It’s all about respect.

John Wise has shown no respect for the office of Mayor.

In nearly two full terms, Mr. Wise has shown no respect for the office of Mayor, for the city council, for any city employee, or for any of the citizens of Enumclaw or the surrounding community.

A person who held the office of mayor in respect would not have treated the position as a dictatorship, dictating who may say what to whom.

A mayor who held the city council in respect would not have repeatedly, intentionally kept important information from them. One example would be the documented, nearly year-long secret talks with Nestlé regarding giving the City’s water away. They were only exposed by accident; who knows how long they might have gone on, or what havoc might have been wreaked had they not been discovered?

Another example would be the insistence on pursuing John Wise’s fantasy of Enumclaw as an equestrian community, (complete with a mayor all dressed up like Yosemite Sam) by making sure that no one could see any other ideas proposed by the many consultants consulted.

A third example would be the adventure of the logo. A mayor who held the council (and the community) in respect would have opened the process up to the entire community the logo would represent instead of hiding behind the “advice” of the consultant he finally found to support his obsessive, disrespectful secrecy.

Then we have the gas line problems. The mayor and the city administrator each, separately, received registered letters advising them of serious concerns by the state, yet the administration had so little respect for the community they are supposed to be serving that neither one bothered to tell even the city attorney. This planned, concerted omission has, as we all know, very nearly cost the community several millions of dollars.

And finally, most recently, we have the sewer debacle. A mayor who respected the responsibility of the position would have encouraged an open system of planning, one that might have allowed for cost overruns, or, at the very least, communication of problems in a timely manner, so as to avoid the sudden, catastrophic raise in rates we are all experiencing.

It is difficult if not impossible to respect an individual who has behaved in the way John Wise has while holding the office of mayor. I believe it is the repeated demonstration of a complete lack of respect for the council that has led to all but one of the council members supporting the incumbent’s opponent, Liz Reynolds. I think it is a consistent lack of respect for city employees that has resulted in both the police and the firefighters pledging their support for candidate Reynolds.

John Wise has shown no respect for the citizens of Enumclaw in his nearly eight years as mayor. I respect myself and my community too much to vote for him to continue.

In her term as a council member, Liz Reynolds has demonstrated a respect for the voters by honoring the commitments she made when running for the position. That respect has been shown during her campaign for mayor as well. There is every reason to believe that that respect will continue for the next four years. I will be voting for respect. I will be voting for Liz.

Karen Worthington

Enumclaw