 | A House Divided [North Coast Journal Editorial] |
From the Editor
by Keith Easthouse
February 26, 2004
After a year of controversy, it boils down to this: What bugs you more? Paul Gallegos' inexperience, or Charles Hurwitz' bullying?
The answer to that question reveals which side of the recall fault line you're on, a widening gap that carries an unavoidable message: On this one, there is no middle ground.
If you're for Gallegos, you're for him because, above all else, you're outraged that Pacific Lumber -- make that the Houston-based Maxxam Corp. -- has spent $225,000 and counting to drive him from office before he can take the company to trial for fraud. If you're against Gallegos, you're against him because, above all else, you think he's soft on crime and possibly, probably, incompetent.
You may be bothered -- or not -- by Hurwitz' heavy hand, and it may be that it was the PL suit that got you riled up in the first place, but what sticks in your craw now is Gallegos himself, his surfer dude persona, his defense attorney instincts, his hiring of Tim Stoen, that Peoples Temple "kook," as his top lieutenant. Ninety-nine plants, for chrissakes; suing PL, for chrissakes; slapping the wrist of a child molester, for chrissakes.
Terry never would have done any of that. Not in a million years. This guy comes along, this guy who's cross-examined the cops he's now supposed to be working with, who's gone against the deputy DAs that he's now in charge of, skilled professionals like Worth Dikeman, and he turns the county upside-down with his screwy, liberal, enviro agenda. Who the hell does he think he is?
Your counterpart sees things differently. The villain in his eyes is Hurwitz, the notorious corporate raider who stole a venerable Humboldt County timber company and turned it into a destructive logging machine. The degradation of the region's rivers and streams? Blame Hurwitz. The shrinking number of timber jobs? Blame Hurwitz. The animosity between environmentalists and business leaders? Blame Hurwitz.
Farmer never did stand up to him. Not in all those years. But Gallegos comes along, beats Farmer, and in less than two months on the job he's suing Hurwitz' behind, telling the dark prince, who don't forget was in deep with Michael Milken in the 1980s savings and loan scandals, that Humboldt County is no longer his fiefdom. To Hurwitz', "He who has the gold rules," Gallegos retorts, "He who has the law rules." Who is Gallegos? He's a hero, that's who he is. How could anybody who cares about Humboldt County be against him?
Winston Churchill once observed that democracy is the best form of government under all conditions save when the people are evenly divided. We all learned that in the 2000 presidential election, when the deadlock between George W. Bush and Al Gore sent the country veering toward political chaos. We learned it in the 1960s, when racial issues and the Vietnam War tore the country apart. And those Americans who were alive in 1860 learned it most powerfully when the nation literally split in two over the issue of slavery after the election of Abraham Lincoln and went to war.
Polarization is the dominant political force across the country today; on a host of issues, health care, the environment, foreign policy, the very role of government, the middle ground is shrinking, if it's there at all. It is a war of sorts, a cold one, perhaps, but a long and bitter one as the combatants are opposing value systems.
A battle in this larger struggle is being waged here in Humboldt and we will know the outcome in less than a week. A strong majority may vote to throw Gallegos out or to keep him, but don't bet on it. It's likely to be close -- and that means there's going to be a lot of bitterness afterwards. A wound like this takes a long time to heal.
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