s a conversation that’s OK to have. I think we need to have a lot of respect and deference for our colleagues and be really careful on the comments that we make.”
Yes, Mike wants Bob to be REALLY CAREFUL about words and how those words are put into sentences and spoken out loud in public. Also, give those colleagues of yours the benefit of the doubt, Bob! Because this is just how politics works these days.
I’m writing this post at Break Espresso this morning and I’ve made note of TWO customers I’m sharing a space with–Mike Colyer, the police chief I mentioned in Monday’s post, and Josh Slotnick, the Commissioner at the center of this farm drama. Funny.
Later this week, at Western Montana News, I’ll examine a piece of exclusive geography in Missoula where political influence has been emanating for many years, so stay tuned, and if you’d like to assist my local reporting, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is the place to do it. I also accept direct cash donations, like the $20 I got yesterday while using my weapon of mass instruction.
Thanks for reading!
